RMS Titanic is a consuming passion, a subject
of deep emotion and fascination with a huge following over the whole globe. The
appalling disaster and toll in human life overwhelms us all: historians,
film-makers, you and me. But it’s all in the past - RMS Titanic has gone. But
... Titanic is coming back. TITANIC is needed for the new millennium,
desperately, by a major bank with a retiring president, a cruise company whose
fortunes are ebbing and a planet wide population who are now following the
re-creation of the Titanic for its Celebratory Maiden Voyage, step by step
thanks to a media frenzy that has built up. The owners and backers are
determined that this time not only will Titanic make its crossing to New York
but it will complete its return voyage, and it will make it in style. This
voyage is to be as authentic as possible. No technology will be coming on board
with the passengers. Dress will be Edwardian - supplied by the company; tickets
will be extortionate. This will be a once and only Authentic Maiden Voyage on
the Most Famous Ship of all time, Titanic. Sailing from Southampton its
captain and crew are confident and assured. There are, of course, the normal
teething and technical troubles that accompany any new ship. The team are
putting the gremlins to rights while the technicians are sorting out the last of
the bugs in the underlying computer programs which are the culmination of
integration of radar, sonar, global positioning, electronic mapping, maritime
information, ship and engine management systems. Truly, from the bridge, only
one person is needed now to take the massive ship out and back again. The
technology, invisible to the passengers, is their guarantee of safety. In
homage to the original vessel, two and a half miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean
(and to raise the public awareness to new heights) the new Titanic is visiting
the site of RMS TITANIC on its outward crossing. The whole world watches in awe
as those fortunate enough to have got on board sail off from Southampton with a
flotilla of well wishing small craft eager to sail the first mile of the outward
bound voyage. Witness the splendour that was, and now is, the Titanic, to
share in this unique sailing, to meet the Captain, the crew and passengers; each
obsessed and compelled to visit the site of the original RMS Titanic disaster.
Share their hopes and fears and feel what it's like to be on Titanic. The
amazing book of an amazing voyage
