Dare to Sail the Titanic II?

By Katie Kindelan

An Australian billionaire has revealed plans to build a replica of the Titanic cruise ship , with plans to set it sail along the original sunken ship’s path from England to New York.

Real estate and coal magnate Clive Palmer announced Monday that he has signed an agreement with a state-owned Chinese company, CSC Jinling Shipyard, to build in their shipyard a modernized version of the Titanic, the infamous ship that crashed into an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people.

“It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic, but … will have state-of-the-art 21st-century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems,” Palmer said in a statement.

Placing a bet that the lure of the Titanic name will be greater than the deadly legacy it carries, Palmer said he will call the ocean liner Titanic II.  He expects the ship, with room for 1,680 passengers, to make its maiden voyage four years from now, in 2016.

The announcement comes just weeks after the world marked the 100 ^th anniversary of the sinking of the original Titanic.  The milestone anniversary saw the release of the iconic 1990s “Titanic” movie in 3-D, an auction of the ship’s memorabilia and a cruise that retraced the ship’s very path , which, should be noted, ran into trouble due to weather before it even left dock.

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