Tag Archives: White Star Line

The fire on the Titanic – testimony of Charles Hendrickson, crewman of the Titanic

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Launching of the RMS Olympic at Belfast, Ireland.

Launching of the RMS Olympic at Belfast, Ireland.

From Bruce M. Caplan:
Testimony at British Enquiry—-Charles Hendrickson (I think this is the real reason the iceberg was able to penetrate the steel!)

Day Five–

5232. Do you remember a fire in a coal bunker on board this boat?
– Yes.

5233. Is it a common occurrence for fires to take place on boats?
– No.

5234. It is not common?
– No.

5235. How long have you been on a White Star boat?
– About five years.

5236. When did you last see a fire in a coal bunker?
– I never saw one before.

5237. It has been suggested that fires in coal bunkers are quite a common occurrence, but you have been five years in the White Star line and have not seen a fire in a coal bunker?
– No.

5238. Did you help to get the coal out?
– Yes.

5239. Did you hear when the fire commenced?
– Yes, I heard it commenced at Belfast.

5240. When did you start getting the coal out?
– The first watch we did from Southampton we started to get it out.

5241. How many days would that be after you left Belfast?
– I do not know when she left Belfast to the day.

5242. It would be two or three days, I suppose?
– I should say so.

5243. Did it take much time to get the fire down?
– It took us right up to the Saturday to get it out.

5244. How long did it take to put the fire itself out?
– The fire was not out much before all the coal was out.

5245. The fire was not extinguished until you got the whole of the coal out?
– No. I finished the bunker out myself, me and three or four men that were there. We worked everything out.

5246. The bulkhead forms part of the bunker – the side?
– Yes, you could see where the bulkhead had been red hot.

5247. You looked at the side after the coal had been taken out?
– Yes.

5248. What condition was it in?
– You could see where it had been red hot; all the paint and everything was off. It was dented a bit.

5249. It was damaged, at any rate?
– Yes, warped.

5250. Was much notice taken of it. Was any attempt made to do anything with it?
– I just brushed it off and got some black oil and rubbed over it.

5251. To give it its ordinary appearance?

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Adriatic, Biggest Ship Yet Built, to Start It in May

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The Britannic was the third in the Olympic series, after the Titanic, and was appropriated by the British government as a hospital ship.

The Britannic was the third in the Olympic series, after the Titanic, and was appropriated by the British government as a hospital ship.

This press release was carried in newspapers to herald the launch of the new White Star liner Adriatic:
—
SHE WILL CARRY 3,000 SOULS
—
And Have a Turkish Bath, Plunge, and Orchestra Aboard—Line to
Liverpool to Stay.
—
With the putting in commission next May of its new steamship Adriatic, which will be not only the largest steamship in service anywhere in the world, but the finest product of marine architecture yet designed, the White Star Line announced yesterday the inauguration at that time of a new line between New York and ports in the English Channel. The line has
decided to improve its facilities by transferring the British terminal of its Wednesday mail service to Southampton, the eastbound steamers calling at Plymouth and Cherbourg, and westbound ships at Cherbourg and Queenstown. This new line will be known as the United States and Royal
Mail Service.

A Turkish bath

A Turkish bath on the proposed Titanic II

This does not mean that the regular Wednesday sailings between New York and Liverpool, via Queenstown, are to be discontinued. The sailing day for this route will be changed to Thursday and will be maintained by the steamers Baltic, Cedric, Celtic, and Arabic.

The Channel service will be opened by the new Adriatic, which is to sail from Liverpool on her maiden voyage an May 8 and will sail from this side on May 22. Besides the 25,000-ton Adriatic, the new service will include the steamers Oceanic, Teutonic, and Majestic. In establishing
the new route, the White Star Line was influenced not only by the growing popularity of the Channel ports as a convenient and comfortable route by which the traveler may reach London and Paris, the objective points of a large majority of transatlantic travelers, but also to a
great extent by recommendations from many thousands of its patrons in America who have come to look with favor on the Channel route.

The new line means that the steamers of the White Star Line will touch at nearly all of the great tourist ports of Europe. The New York-Mediterranean service will be kept up by the steamers Republic and Cretic, while the fortnightly service between Boston and Liverpool will
be maintained by the Cymric and the Republic. The International Mercantile Marine Company, of which the White Star Line is a subsidiary company, has materially strengthened its European connections by the new departure.

When the new Adriatic is turned over to the company by the builders, Harland & Wolff of Belfast, in April, she will mark a new epoch in transatlantic travel. Not only does she combine in hull and engines every improvement and every invention—with the exception of turbines—which have been devised for the safety of vessels and the comfort of the oceangoing traveler, but in every detail she is the combined result of the experience of the managers and the builders. For her interior decorations the line will employ the most famous decorators, outfitters, and upholsterers of Europe.

The newest of all new features to be introduced in other respects is well-equipped Turkish baths. which will vie with the finest establishments of the kind ashore. There will be, in addition to the hot, temperate. and cooling rooms, a large plunge bath and an electric bath. Another innovation is the introduction of an orchestra, the first ever placed on an Atlantic British passenger-carrying steamer.

The German lines were the first to furnish music for the entertainment of their passengers. The Red Star Line to Antwerp followed suit. and then the French Line. The French Line, however, made a step in advance, for, while the other lines selected a band from among their own
stewards, the French line placed on its vessels orchestras from the hotels of Paris.

The Adriatic is 725 feet long, 75 feet 6 inches beam, and about 50 feet deep. Her gross tonnage is 25,000 and her displacement over 40,000 tons She has nine steel decks, and is divided into twelve watertight compartments. The total number of. steel plates used in her hull is
about 20,000 and the rivets are estimated at nearly two million and a half. Her cables are three and three-eighths inches in diameter, and weigh nearly ninety tons, and her anchors weigh about eight tons each.

The general arrangements of the ship are similar to those of the Baltic and other vessels of that type. The first-class dining room will seat 370 persons. It is to be paneled in the fashion of Charles II and painted in ivory white and gold. Over the middle of the room will be a dome made with leaded glass of white and yellow, and under the dome will be paintings of scenes in Switzerland, Italy, Yellowstone Park, and the Rhine country. The same scheme of decoration has been carried out in the second-cabin saloon, though less elaborately.

When filled the Adriatic will have on board 3,000 souls. She will be fitted with Marconi wireless and a submarine signaling apparatus.

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One Hundredth Anniversary Titanic Voyage

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[metaslider id=286]Two years ago, Bruce Caplan asked me to fill in for him on a special Royal Caribbean voyage out of Southampton, the very port from which the ill-fated RMS Titanic set sail on April 10, 1912. The Independence of the Seas cruise director had requested a Titanic author to provide a series of informative talks to mark the sailing of the famous luxury liner one hundred years to the day.  When my wife Donna and I flew to London, as we had just been there the six months earlier, we decided to time our arrival on the same day of the departure of the Independence of the Seas for its eleven day voyage to the Canary Islands and return.

The Queen Mary 2 at port in Southampton. This is where the Titanic left from on her maiden voyage.

The Queen Mary 2 at port in Southampton. This is where the Titanic left from on her maiden voyage.

The Maritime Museum in Lisbon Portugal may just be the finest in the world. This was one of our port days and really worth the time.

The Maritime Museum in Lisbon Portugal may just be the finest in the world. This was one of our port days and really worth the time.

By Ken Rossignol

Titanic Speakers Bureau

Ken on Independence of the Seas

Ken Rossignol on The Independence of The Seas

Being at sea with a series of talks about the history, the people, the heroes of the Titanic was not only an exceptional honor and challenge but a thrill to be asked to bring the story alive in a way consistent with history and at the same time, to be meaningful to a modern audience. The huge Independence of The Seas is in many ways, a modern Titanic, with the chief difference being that this ship made it past its maiden voyage, without being on fire or sinking.

Southampton is a bustling city and one of the chief ports in the UK and Europe just as it was in 1912.

Southampton is a bustling city and one of the chief ports in the UK and Europe just as it was in 1912.

The similarities for the passengers is truly in the imagination. Imagining the grand staircase down which Mrs. J.J. Brown, the newly minted millionaire, flowed with her Missourian dignity intact, brings to mind the equally grand appointments of the Independence of the Seas.  The three-story dining room with a grand piano to entertain during the evening meal harkens back to the plush dining room that seated hundreds on the Titanic.

Plenty of room, plenty of tables, plenty of food on the grand Independence of The Seas, one of Royal Caribbean's majestic ships. The Chesapeake photos

Plenty of room, plenty of tables, plenty of food on the grand Independence of The Seas, one of Royal Caribbean’s majestic ships. The Chesapeake photos

The Independence of the Seas voyage had a majority of Brits traveling on their Easter season trip to warmth and sunshine in Spain and the Canaries. The voyage of the Titanic to New York two hundred years earlier certainly lacked any warm weather but it held the promise of reaching a land of opportunity and hope for so many who had sold their last belongings to get a fresh start in America and Canada.

Musicians entertain at dinner on the Independence of the Seas.

Musicians entertain at dinner on the Independence of the Seas.

As we traveled to ports in Portugal, Spain and the Canaries as well as Madeira, our sea days were the times in which my enrichment sessions on the Titanic were held. It is quite a challenge to go up against bingo and belly flop contests, which are often the chief entertainment on other ships, but this British crowd were a bit more intense as was the weather. Thus with as many as three hundred and fifty earnest listeners in attendance, I did the best I could to explain how the Titanic had been on fire from the time the ship left Southampton.

Barbara and Malcolm Lock of London serve the board of the National Maritime Museum and offered invaluable insights of the British experience of the Titanic. They joined us every day for breakfast in the grand dining room.

Barbara and Malcolm Lock of London serve the board of the National Maritime Museum and offered invaluable insights of the British experience of the Titanic. They joined us every day for breakfast in the grand dining room.

There had been a coal strike during the winter of 1911 and 1912 and coal was hoarded for this important maiden voyage. The final preparations of the ship had been delayed in order to provide repairs to the Olympic which had been damaged in a collision with the British cruiser Hawk. Therefore, an important protocol had not been followed, that of keeping the stored coal dampened. When the ship left port, deep down in the bowels of coal bunker number six, the coal self-ignited, as coal can do. Those who have BBQ grill charcoal at home should be cautious to keep their charcoal in a metal can with a lid on it or the same could happen to you. Many a shed fire has likely been blamed on electrical wiring when the truth might be that of spontaneous combustion of a bag of charcoal.
Ken Titanic graphic

In any event, we know this startling information due to the testimony of the surviving crewmen of the Titanic who told the American and British hearings about what caused the ship had to sink about the fire.

The arrival of the passengers of the Titanic in New York was very different from that of passengers of the sister ship Olympic for the year leading up to April of 1912. This was the scene of the wait for the survivors in New York City.

The arrival of the passengers of the Titanic in New York was very different from that of passengers of the sister ship Olympic for the year leading up to April of 1912. This was the scene of the wait for the survivors in New York City.

Mr. J. Dilley of the Titanic said at the United States Senate Commerce Committee hearing in New York City, as was reported in the New York World the following day, that a crew of 12 had fought the fire in four hour shifts, around the clock. “We had made no headway,” he said. “We thought when we arrived in New York and got the passengers off, that we would have to bring a fireboat alongside to get the fire out.”

Perhaps the sculptor who created this gem had read Bram Stoker's Dracula before he decorated this building in La Corona.

Perhaps the sculptor who created this gem had read Bram Stoker’s Dracula before he decorated this building in La Corona.

What is the significance of the fire?  The fire burned the coal bunker six sidewalls in the same exact place where the ship came into collision with the iceberg and we had a vivid lesson in what heat does to metal when the hijacked airliners flew into the World Trade Center in 2001. More of the fire is covered in Bruce Caplan’s book, The Sinking of the Titanic and in my book, Titanic 1912.

"Be British" - The last words of the Titanic's master, Capt. E. J. Smith

“Be British” – The last words of the Titanic’s master, Capt. E. J. Smith

 

UNSINKABLE FEELING

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Kyrila Scully shares stories of strength and survival from the Titanic disaster.

By Peter Hawkins, special correspondent

Sun Sentinel

If you’re passing the band shell at Old School Square in Delray Beach one Saturday afternoon in May, you might see a lady wearing an Edwardian long satin dress topped by a wide-brimmed hat set on a rakish angle, describing her miraculous escape from the Titanic.

It’s none other than Kyrila Scully of Boynton Beach, portraying the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, perhaps the most colorful survivor of the mighty liner that sank 90 years ago this month.

Scully is so steeped in the most famous maiden voyage since Noah launched his ark, that school children call her the “Titanic Mom.”  She will again impersonate Molly–or Margaret Brown as she was known in her lifetime–May 18 as part of Delray Beach  Preservations Week.

Scully, 47, takes her “Titanic Nights”** exhibition to schools, churches, condos and civic events, and writes and performs monologues about the survivors.  In addition to playing Molly Brown, she impersonates first-class stewardess Violet Jessop and second-class passenger Lutie Parrish in her best Kentucky accent:

“Thee, lawd!  Look at all the people here today!” she exclaims.  “Welcome aboard!  I’m Mrs. Samuel Parrish, but you can call me Lutie.”

“She’s in total character when she plays these people,” said Sandra LaHair, who runs an Edwardian and Victorian costume business with Scully called Grand Staircase.

Scully is self-publishing TITANIC: THE SURVIVORS–A MANIFEST OF THE LIFEBOATS this month.  The book places survivors in lifeboats and traces the stories of their escape from the doomed ship, which started to sink on April 14, 1912, and went down after midnight.

Also this month, Scully and LaHair are leading a party to mark the anniversary of the tragic voyage with special events at the Orlando museum, TITANIC–SHIP OF DREAMS.  The lease on the museum, which features a full-scale recreation of the ship’s grand staircase, ends in August, and Scully is campaigning to move it to Palm Beach County.  The museum hasn’t found a suitable location yet.

For LaHair, the sinking has a message for today.

“People lost their lives foolishly out of pride,” she said.  “It was touted as unsinkable, as if to fly in the face of God.  They thought God couldn’t sink her.  Well, he could.”

Scully sees the parallel with the events of Sept. 11.

“There are so many correlations with 9-11,” she said.  “It says a lot about the arrogance of technology.  It’s similar to the Challenger disaster, too.  In each case, ice warnings were ignored.  Ice brought down the Challenger and ice brought down the Titanic.”

Scully has been interested with the vessel for almost 40 years.  Her condo in Boynton Beach is like a shrine to the liner, with a life belt that was a prop for the film, TITANIC, scale models of the ship, and memorabilia that includes two tiny pieces of coal brought up from the seabed of the wreck.

In a curious way, the preoccupation was her lifesaver.  At the age of 8, she went through a traumatic experience she still can’t talk about.  Two things in 1964 helped her: One was the Beatles.  The other was a movie about the disaster, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER.  She got over the Beatles, but she’s still under the Titanic’s spell.

“It was inspirational,” she said.  “I thought, if they could survive that, I could survive what I was going through.”

Through the Titanic, she has helped students see their way through personal crises.  Scully answers students’ questions on a Titanic Web site.

“I’ve shown how the Titanic helped me to cope with problems I had growing up by showing them life lessons from the Titanic.”

**  (Kyrila’s note: The name TITANIC NIGHTS has been changed to TITANIC IMPACT PERFORMANCE EXHIBITS.  Also—not true—I didn’t “get over” the Beatles.  I’m still a big fan.)

Sun Sentinel Article

Photo by Staff Photographer Mark Randall

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Kids Ask the Best (and Most Humorous) Questions

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Wade Sisson head shot

By Wade Sisson

I’ve spoken about the Titanic at a lot of schools since my book, Racing Through the Night, was published in 2011, and I soon learned that kids always ask the best – and most humorous – questions.

For that reason, it’s been my visits to schools that I’ve enjoyed the most. There’s something about the Titanic story that captures the imaginations of young people. You can see it in their eyes as you start talking about it. When you ask them if they know anything about the Titanic, they all raise their hands.

The questions are usually evenly split between Titanic, the ship and Titanic, the James Cameron movie. Were Jack and Rose real? Why didn’t the ship see the iceberg in time to miss it?

They’re always disappointed to learn that Jack and Rose were fictional characters – but they’re fascinated to learn about the real people who are part of the Titanic story. They always seem especially touched by the story of Millvina Dean, the last of the survivors, who died in 2009.

Most of the schools do an amazing job of preparing the kids in advance. By the time I arrive, they’ve already studied the ship, the passengers and have even dipped their hands in 28-degree water.

That doesn’t mean I don’t the occasional oddball question. Like the time one little fourth-grader asked me, “Did you bring up any gold?” I told him I’d actually never been to the wreck site – and I didn’t have any gold. He didn’t believe me and asked me again several times during the discussion. Then as I was leaving the classroom he stopped me. “Dude, seriously, where’s the gold?”

The children also try to tie the Titanic story in with other lessons they’ve had. During one school visit our discussion got hijacked by a few well-meaning third-graders. It started with one question: “Did the Titanic sink in the Bermuda Triangle?” I assured the class that the Titanic was nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle, but once the thing had been mentioned, it took on a life of its own. Another student said “Maybe the Titanic hit the iceberg because they couldn’t see inside the Bermuda Triangle.” I had to confess I was not a Bermuda Triangle expert and that seemed to satisfy them enough to stop their line of questioning.

There’s always at least one child who reminds me of myself at that age – completely drawn into the Titanic story and eager to learn as much as possible. But it’s all of the children – and their genuine interest in the history – that makes these school visits worthwhile.

titanic-author-sisson

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Titanic explorers…and graverobbers

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Dr. Robert Ballard found the wreck of the Titanic and after twenty years  of watching on the sidelines about how the wreck was desecrated and looted, he paused when asked for comment. He said that he never envisioned that such damage would be done to the wreckage and the contents removed. He said that he wants to visit historic sites and not see the artifacts removed.

Titanic stern, props and rudder

The ship was in pretty good shape when it left here – remark of an Irish official at the Belfast Titanic Museum. This section of the stern of the ship shows the massive rudder and props. A 17 ton section of the hull was raised and put on display to tourists, along with personal items that were on the bodies of those who perished.

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From The National Post

Titanic anniversary: Artifacts auction draws accusations of grave robbery

(Jan. 28, 2012) — On April 15, on the 100th anniversary of the RMS Titanic’s sinking, an auction house in New York will sell off $185-million-worth of items salvaged from the wreck: Eye-glasses, antique currency, jewellery, clothing and — the pièce de resistance — a 17-tonne section of the hull ripped clean in the ship’s final violent moments.

In Halifax, the burial place of 150 Titanic victims, news of the auction prompted disgust.

“We’re into preserving and documenting — not into pillaging,” Lynn-Marie Richard, registrar for the city’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, told The Chronicle Herald.

The man who located the Titanic sitting upright at the bottom of the Atlantic would agree.

In 1985, only hours after he had spotted the wreck, Robert Ballard took a call from a curious ABC reporter, who asked if the legendary ship could ever be raised from the depths.

“Absolutely not,” he replied.

“In fact I would like to go and try to ensure that this memorial to 1,500 souls is left the way it is.”

Only months later, a fully equipped salvage crew set sail for Mr. Ballard’s coordinates.

Titanic survivors called them “thieves” and “pirates,” and Mr. Ballard condemned the salvagers for “perpetuating” the tragedy.

Decades later, has the taboo of “graverobbing” worn off?

Almost from the minute it sank, the Royal Mail Ship Titanic was a target for souvenir hunters. Scavengers stole nameplates and oars from the ship’s lifeboats as soon as they were dropped off in New York.

In 2008, a bloody life jacket believed to have been pulled from the body of a floating victim sold for $53,000.

Edmund Stone, a Titanic steward whose body was discovered by the Canadian cable ship Mackay-Bennett, has yielded more than $250,000 of souvenirs, including a set of keys and a silver pocket watch stopped at 2:16 a.m., the moment the 33-year-old was tipped into the icy waters of the north Atlantic.

Under a 1994 ruling by the Eastern District of Virginia, salvage rights over the wreck belong exclusively to RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions. In seven expeditions to the site, the private company has pulled up 6,000 artifacts.

Eva Hart was seven years old and bound for a new life in Winnipeg when her father died in the disaster.

“To bring up those things from a mass sea grave just to make a few thousand pounds shows a dreadful insensitivity and greed,” she said in 1987, just as the first salvage expedition was setting sail.

Amid charges RMS Titanic Inc. is causing damage to the wreck site, the International Congress of Maritime Museums has barred its members from exhibiting any Titanic artifact salvaged after 1990.   READ MORE

Watch this video:

RMS Titanic – the technology

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The Titanic was the second in the Olympic Class for White Star Line and left port from Southampton on Wednesday, April 10th, 1912 for New York, stopping at Cherborg, France and Queenstown, Ireland.

The technology on the ship was state of the art and designed to move large numbers of people comfortably across the North Atlantic in a year when over 200,000 passengers were carried back and forth in ships.

Newspaper coverage of the Sinking of the Titanic

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A grim teacher Richmond Times Dispatch April 23, 1912

History is a grim teacher. This editorial cartoon refers to the loss of over 1,000 lives in the fire in New York harbor of the Slocum tour boat, the Iroquois Theatre fire and the Titanic. Richmond Times Dispatch April 23, 1912

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A night to remember, new probe

Lowering of the boats The Sphere of London

This graphic was created in one week’s time for the Sunday edition of The Sphere of London as part of that newspaper’s reporting on the sinking of the Titanic.

Icebergs lesson The Sphere

Danger field of fog and ice middle view

Be sure to show your 21st century children this graphic. It is NOT a photo from space…it came from the mind of an artist, using maps and wireless reports, showing ice bergs and fog which lay in wait for ships crossing the Atlantic.

The Sphere amazing graphic showing positions of other ships

In 1912, without benefit of GPS or satellite imagery, an artist at desk in the newsroom of The Sphere of London conceived and drew up this diagram of the positions of ships at the time of the Titanic sinking. The only tool were the reports of those positions by wireless.

William Thomas Stead went down with the ship, Journalist and Editor

Famous English journalist W. T. Stead went down with the ship; today’s top news reporters would have been the first in the lifeboats.

London The Sphere page 49 photos

Photos and graphics of the Titanic which appeared in the Sphere of London

London The Sphere how wireless works page 1

How wireless worked on the Titanic. The Sphere of London

The Sphere lifeboat davits

Lifeboat davits on the Titanic. The Sphere of London

The Sphere of London The last phase of the sinking

The expeditions to the bottom of the ocean confirm that this artist’s conception of the final moments were wrong. Some witnesses related the correct breaking of the ship while this graphic shows the deadly plunge.

London The Sphere greatest wreck photos of people Nova Scotia archives

Adrift in an open boat cartoon San Francisco

This editorial cartoon appeared in the San Francisco Examiner and cited greed on the part of the White Star Line in not having enough lifeboats. Actually, the line could easily have afforded the extra $16,000 for 32 more lifeboats but it was the arrogance of Bruce Ismay to not wanting to have his deck cluttered with boats that prevented the boats from being provided.

Bruce Ismay says his conscience is clear headline in News Leader

Politicians and top bananas of industry, labor and finance can be pretty arrogant today, but they were in 1912 as well as shown in this Richmond News Leader headline.

Christian Science Monitor says all are safe

This article appeared in the Christian Science Monitor and echoed wrong information which was also front page in the Washington Post and London Daily Mail.

Honour to the Brave The Sphere May 4 1912    London The Sphere how wireless works page 1
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Model test of Titanic II held in Germany

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TITANIC II MODEL TEST HELD IN GERMANY

November 25, 2013  — Blue Star Line Chairman Clive Palmer said the company in conjunction with German hydrodynamic service and consulting group the Hamburg Ship Model Basin (HSVA) has conducted the first model testing of the proposed Titanic II in Germany.

Grand staircase on Titanic II Blue Star Line

Mr Palmer said in what was HSVA’s 5000th model test in the company’s centenary year, a 9.3m wooden model of Titanic II was put through propulsion and power testing in a 300m long tank at HSVA’s Hamburg facilities over four days from September 9-12.

Titanic II is scheduled to be launched from its construction base in China in 2016, before her maiden passenger voyage retracing its original journey from Southampton to New York.

“The model testing by HSVA, including resistance and open water tests, is an important part of the process in the Titanic II project,” Mr Palmer said.

“The Titanic II model was tested by HSVA at speeds of up to 23 knots and this testing is crucial for assessing the speed and power performance of this prototype vessel design.

“Blue Star Line was represented at the tests by the World Project Director of Titanic II, Baljeet Singh.  We look forward to receiving the results later this year.”

HSVA Director of Resistance and Propulsion, Dr Uwe Hollenbach, said HSVA was delighted to be part of the historic Titanic II project.

“The Titanic II model was given the HSVA model number 5000,” Dr Hollenbach said.

“In honour of Titanic II and Blue Star Line, we also held a naming ceremony and launched the model on a traditional slipway.”

Dr Hollenbach said model testing was the only accurate and reliable method for a passenger vessel prototype such as Titanic II.

“Titanic II is a prototype as present day passenger vessels have a completely different type of main hull parameters and therefore are unsuitable as references,” Dr Hollenbach said.

“The speed and power performance model testing is one of the critical aspects for a prototype vessel and needs to be verified before a construction contract is completed.

“Self propulsion tests determine the optimal sense of wing propeller rotation, the neutral wing thruster angle and optimal load distribution between wing and centre units.”

On April 30, 2012, Mr Palmer announced to the world his intention to build and launch Titanic II. The announcement came 100 years after the original vessel last sailed.

The RMS Titanic was commissioned by White Star Line and was the largest liner in the world at just under 270m long, 53m high and weighing approximately 40,000 tonnes.

Mr Palmer said Titanic II would have similar dimensions as its predecessor, with 840 rooms and nine decks. The only changes to the original Titanic would be below the water line including welding and not riveting, a bulbous bow for greater fuel efficiency, diesel generation and enlarged rudder and bow thrusters for increased manoeuvrability.

Link to Video:  Titanic II Model Test

Clive Palmer, Chairman of Blue Star Line on 60 Minutes

Welcome to the RMS Titanic Speakers Bureau – Rate Information

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Welcome to the Titanic Speakers Bureau; the home of some of the foremost authorities, historians and authors of the RMS Titanic alive today. From Daniel Allen Butler, Bruce M. Caplan, Wade Sisson, Ken Rossignol, to Capt. E. J. Smith actor Lowell Lytle and the great-grand-daughter of the Unsinkable Molly Brown – Helen Benziger.

The Titanic Speakers Bureau will enable you to learn more about our wonderful speakers, read of their travels, books, and views on one of the most enduring stories of all times and of perhaps the greatest sea disaster known to modern history – the voyage of the White Star Liner RMS Titanic.

Various speakers such as Tammy Knox and Robert W. Walker, are also fantasy and fiction writers with the ability to use their creative genius to bring the story of the Titanic alive using genres of horror and mysteries to enhance and develop the actual history of the ship.

Contact Ken Rossignol at 301 535 8624, ken.thechesapeake@gmail.com  for rates for speakers. Typically, speakers charge between $800 and $2,000 depending on the arrangements.  Airfare from speaker’s nearest airport to the event, transportation to the hotel and to the event as well as hotel rates apply. Helen Benziger travels with a service dog, who is quiet and enjoys attending formal dinners.

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