Tag Archives: China Titanic Replica

Titanic News: Fur Coat Sold for £150,000 and other news

Sorry to not post in a while. It was due to both work and the tax season. Now for the news.

Collapsible lifeboat D photographed by passenger on Carpathia on the morning of 15 April 1912.
Public Domain(Wikipedia)

1. Titanic stewardess’ fur coat fetches £150,000 at auction (Independent, 23 April 2017)
Fur coats used to be a stylish thing to wear but these days they are despised. Back in 1912 though, they were an important status symbol.In this case it was neither style nor class but the need to keep warm. Mabel Bennett, a first-class stewardess aboard Titanic, threw it on to keep herself warm. She kept it one while on Carpathia and for the rest of her life. After her death, it was sold to Henry Aldridge and Son who loaned it to a museum in the U.S. It was auctioned off on Saturday far above the estimated price of £50,000-£80,000 and sold for a staggering £150,000 ($191,767USD). The buyers name was not announced but surely one of the highest prices paid for a collectible mink coat.

2. Lost Titanic letter expected to fetch big money at auction (New York Post, 20 April 2017)
A “Wish You Were Here” letter written aboard the Titanic could fetch thousands of dollars at auction this weekend. Four days before the ship sank, Swiss banker Alfons Simonius-Blumer penned the missive to his wife and daughter — in which he expressed regret they were not aboard the ship.Simonius-Blumer was sailing to New York on business with a colleague, Max Staehelin, but without his wife, Alice, and their daughter, Ella. He wrote the letter the morning of April 11, 1912, while the supposed unsinkable pride of the White Star Line steamed between Cherbourg in France and Queenstown, Ireland, its last stop before the fateful Atlantic crossing. Simonius-Blumer also described visiting the ship’s gym, enjoying the Turkish baths and lighting up in the smoking room. As a first-class passenger, he was able to get on a lifeboat after the Titanic struck an iceberg late at night on April 14 and was rescued by the RMS Carpathia the following morning.
The letter was also auctioned off on Saturday at Henry Aldridge for £32,500 ($41,543USD)

3. Titanic relatives mark 105th anniversary in Belfast (BBC, 14 April 2017)
The event was organised by the great-grandson of the man who was at the helm when the ship struck an iceberg. Simon Medhurst, a long-time collector of Titanic memorabilia, said he only found out that he was related to Robert Hichens, one of the ship’s quartermasters, after meeting his birth father in 2012. “It was a complete turnaround for my life, really, from collecting to suddenly being somebody who is connected to the Titanic,” he said. Simon explained that Friday’s event had taken two years to organise. “I wasn’t sure if it would just be our family that turned up, but actually it’s been phenomenal to see relatives and enthusiasts. People just love the story of the Titanic. “I think the importance of this type of gathering is in that it is easy to forget that there were those who lost their lives.”

4. Full-size Titanic replica built in China (Jakarta Post,19 April 2017)
The project was first announced in 2014 and will cost an estimated 1 billion yuan (US$145.4 million). The model will measure out at 269-meters long and 28-meters wide, complete with a ballroom, theater, swimming pool, first-class cabins, and even Wi-Fi, according to Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group deputy general manager Wang Weiling as reported by AFP. The design of the ship is based on the original British passenger liner, and both British and American designers and technicians will assist in the project. And just in case visitors have worries of a second sinking, the boat will be permanently docked on a reservoir in a rural area of Sichuan province, according to Xinhua. No word from Clive Palmer about whether his Titanic replica will ever get funded.


Recent Titanic News

There has not been a lot of news concerning Titanic or Premier Exhibitions. Here are some though that might interest those who follow those topics.

1. Titanic Hotel Entertains The Lonely On Christmas Day
Hundreds of people who faced spending Christmas Day alone were treated to a festive lunch at a luxury Liverpool hotel. Over 300 people were entertained by a team of around 80 volunteers at Stanley dock yesterday for the Titanic hotel’s annual White Christmas event.
Source:Titanic hotel entertains the lonely on Christmas day 26 Dec 2016, Liverpool Echo

The Grand Staircase of the RMS Olympic
Photo:Public Domain (Wikipedia)

2. At this New Year’s Eve Celebration, You Can Walk the Titanic’s Grand Staircase Like Jack and Rose
And as New Year means new life, celebrate that precious gift at the Titanic Belfast in Northern Ireland by doing the re-creation of the popular grand staircase scene in the 1997 movie. A replica of the staircase will be made available for guests. Features that will happen during the night include a New Year’s Cocktail, Light Supper, Live Band, Midnight Piper, and DJ Entertainment. Visitors will get to wear in tux and cocktail dresses. An entrance fee of $50 will be charged.
Source:At this New Year’s Eve Celebration, You Can Walk the Titanic’s Grand Staircase Like Jack and Rose Travelers Today, 24 Dec 2017

3.For this deep-sea archaeologist, finding the Titanic at the bottom of the sea was just the start
It works like this: A researcher picks a project that lies along the route of E/V Nautilus, the 50-crew ­research ship Ballard commands. Ballard’s crew then sends a remote operated vehicle (ROV) to the research site. The ROV feeds video and data to the surface, which the crew beams to the Inner Space Center at the University of Rhode Island, which ­Ballard founded in 2009. Workers there post it to YouTube for public and scientific viewing. Among the images Ballard has ­given the world: mud-spitting volcanoes, barnacled World War II patrol boats, Byzantine amphorae (old clay jugs), and fuzz-covered iron-chewing microbes.
Source:For this deep-sea archaeologist, finding the Titanic at the bottom of the sea was just the start 23 Dec 2016, Popular Science

4. Fans of Bewitched will remember Bernard Fox as Dr Bombay while “A Night To Remember” fans will recall he was the lookout who spotted the iceberg. I recall him as the daffy Colonel Crittendon who was the bane of Colonel Hogan. Every time he showed up his naivete and incompetence would put Hogan’s plans in jeopardy. Most people remembered his face but not always his name. A shame since he was a very talented actor. He passed away recently in Van Nuys, California. He was 89. RIP
Source:Bernard Fox, Actor on Classic ’60s Sitcoms, Dies at 89 15 Dec 2016, New York Times

5. Now that Clive Palmer’s Titanic replica has effectively been shelled, the major media outlets now are reporting what readers of this blog already knew. There is a full size replica of Titanic being built in China. It will be permanently docked at theme park and will include a much criticized Titanic Sinking Simulator. You can read one such article at the New York Times.

Titanic Belfast (side view)
Image:Prioryman (Wikipedia)

6. It was not so long away when Belfast was devoid of any large scale Titanic exhibition or museum. That changed in 2012 when Titanic Belfast opened. And now it won the prestigious World Travel Award beating out serious competition making it the first Irish attraction to do this.
Source:Titanic Belfast named world’s best tourist attraction at Tourism Oscars 2 Dec 2016, Daily Mail

Premier Exhibitions Update
Premier Exhibitions Extension Sought
Premier Exhibitions filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court a motion proposing that the period during which the Debtors have the exclusive right to file a Chapter 11 plan be further extended through and including April 10, 2017, and, if a plan is filed on or prior to April 10, 2017, the exclusive period to gain acceptance of a filed plan be extended through and including June 10, 2017.
Source:Premier Exhibitions Extension Sought 19 Dec 206, Bankrupt Company News


Liverpool Seafarers’ Centre Calls China’s Titanic Sinking Simulator Disrepectful

The Grand Staircase of the RMS Olympic Photo:Public Domain (Wikipedia)
The Grand Staircase of the RMS Olympic
Photo:Public Domain (Wikipedia)

It is not the first criticism of this idea but it is the latest. Presently a full scale Titanic replica is being built for a Chinese theme park. Not a movie set type but the real thing that will be permanently docked. It will even rent out rooms so people can experience the era and even eat foods they did back then. It will also feature a sinking simulator so that you will feel, see, and hear the iceberg strike Titanic. John Wilson, chief executive of the Liverpool Seafarers’ Centre believes it is in bad taste. He is not against them have a Titanic attraction but thinks the sinking simulator is wrong.

“But having an attraction where it replicates what it’s like to sink is out of order and disrespectful to those who did lose their lives and their relatives. A lot of lives were lost and this is not something which sits easy.”

Source: Titanic theme park slammed as “disrespectful” by Liverpool Seafarers’ Centre(14 Jun 2015,Liverpool Echo)


Tuesday Titanic (and other stuff) Musings

Titanic-Not By Clive Palmer-Replica Gets Noticed
The fact that in 2017 visitors to a Chinese theme park will be able to board a full size Titanic replica is really played up all over the world. Not only will it look authentic, it will also serve food served on the famous liner, and even offer accomodations. Still not enough? Well you can experience the Titanic Sinking Simulator. They are spending $150 million on this tourist draw. Las Vegas style of entertainment is planned. You get the point. This is not like Titanic Belfast with its historic tours and ability to learn lots about Titanic. This is a Las Vegas style type of entertainment built on the grand scale.

Steven Spielberg posing with triceratops animatronic in 1993 on set of Jurassic Park. It was originally posted as a gag by a Facebook user but taken as serious by a whole lot of people including noted author Joyce Carol Oates in 2015.
Steven Spielberg posing with triceratops animatronic in 1993 on set of Jurassic Park. It was originally posted as a gag by a Facebook user but taken as serious by a whole lot of people including noted author Joyce Carol Oates in 2015.

The Ultimate Game Trophy of All Time
Steven Speilberg has made a lot of movies over his career. Most of them have done very well and even won awards. Jurassic Park, his 1993 adaptation of the excellent Michael Crichton novel, wowed audiences and made them believe the age of dinosaurs was back. Last year a photo circulated, taken in 1993, of Spielberg sitting in front of an animatronic dinosaur used in the movie. When I first saw the picture, I knew exactly what it was: a dinosaur and not a real one either. Well that picture caused some heat from animal rights people and generated all kinds of negative posts. It did not matter that this was of an extinct creature or that it was simply a glorified stage prop. Nope. Spielberg was roundly criticized for his cruelty. Except he had the last laugh when all those idiots were made as fools.

However noted author Joyce Carol Oates recently saw the picture and sent out a message on her Twitter account:

So barbaric that this should still be allowed… No conservation laws in effect wherever this is? https://t.co/hgavm9IBaM

— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) June 9, 2015

Oh dear. You do not know whether to laugh at her foolishness or utter “what an idiot!” Something has really gone off the rails when a simple photo of a director with a prop is misidentified as the real thing. It is logical fallacy at play that speaks of both ignorance and illiteracy. It goes something like this: My dog has four legs, a cat has four legs. Both have mouths and ears. Therefore my dog is a cat. You could it put off to other things but far too many people seem to follow this logic. Which why when pranksters put pictures of hunters standing over a supposed dead Yeti (a creature that so far has not proven to exist except in folklore and grainy photos) they get called all kinds of nasty names. One good thing came of this: I decided to re-watch Jurassic Park in the near future.

Your Egg Breakfast Is About To Become A Luxury Item
Chicken egg prices are rising fast to due a lot of hens being killed  due to bird flu. Not all the hens are infected but once it is found in one, the chances of it spreading are pretty good considering the close quarters hens are kept in. The result is that everything that uses eggs for commercial products are seeing massive price spikes. Meanwhile eggs needed for such production will have to be imported. The rising cost from all of this is already starting to be noticed in US eastern and middle sections. And spreading west. For the first time in recent memory, organic eggs will actually be the same price as regular eggs and perhaps, in some cases, a few cents cheaper. Even when the bird flu is over it will take a while for supplies to resume. Which means your plate of eggs at the local diner is going to get a lot more expensive or not available at all in some parts of the USA. Of course producers of duck, pigeon, and quail eggs might get some new business. And one ostrich egg equals about twenty chicken eggs. You will need a special drill,goggles, and a very large pan. 🙂