Sinking In

When you think of the Titanic, you probably think of the teary farewell between Jack and Rose, the protagonists of James Cameron's 1997 film adaptation of the historic crash.

Or it may bring to mind Thomas Hardy's famous verse on the fateful collision between iceberg and ship: "Alien they seemed to be;/no mortal eye could see/the intimate welding of their later history."

This is just part of the immense mythologyA collection of stories or folk tales. that has built up around the RMS Titanic, a British ocean liner which sank in April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Now, an Australian billionaire plans to expand this mythology by building Titanic II, a to-scale replica of the 270-metre-long boat. Guests will be promised a full Titanic experience, complete with 1900s-style period costume, long tables and room for 2,345 passengers.

It may even have the original ship's many other amenitiesUseful or pleasant facilities - for example a swimming pool. - such as a huge first-class dining saloonA public room or bar. , a swimming pool, two libraries, Turkish baths and two barber shops.¹

Billionaire Clive Palmer, the man behind the project, has high hopes. "Titanic II is something that can provide peace," he claims. "It can be a ship of peace between all countries of the world."²

He is not wrong about its international appeal. Monuments and museums dedicated to the ship have been built in countries from Australia to Ireland. It has inspired countless novels and poems, several films, and a musical. Perhaps it could give us all something to bond over.

If the replicaAn exact copy or model of something. is anything like the original, the experience will come at a high cost. A third class ticket on the Titanic in 1912 cost the equivalent of £800 in today's money, whilst a first class ticket would have set you back £3,300.³

The quality of the ship justified the cost. The original Titanic ship was built at a cost of £1.5 million - around £170 million in today's money. And it took a whopping three years to build. At 53 metres tall, it was roughly the same height as Nelson's Column in London.

So how could it be that the world's most gigantic and opulentConspicuously rich. It comes from the Latin word for "wealth". ship could sink just four days into its maiden voyage in 1912? It had been described as "unsinkable". The notion of it never reaching its destination was so unlikely that it left Southampton with just 20 lifeboats.⁴

The mystery around the crash is one of the many reasons why the Titanic still holds such intrigue. Historians are not sure how the ocean liner sank, and its shipwreck was not even discovered until 1985.

The story is undoubtedly compelling. The Titanic only lasted a meagreVery small. five years from its conception to its downfall. But the 100-foot iceberg that toppled it likely took three thousand years to travel to the North Atlantic from Greenland, drifting fatefully day by day across the sea.

And even its legacy is haunted by fatalities. In June last year, a submersibleA type of ship that can be submerged completely underwater. which set off to explore the wreck of the Titanic imploded just two hours into its dive, killing all five occupants.

Those inclined towards superstition will likely avoid a trip in Palmer's Titanic II. After all, for many, the Titanic remains a symbol of humanity's hubrisArrogance. In Greek tragedy, hubris is the key flaw that brings disaster to humans., our errantGoing in the wrong direction or behaving in the wrong way. belief that we are too powerful to be toppled by forces of nature.

Would you go on the maiden voyage?

Yes: There is nothing to be afraid of. Our technology is much more advanced now than it was 100 years ago, and besides, there would be far better measures to save the occupants if the ship did crash.

No: The Titanic and everything related to it seems cursed. Tempting fate is not worth the risk.

Or... The Titanic crash was a freak accident, and those can happen at any time, no matter how advanced our technology is or how much we think we know.