Tag Archives: Isidor Straus

Titanic News for July 2, 2025

July 1, 2025 Mark Taylor

Simon Duke, “Charming North East Hotel With Dining Room Full of Titanic Fixtures,” Teesside Live, last modified June 28, 2025, https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/titanic-white-swan-nothumberland-hotel-31940059.

Screenshot of photo at Teeside Live
“Charming North East hotel with dining room full of Titanic fixtures” 28 June 2025

The White Swan Hotel in Alnwick, Northumberland, has a stunning dining room that’s home to furniture from the first class lounge of the ill-fated Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic. The White Swan has recently been spotlighted by the explorative website Atlas Obscura, known for uncovering hidden gems perfect for dining experiences. In its review of the Olympic Suite, the site stated: “This dining room is widely believed to be so similar to the Titanic’s that it has been used in films to represent the famous ship. In fact, when now-retired U.S. Navy officer Robert Ballard found fittings around the Titanic wreck, he used the lounge at the White Swan as a reference.

Christa Lawler and Christa Lawler, “Were There Minnesotans on Board the Titanic?,” last modified June 27, 2025, https://www.startribune.com/titanic-sinking-minnesota-passengers-1912/601370282.

Including the Snyders, there were 35 passengers aboard the Titanic “known to be journeying — or in some way connected — to Minnesota,” historian Christopher Welter wrote in a 2007 Minnesota History article. They came from a wide range of backgrounds, and included immigrants from Sweden, Finland and Norway who were traveling in steerage to join family or find work in Minnesota. Of all the first-, second- and third-class passengers with Minnesota ties, 16 survived, Welter wrote.

Gabbi Shaw, “See Inside Coe Hall, a 65-room Mansion Built by a Gilded Age Businessman Who Was Booked on the Titanic’s Return Voyage,” Business Insider, last modified June 21, 2025, https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-coe-hall-gold-coast-mansion-roaring-20s.

Coe Hall seen from the side.
GK tramrunner229 via Wikimedia Commons

In the village of Upper Brookville on Long Island, New York, you can step back 100 years — all you need to do is enter the Planting Fields Arboretum, a 409-acre state park that houses an expansive mansion, multiple greenhouses, gardens, and a tea house straight out of a fairy tale. The mansion, Coe Hall, was built by William Robertson Coe, an executive who succeeded in the insurance and railroad businesses, and his wife, Mai Rogers, an heiress to a fortune built on Standard Oil money. In fact, Coe was the president of the company that brokered the insurance for the hull of what was known as an unsinkable ship: the Titanic. He was even booked on the return voyage of the Titanic from New York City to England, per the Long Island Press.

Carver Fisher, “A Titanic Escape Simulator Game Is Going Viral & It’s Completely Fake,” Dexerto, June 20, 2025, https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/a-titanic-escape-simulator-game-is-going-viral-its-completely-fake-3217421/.

A game called Titanic Escape Simulator has been making waves from the moment screenshots of it began to spread online. However, the dev has pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes on this one: None of the screenshots on the store page for this game are real. They’re all AI. It has an official store page and a pending release window of 2026, but every single screenshot for the game is AI generated and almost no one has noticed. There are posts with hundreds of thousands of likes about this game that have people believing the screenshots they’re looking at are in-game footage and not AI.

Sophie Cridland, “Southampton Twin Sisters Clean Grave of First Titanic Captain,” last modified June 18, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e6ew2zzezo.

Herbert Haddock (first captain of RMS Titanic), circa 1930-1940
Source Genemeet via Wikimedia Commons
Original photo owned by family and used here for informational purposes.

Emma Stevens and Vicky Smith, who call themselves the Graveside Sisters, started cleaning graves in Hampshire cemeteries during lockdown. The pair, who came up with the idea during a walk through a cemetery, now run a fully-fledged grave restoration business. At the request of the British Titanic Society, they recently cleaned the grave of Captain Herbert Haddock, who died in Southampton on 4 October 1946. The society said it tried to contact his family ahead of commissioning the sisters but believes there are no surviving relatives. Captain Herbert sailed the Titanic from Belfast to Southampton from March 25 to 31 in 1912.

“LOST TITANIC NECKLACE RECOVERED AND REVEALED AFTER A CENTURY UNDERWATER AT TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION ORLANDO,” Press release, last modified June 17, 2025, https://www.wjhl.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/823104193/lost-titanic-necklace-recovered-and-revealed-after-a-century-underwater-at-titanic-the-artifact-exhibition-orlando/.

Orlando unveiled one of the rarest artifacts recovered from the ship’s wrecksite, the Black Glass Necklace, marking its first-ever public debut since 1912. In addition to revealing the Black Glass Necklace, Tomasina Ray, President and Director of Collections of RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST), and conservators at EverGreene led a live conservation demonstration of the two-ton section of the ship’s hull, Little Piece.

The newly conserved necklace was found and recovered in individual pieces and small fragments during RMST’s 2000 expedition. Upon inspection, this artifact revealed itself slowly through careful excavation from a recovered concretion: a hard, solid mass formed from several objects being physically and chemically fused due to the environmental conditions and immense pressure found at the wrecksite. Featuring black glass heart-shaped and octagonal beads woven in an intricate pattern, this necklace provides insight into the wrecksite’s environment and the ocean’s effects on material

Ian Burke, “Titanic Exhibition in Manchester to Open Next Month,” The Bolton News, June 15, 2025, https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/25237570.titanic-exhibition-manchester-open-next-month/.

Taking place from July 31 to August 24 at the Exchange Hall in Manchester Central, the Titanic Exhibition traces the liner’s short history from its construction at Harland & Wolff in Belfast to its unexpected sinking on its maiden voyage and eventual discovery at the bottom of the Atlantic. Both captains of the ships closest to the tragedy in April 1912 were Boltonians, with the skipper of the RMS Carpathia, Arthur Rostron, ordering his vessel to steam through the North Atlantic ice field towards the stricken boat.

Titan (submersible)
Becky Kagan Schott, OceanGate

“Titan Sub Disaster Still Spurring Global Calls for Deep-sea Safety Reforms,” Pniatlantic, last modified June 13, 2025, https://www.saltwire.com/newfoundland-labrador/titan-disaster-calls-for-deep-sea-safety-reforms.

Nearly two years after the catastrophic implosion of the Titan submersible claimed five lives during a descent to the Titanic wreck, the incident continues to shake the deep-sea exploration industry. The June 18, 2023, tragedy has sparked an international push for stricter regulation and oversight of commercial underwater expeditions. Investigators confirmed that Titan’s pressure vessel was made of carbon fibre, a material that experts say is vulnerable to stress degradation at extreme ocean depths. Industry-standard submersibles typically use titanium or steel to withstand intense pressure. Its observation window, certified only for 1,300 metres, fell far short of the Titanic site’s depth. Titan also lacked approval from any recognized maritime safety organization.

Kimberly Nhundu et al., “Titanic Couple Who Died in 1912 Share Chilling Link With OceanGate Tragedy,” Manchester Evening News, June 12, 2025, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/titanic-couple-who-died-1912-31839365.

Their final act of unity was captured in James Cameron’s cinematic masterpiece, Titanic, showing an elderly couple embracing as the ship went down. In a remarkable twist of fate, Wendy Rush, the wife of the late Titan inventor Stockton Rush, is revealed to be the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus

Lindsay Moore, lmoore@mlive.com, “Gold Pocket Watch From ‘Titanic of the Great Lakes’ Returns Home After 165 Years,” Mlive, June 11, 2025, https://www.mlive.com/life/2025/06/gold-pocket-watch-from-titanic-of-great-lakes-returns-home-after-165-years.html.

A gold pocket watch connects a Lake Michigan beach town to an English port town. It’s a homecoming 165 years in the making, weaving invisible strings between a British parliament member, a deadly shipwreck, treasure hunters and Michigan’s foremost expert on the ‘Titanic of the Great Lakes.’ The pocket watch was preserved underwater in the wreckage of the Great Lakes deadliest shipwreck for decades. This spring, it made its way home to England, hand delivered by a Michigan historian who has been studying the shipwreck for more than 30 years.

Tyler Piccotti, “Critics Say Stockton Rush Put Titan Divers at Risk. His Cofounder Still Supports the OceanGate Mission,” Biography, June 6, 2025, https://www.biography.com/history-culture/a64948344/oceangate-disaster-aftermath-cofounder.

On June 16, 2023, OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush and four other passengers left the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, for the thrill of a lifetime—a submersible dive to the sunken Titanic. Tragically, none of them returned to shore. “They knew what they were getting into,” OceanGate cofounder Guillermo Söhnlein said. “And yeah, and it’s just, it’s a sad thing that they died doing something that they were passionate about.”

Devarrick Turner, “Rare Titanic Artifacts Linked to a Real Love Story on Display at Pigeon Forge Attraction,” Knoxville News Sentinel, June 5, 2025, https://www.knoxnews.com/story/entertainment/2025/06/05/titanic-artifacts-from-real-life-love-story-on-display-in-pigeon-forge/83885433007/.

On display for now at the Pigeon Forge museum are a pocket watch recovered with Isidor Straus’ body and a letter written by his wife, Ida Straus, while aboard the RMS Titanic. Isidor was a co-owner of Macy’s department store. Ida sacrificed a seat on a lifeboat to remain on the ship with her husband until it sank. Only Isidor’s body was recovered. “It’s better than the Jack and Rose (story from the 1997 movie ‘Titanic’),” museum curator Paul Burns told Knox News.

Titanic News: Titanic Conspiracy?; Titanic II, and Jewish Titanic Passengers

September 6, 2021 Mark Taylor

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

House Belonging To A Titanic Survivor Still Stands In Toronto
BlogTO, 4 Sept 2021

There’s a house still standing in Toronto where a Titanic survivor and her family used to live during the 1920’s. Emma Bliss lived at 1063 Davenport Road in 1923, according to Encyclopedia Titanica, a crowdsourced community-based project that’s been collecting research on the Titanic for 25 years.
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Titanic Conspiracy Theory Claims the Ship Never Sank

Greek Reporter, 3 Sept 2021The Titanic never sank, claims one of the foremost –among the many– conspiracy theories about major world events. Almost a century after the naval tragedy, the far-fetched proposition presents the argument that the historic ship never sank and instead its sister ocean liner was wrecked in its place.–

Bow section of tanker SS Pendleton grounded near Pollock Rib lightship six miles off Chatham, Mass on the morning of Feb. 19, 1952.
Photo:Public Domain (U.S. Coast Guard)

T itanic II Might Sink Before It Sails
The Signal, 31 Aug 2021

Construction on the ship, which could cost over $1 billion, still had not begun. Again, the 2018 launch date passed with little word from Blue Star Line. Despite years of setbacks, many media outlets reported that Titanic II would finally sail in 2022. In a 2020 interview, Palmer stated that Blue Star Line had yet to select a launch date. Still, he insisted that Blue Star Line continues to work on the project. “The response has been incredible,” he said, with the company receiving over 30,000 expressions of interest. One hopeful guest, he added, offered over $1 million for a first-class cabin.

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Titanic Museum – Branson, MO
Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons)

Titanic Connections: Branson Museum Honors Jewish Passengers, Remembers Holocaust
Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 29 Aug 2021

One connection involved the Strauses. As research revealed, the Strauses’ nephew, Nathan, was a college friend of Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, when they were students at Heidelburg University in Germany, Kellogg says. “In 1909, Nathan Straus Jr. convinced his father to invite Otto Frank to New York to work at Macy’s,” the story continues. “Otto’s father encouraged this, believing it would be a good opportunity to practice English and learn about foreign commerce before Otto joined the family banking business in Frankfurt.”

Frank came to New York in September 1909 and returned to Germany in 1911, after his father’s death. Straus and Frank remained friends, even vacationing with their families in Switzerland in 1928, and when Frank needed help to try to get his family out of Holland in 1941, he wrote to Nathan Straus Jr. The families lost contact in November 1941, and Frank’s family went into hiding in July 1942

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Titanic Tours: What To Know About These Underwater Excursions
The Travel, 25 Aug 2021

It’s safe to say that when an iceberg pierced the Titanic on its maiden voyage just over 100 years ago, no one was thinking about turning the shipwreck into a tourist attraction. But now, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the sinking, some travel companies are offering tours of the site. Visitors can take an expensive excursion or they can simply look on Google, where the wreck is pictured in all its rustic, 3-D glory.

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Teacher, 31, Spends Eight Weeks Building Lego Replica Of The Titanic Using 25,000 Bricks That Capture Every Detail Of The Doomed Ship – As Well As The Iceberg
Daily Mail, 20 Aug 21

A Lego-mad teacher has built a replica of the Titanic, using 25,000 bricks to capture every detail of the doomed liner – right down to the iceberg which sealed its fate.

Titanic, Titanic X Files

From The Titanic X-Files:Business Insider Looks At Federal Reserve Conspiracy Theory

October 12, 2015

Mike Bird, who writes for Business Insider,was intrigued by a Titanic conspiracy he had learned about on the Internet. Various Titanic conspiracy theories have been around for a long time. This one involves Benjamin Guggeheim, Isidor Straus, and John Jacob Astor. All three men, so the theory goes, opposed the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve. So their deaths on Titanic were not coincidental but purposeful and by the Rothschilds. Bird tracked down this theory along with others(The Jesuit and Illuminati ones). Needless to say, he was not impressed (nor are most people when they read up on the facts).

He mentions at the close of his article something I had not heard about:

There’s also a lot of chatter about the idea that the Titanic should
not have sunk just because it hit an iceberg — a sort of
jet-fuel-doesn’t-melt-steel-beams for the early-20th century.

Frankly I am not surprised at all if some out there are taking this
line. Some have no concept, either through ignorance of what icebergs are or simply not understanding the forces involved, that a giant block of ice can cause such crippling damage to the unsinkable Titanic. So if it could not be the culprit, then of course it opens up a world of things to consider. I will leave it at that and still pursue my personal theory that Titanic was sunk by Marvin the Martian playing with his ray gun. 🙂

Source:
There’s a crazy conspiracy theory that the Rothschilds sank the Titanic to set up the Federal Reserve (12 Oct 2015, Business Insider)

Historic Ships, Miscellaneous, Titanic

Titanic Week In Review

October 11, 2014

1.Titanic Menu Up For Auction
BBC is reporting that a menu from Titanic’s first class restaurant will be auctioned off on 18 October by Henry Aldridge & Son. The menu, stuffed inside a coat pocket, is expected to fetch £70,000($112,528). A deck plan used to help a survivor find the way to a lifeboat on Titanic will be auctioned off as well.

2. Ancient Wreck Dubbed Titanic of Ancient World Proving To Be Treasure Trove
The 2,000-year-old Antikythera shipwreck in Greece is the focus of a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) expedition reports LiveScience.com. The ship likely sank between 70 B.C. and 60 B.C while on its way from Asia Minor to Rome. It was found by sponge divers in 1900 and early efforts to retrieve valuables proved costly in human lives. Some of the earlier items brought up back then included bronze and marble statues of heroes and horses, jewelry, furniture, glassware and a a complex astronomical calculator called the Antikythera mechanism. Jacques Cousteau also dived to the sunken ship and brought up some amazing items as well. This most recent expedition from Sept. 15 to Oct. 7 also brought up some fascinating items as well. Also the dive allowed for the use of rebreathers to allow divers to spend more time down exploring the wreck. They also used high resolution 3D maps of the site that showed it much larger than previously thought. Another expedition is being planned for next year.

3. Premier Exhibitions Facing Stronger Criticism Over Bodies Exhibition
As noted in an earlier posting, human rights activists in Toronto is calling for the seizure of the human bodies on display claiming many of the Chinese included were imprisoned or killed by that government. The Toronto Sun reports that Choose Humanity spokesman Joel Chipkar says the cadavers on display (which include men, women and children)were executed for engaging in such acts as belonging to group such as Falun Gong. Premier Exhibitions has not issued a formal response to the allegation.

4. If You Have $10.9 Million This Former Straus Property Could Be Yours
The Straus inheritors wanted to live big in Red Bank, New Jersey. So they decided to build a huge estate on 29,000 square feet that would have included a 27-room chateau had the Great Depression not slowed down and ended construction. They did build some fine buildings based on 18th century Provence and imported nearly everything to make it look right. What could not be imported was made by French and Italian artisans who came over to do the job. It was sold in 1951 and the houses became part of a co-op. This being a very wealthy area though, it was not a commune but a very nice place for those with lots of money to live in a lovely estate and share common amenities like a pool (important on those hot summer days). Now the whole thing is up for sale. Just fork over $10.9 million and it is yours. Pool included.

Not Titanic
1. I like the ABC show Castle. And like everyone was stunned at how last season ended. We are now two episodes into this season and this is what we learned:that Richard Castle has a very dark secret. And somehow that caught up with him just before the wedding. And he apparently, in conjunction with others to cover it up (possibly not by choice), staged the disappearance and likely used drugs of some kind to permanently loose those memories. Does anyone think the movie Total Recall is being done on us just with a Castle twist? Personally it would have been more likely had old enemies of his father had staged it. Hey, maybe they did for all we know. Not really liking this at all. One hopes down the road Kate does not wake up to find it is the day of the wedding and all that happened really was a dream.

2. Hells Kitchen continues its tradition of D list cooks who seemingly fall apart under the intense scrutiny of Chef Hell (Ramsay) and his assistants. It is becoming easier though to pick the ones that are clearly just there to cause problems in the group.

3. Someone needs to tell the folks over at Amazing Race we really do not care or need to know someone really had to go to the bathroom bad during the race. But we also found out in the first episode that some people really are quite stupid. One of the real estate gals actually said the sun rises in the west and settles in the east. The stunned looks on the two who heard her say that was funny. Needless to say the real estate gals were eliminated. Hopefully by now they have figured where the sun actually rises and sets. And it has been doing it exactly that way for a very long, long time.

That’s all folks!

Titanic Miscellaneous

If You Have $10.9 Million This Former Straus Property Could Be Yours

October 8, 2014

In Red Bank, New Jersey the children of Isidor and Ida Straus decided to build a huge estate called Cobble Close in the 1920’s. It was modeled on 18th century Provence and no expense was spared to get the best of everything. Anything that could not be imported was built to on site by French and Italian artisans who immigrated to America for the job. The huge expanse of space-29,000 feet–allowed them to plan a majestic 35-bedroom chateau (not built), orangery, a barn and a caretaker’s cottage. The Great Depression slowed and ended the construction. The Straus family sold it in 1951. The estate buildings were turned into homes and a co-op was created so that the building owners could share use of the pool and other things.

Now it is up for sale, the entire estate. The buildings look really good as do the interiors. The area itself is quite wealthy and rated a nice area to live in. With 29,000 feet, you can certainly find a place to escape from the cares of the world. Just fork over $10.9 million and it is all yours.

Source:Macy’s Family Built This Frozen-In-Time Compound Between Titanic Disaster And Depression(6 Oct 2014,Zillow Blog)

Titanic, Titanic 2012

Titanic Musings

April 30, 2012

With the 100th anniversary of Titanic’s sinking over, things have quieted down. News wires were jammed with Titanic themed stories, sometimes just repeating what others wrote. There were remembrances galore, Titanic dinners, heartfelt commemorations. And then inevitably come the commentators all trying to write that piece that sums up Titanic. I lit a candle and watched the movie A Night To Remember based on Walter Lord’s book of the same name. Though we have modern treatments like Cameron’s and a recent BBC miniseries, this movie still resonates.

I recommend the Criterion collection version which has commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall. They provide lots of interesting details, historical and otherwise, to the movie. The movie does a good job of visualizing Lord’s book but does shift around some things and not always historically accurate (like the opening scene which depicts a ceremony christening Titanic which never happened). Captain Smith comes across as more decisive in the movie but in actuality less so. The movie tends to show the crew working better than in reality in lowering lifeboats. On Titanic most of the crew and officers were unfamiliar with the ship and there were no drills. We see also how frightening it was to step into those boats seeing how far down they had to be lowered. We also see two very different reactions to Titanic’s sinking on California and Carpathia.

The depiction of Lord in that movie caused the real Captain Lord to seek a new investigation believing he had been unfairly maligned. Lord came under severe criticism in 1912 for failing to act. Conflicting testimony and Lord’s own statement the ship seemed to steam away gave rise to theories of a third ship, but that has never been proven. What is damning is that neither the officers or him were that interested in that ship to wake-up the wireless operator. Had they done so the SOS would have been heard. Rostron on Carpathia sprung into immediate action once he got the information and immediately set off. It is that standard that Lord, fair or not, is held to. Now had Lord had learned the same information at the same time as Carpathia, the outcome would have been the same. Both would have arrived long after the sinking and most passengers had died. So to blame Lord for Titanic deaths is a stretch and both of those captains heeded the ice warnings and stopped for the night while Captain Smith sped on.

There are many stories associated with Titanic and one notable is about Isidor and Ida Straus. When Isidor declined a seat on a lifeboat insisting that women and younger men be saved before him, Ida declined a seat saying “I will not be separated from my husband.” As we have lived so will we die together.” It is one of those stories, told by witnesses afterwords, that had a lingering impact on people who learned of it. Such a remarkable show of love and devotion tends to do that. While most people learn that Isidor Strauss owned Macy’s not much else is reported about his life. Wikipedia has a biographical sketch but does not give you a feel for who he really was.

Thankfully an article in Jewish Ideas Daily does. Born in 1845 in Otterberg, Germany, his family immigrated to America in 1854 and settled in Talbotton, Georgia. While his family was Jewish, the family no longer was observant and ate bacon from their own smokehouse. He tried enlisting in the Confederate Army but was too young (16) and spent the war working as a store clerk. After the war the family moved to New York where he and his brother Nathan ran a shop selling family glassware and crockery at Macy’s Department Store. By 1896 both Isidor and Nathan took over ownership after the Macy family decided to sell making Isidor a very wealthy man.

Despite having no Jewish education and a secularist, he supported many Jewish institutions and causes even many he did not agree with. He was ardently anti-Zionist and wrote scathingly of its cause. His brother Nathan though was a supporter after a trip to the Holy Land. Ida was more appreciative of Jewish traditions reminding her grown children to remember Pasach and to eat Matzos. Like many he believed himself no longer Jewish but assimilated. Isidor and Ida’s deaths was mourned. Many Jews had died on Titanic but their story was the most well known. Memorial services were held in many places, a park in their name opened three years later (Straus Park). There is a memorial plaque on the first floor of Macy’s in New York, a public school named after them, and Straus Hall at Harvard (a gift from his three sons).

Walter Lord Still Lives On

Walter Lord’s A Night To Remember first published in 1955 is enjoying record sales, print and e-versions. According to an AP report, 30,000 downloads of the e-edition were recorded by Open Road Integrated Media–the digital publisher. This is an excellent book. Check your local library to see if they have the old or newer editions of the book. It is worth reading and Lord’s excellent writing style does not disappoint. His book about Dunkirk is also highly praised. Worth a read if you come across it.

The Dark Side of Titanic

Gerry Adams penned an op-ed piece in the Irish Echo about Titanic. Adams, of course, was one of those agitating against the British in Northern Ireland for many years. So it comes as no surprise, despite the peace accords, that he would take a whack at British dominated Ireland in 1912. Harland & Wolff did not hire many Catholics, some were expelled, beaten or even killed. He writes further of the bad conditions Catholics endured and the divisions festered by government and business owners. It is interesting that while Adams praises the promising jobs created by Titanic themed building in Belfast, he wants no one to forget the society that built it. He praises Titanic but rues the society that built it.

Here We Go Again….Titanic II

Right after James Cameron’s movie came out there were people saying they wanted to build Titanic II. Nothing came of them, except lots of chatter on the Internet. Fast forward to 2012 and guess what? Some very rich guy who lives down under wants to build Titanic II. Oh and with Chinese help! It is his money, of course, so he is free to spend it as he wishes. However one wonders if it all just publicity stunt for something else. Whatever. Not holding my breath for tickets available for Titanic II in the near future.

Tacky Titanic:

Need I say more?

Titanic News Channel