It is often said, quoting Karl Marx, that historical events occur twice, once as tragedy and once as farce. The RMS Titanic, the largest passenger ship in the world, sank in the Atlantic Ocean on the unfortunate morning of April 15, 1912, in a maritime disaster that cost the lives of around 1,500 people.
So far, the tragedy. Now, a millionaire and former Australian congressman, Clive Palmer, has proposed building an exact replica of the ill-fated ship that, if his predictions are met, will begin sailing in June 2027. That would be the farce.
It is not the first time that Palmer, 69, has announced that the great project of his life is about to come to fruition. He had already made his intentions public in 2012, coinciding with the first centenary of the famous shipwreck and, again, in 2018. On both occasions, the magnate had partners who backed out at the last moment and he had to pull up the cable due to lack of resources.
This time, as explained in a statement echoed by media such as The Telegraphno longer depends on outside resources, because now He has “much more money than before”. Having become, thanks to his iron, coal and nickel mines, the thirteenth richest man in Australia and one of the thousand great plutocrats in the world (specifically, number 734), Palmer has around 8 billion euros, and He is willing to spend between 500 and 1,000 on his new whim, the reconstruction of the ship that could have reigned, but foundered at the first opportunity.
A whim of 56,000 tons
Palmer conceives it as a luxurious liner weighing 56,000 tons, retro inspired and very faithful to its model, with 296 meters in length (length from bow to stern) and 32.2 meters in beam (width). She would have capacity for 2,345 passengers, spread over nine decks, and would have 835 cabins, 383 of them reserved for first class passengers.
In a presentation held on March 13 at the Sydney Opera House, in which a spectacular eight-minute video was projected, Palmer (owner of the cruise line Blue Star Line) explained that second and third class tickets have been planned so that the Titanic experience can be accessible to all types of budgets. As was the case in the original ship, the wealthiest will be able to sail the seas gorging themselves on sparkling Burgundy wines. premiumoysters, caviar and lobster, while those who buy the cheapest tickets will settle for stews and purees served at communal tables, like Jack played by Leonardo di Caprio in James Cameron’s film.
From what has emerged to date, Palmer intends his to be a very detailed recreation, almost a full-fledged resurrection, of the maritime ruin that today lies corroded by algae in the depths of the ocean. It will have its famous central staircase with bronze garlands, skylights, crystal chandelier, craftsmanship and moldings, inspired by the Versailles court of the Sun King. Also with the lavish first-class smoking room, decorated with mahogany panels and mother of pearl inlays. And no one will miss the casinos, theaters, bronze cherubs or dance halls that Cameron showed us in his day, or the Marconi room, from which telegraphers Jack Philip and Harold Bride launched their desperate SOS after the boat collided. with an iceberg about 370 nautical miles off Newfoundland, Canada.
Ship to Venus
Even the four enormous chimneys, the steam turbine, the propulsion propellers and at least part of the 29 boiler rooms of the sunken ship are apparently going to be replicated. Although they will be a simple decoration: the new Titanic runs on a new generation diesel engine. Passengers will be suggested, although far from obligated, to dress according to the fashion of the early years of the 20th century.
At the launch held in Sydney, Palmer presented the project like the late realization of a youthful dream: “Now I finally have the necessary resources to recreate the Titanic. I can do it and I will do it. “It’s a lot more fun than sitting at home counting my money.”
Although he is in a position to carry out the project himself, the billionaire also has a group of investors and has resorted to the services of maritime design companies Deltamarin, V. Ships Leisure and Tillburg Design. The latter participated in the making of the luxury liners Queen Mary II and Queen Elizabeth II, the latter transformed, since 2018, into a floating hotel with anchor in the port of Dubai.
As the journalist explains Guardian Catie McLeod, Palmer had to face hostile questions from the press who attended the presentation of the new Titanic. Some reminded him that he had already announced the project, in an event very similar to that of the Sydney Opera House, ten years ago at the Ritz hotel in London, only to end up canceling it with hardly any explanation. He was even accused of being involved in a crude promotional stunt for his conventional cruise line. The tycoon dismissed the insinuations with dull humor: “Nonsense! Wait and see. “I have money to make ten ships like this.”
The calendar that has been made public seems, despite everything, somewhat tight. Everything indicates that, beyond videos, rendered images and declarations of intent, the second Titanic remains a frankly embryonic project. It is not yet known in which shipyard they will build it, but it is expected to publish the tenders in June of this year and sign the contracts in December. From there, a countdown of about 30 months would begin that would lead to that maiden voyage scheduled for the end of spring 2027, with a route yet to be determined, although, almost certainly, similar to the crossing of the North Atlantic that He was going to make the ship that sank 112 years ago: from Southampton to New York with brief stops in the French city of Cherbourg and the Irish port of Queenstown (today renamed Cobh).
Don’t call bad weather
“What could go wrong?” Taryn Pedler asks, not entirely rhetorically, in a comprehensive article in The Daily Mail. Pedler echoes Palmer’s desire to turn his Titanic 2.0 into “the love ship,” a contemporary fantasy for those nostalgic for that glittering, optimistic world that preceded the First World War. He also collects statements from the company insisting that the new floating palace will have “cutting-edge 21st century technology,” more than enough to make it “safe” and iceberg-proof.
After all, there have only been 22 other cruise liner shipwrecks since the sinking of the Titanic, and none as catastrophic as that of the (rather precarious) M/S Estonia, which foundered in Finnish Baltic waters in September 1994, causing 852 victims. The last major disaster in maritime passenger transport, an industry today considered very safe, was that of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which collided, in January 2012, with the rocks of an underwater plateau as a result of a chain of reckless decisions that is difficult to believe. .
Palmer can affirm, beyond any superstitious fear, that it is very unlikely that the Titanic tragedy could be repeated, even as a farce, at the end of the first third of the 21st century. Media like Forbes these days have been dedicated to review in some detail the qualities of the father of the invention. From his portrait it appears that Clive Palmer, born in Footscray, in the Australian state of Victoria, in 1954, is a largely self-made businessman.
Raised in an affluent, but not opulent, middle-class environment, he studied Law, Journalism and Political Science and became rich in the Gold Coast property boom in the mid-1980s. This allowed him to retire from his ordinary activities at the age of 29 and let himself be guided by an investment nose that makes him a little richer with each passing year. Before embarking on the adventure of recreating the Titanic, he founded and took a football club (Gold Coast United) to the highest professional level in record time and entered politics as leader of his own electoral group, the Palmer United Party, with the one who won a seat in parliament in the 2017 federal election.
Initially liberal in ideas, Palmer ended up associating with such dubious characters as Craig Kelly, a climate change denier. Hand in hand with his new ally, the millionaire ended up defending controversial theses about the origin of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of vaccines. In 2022, when he began to perceive that he was becoming a source of criticism, he chose to dissolve his party. This untimely slamming of the door on political activity coincided in time with alleged financial problems and up to four lawsuits for fraud and dishonest activities that he himself described as “nonsense” were aired at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The news right now is that Palmer seems to have weathered the storm and boasts, with good reason, that he is richer than ever. Nickel mines continue to generate profits. And turning one of the most famous shipwrecks in history into the basis for a nostalgia operation and a success story has become, if it comes to fruition, his life’s work.
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