The expected approval of the Dinoking merger with Premier Exhibitions took place on 29 Oct 2015. According to the press release, the merger transaction will take place in the next few days. Upon merger completion, Daoping Bao will be appointed the president and chief executive officer of the company. Some shareholders have expressed the hope that Bao will fix the problems caused by poor management of the company.
Titanic mural at Newtownards Road and Dee Street in Belfast, NI. (Andy Welsh,http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallrevolution/68715920/)
An iconic Titanic mural painted in 2003 had become shabby looking due to weathering. Located at the corner of Newtownards Road and Dee Street in Belfast, the mural had become a destination for bus and taxi tours. Painted in black and white, the mural honors the ship and the workers who built it. John Stewart, who was the artist who created the mural, was able to raise £3,000 ($4,595 USD) to help complete the restoration that took six weeks.
“I’m delighted with how it looks now and I can’t wait to start my next project.”
(John Stewart to Belfast Telegraph)
Online auctioneer To Auction Off Titanic Lunch Menu Lion Heart Autographs of New York is auctioning off a rare Titanic lunch menu and other artifacts on 30 Sep 2015. The menu is signed in pencil by first class passenger Isaac Gerald Frauenthal. A ticket from the weighing chair in the Turkish baths and a letter written by survivor Mabel Francatelli to Abraham Lincoln Salomon are also being auctioned at the same time. The menu is expected to fetch between $50,000-$70,000, the ticket $7500-$10,000, and the letter $4,000-$6,000.
Source: Last Lunch Menu And Artefacts From Titanic’s Number One Lifeboat Auctioned(31 Aug 2015,The Guardian)
Titanic II or Titanic III? Maritime Executive reports on the new time frame for Titanic II but looks at the Chinese replica being built in China as another possibility for Titanic enthusiasts. The article does not add anything new about Titanic II or the Chinese replica but sort of raises the question as to which one would you rather experience. Assuming of course if Palmer’s Titanic II ever gets built.
Source:Titanic II or Titanic III(30 Aug 2015,Maritime Executive)
Michel Navaratil Remembered At Bratislava Titanic Exhibition Michel Navaratil, who perished when Titanic sank but got his two sons into lifeboats,is being remembered as part of a Titanic exhibition in Bratislava, Slovakia. Navratil was born in Sered’ in 1880 and left for France at age 20. There he met Marcella Caretto with whom he had two sons: Michel and Edmond. After learning his wife had cheated on him, he decided to take his sons to the United States. Sadly he never made it but his kids survived causing a worldwide search for his relatives. Ultimately their mother found about them and they returned to France. The exhibition runs until 6 Dec 2015.
Titanic Wreck Bow Image: Public Domain (NOAA-http://www.gc.noaa.gov/images/gcil/ATT00561.jpg)
Protecting Titanic: A Bit Too Late To Make A Difference
One of the raging controversies that divides (and still divides)the Titanic community was salvage. When Titanic was found in 1985, two miles down and in international waters, it meant no country could claim it within their borders. A company called RMS Titanic Inc (now part of Premier Exhibitions)went out and brought up some artifacts. It then went to federal court in the United States (in the United States the federal courts have original jurisdiction on maritime claims)and made a salvage claim. Since they had actual artifacts and the company that once owned the ship is gone (technically it became part of Cunard but it made no attempt to exert any legal claim on the wreck), they were awarded salvor-in-possession. One insurance company (which paid money out on a claim when Titanic sank)reached a settlement with RMS Titanic, Inc. The rest, as it is said, is history and the artifacts brought up now comprise Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition.
There was a brief tourist business in having people dive to the wreck. It was hideously expensive and there was some minor legal kerfuffle by RMS Titanic Inc to stop it (they lost). But that has pretty much died away. The wreck itself, like all wrecks, is being slowly eaten up by the sea (microbes and other organisms)and will be nothing more in a decade or more. Hardly anyone dives to it anymore. RMS Titanic Inc gave up its salvage claim and has been trying–unsuccessfully so far–in selling the Titanic collection. Now word comes Canada wants an exception to its claim of territory so it can claim the wreck as being in its waters. Huh? This makes no sense at all except as a publicity stunt. The wreck is disintegrating, some say accelerated by the diving down to it by salvagers and tourists. It might have made sense way long ago but it is far too late to make any difference now. It sounds nice though, from the government point-of-view, that we are taking steps to preserve the final moments of this disintegrating wreck. Too bad no one asks the obvious question why they waited till 2015 when they could have tried it back in 1985.
Source:The Way the Titanic Is Treated May Be About to Change(2 Sep 2015,Newser)
[Note-during the summer months I will only update Titanic news weekly unless it is something really big.]
1. Titanic Half Marathon Panned As Shambles
Runners are not shy about telling when things are not done right. The Titanic Half and 10K Marathon was anything but well received by those who ran it. Complaints were aplenty: not well marked route, the half marathon was not really a half marathon, no first aid stations for runners after the race, one ambulance for the race, and probably the worst was not enough portable toilets. An investigation has been launched by the governing body.
Source: Organiser Defends Belfast’s Titanic Half Marathon Branded ‘A Shambles’ By Runners(14 Jul 2015,Belfast Telegraph)
2. Titanic Experience Cobh Seeking Stories From Those Who Migrated Away On White Star Ships
Many sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle left in the 1900’s and Titanic Experience in Cobh wants to hear their stories of travels on White Star ships. Cobh was a major departure point and their last look at Ireland as they sailed away usually forever. They are asking for relatives to share stories so they can be recorded. Local people are being asked to help as well with whatever they have as well. To submit a story or to obtain further information you can contact them via email at email stories@ titanicexperiencecobh.ie. They want to compile the stories for an exhibition in August.
Source: Cobh Centre Seeks Stories Of Exile From Queenstown(13 Jul 2015,Irish Examiner)*
Photo: The Spanish Titanic Foundation
3. Calling Columbo: Mystery Plaque Shows Up But Where Was It For So Many Years?
A Titanic commemorative plaque given to Lord Pirrie in 1912 ended up in Spain and now with the Spanish Titanic Foundation. The plaque is inscribed Titanic below the moniker “Queen of the Ocean” along with ships departures date. The story is that a British man in need of cash sold it to an art dealer in Barcelona, Spain. It was acquired by the dealer’s grandson who hung it in his home and recently loaned it to Spanish Titanic Foundation. The plaque had been in Pirrie’s office and then disappeared until 2003. All kinds of questions arise about its provenance as a result. One assumes they have authenticated it is the real plaque through forensic testing. There is also an open question as to how it came to be in the hands of some, as of yet unidentified, British citizen who decided to sell it for cash. Considering the popularity of Titanic, why was it sold to an art dealer in Barcelona when it could have commanded a much higher price at well known auction houses in the UK? Skeptics will wonder whether the reason is that the person selling it might have a hard time proving they had legal possession or that it might be a fake. The mystery continues.
Source: Long-Lost Plaque From The Titanic Turns Up In Spain After More Than A Century(10 Jul 2015,The Independent)
*Due to policy of demanding payment for links for Republic of Ireland newspapers, links are no longer provided.
According to Ecns.com, Chinese government owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) is now building parts for the full Titanic replica. The replica will be the main attraction at Seven Star’s planned theme park in Daying where it will be permanently docked. It is scheduled to open in 2017. U.S. based designers are working with Seven Star to develop precise dimensions and layout. The replica will meet all current safety standards and is estimated to cost $161 million or 1 billion yuan. The sinking simulator apparently will be a separate simulation in the same theme park.
As for Clive Palmer’s Titanic replica, not a word.
Nantucket Titanic Deck Chair Photo: Henry Aldridge & Son
A rare Titanic deck chair was recently auctioned by Henry Aldridge & Son for the princely sum of £100,000, The chair was one of six or seven that were found in the Atlantic by ships sent out to retrieve bodies from Titanic. This particular one originally belonged to Captain Julien Lemarteleur. Due to its fragility, the anonymous seller kept it as a display piece in a large window with a sea view.
The name of the buyer was not released but was from the U.K.
Source: Tropenmuseum,G.F.J. (Georg Friedrich Johannes) Bley (Fotograaf/photographer)
Back in 2012 it was reported that rubber blocks were washing up in the UK and northern Europe with the word Tjipetir engraved on it. Titanic was suggested as the source but Tracey Williams of Newquay, Cornwall possibly has determined the source BBC News is reporting. These rubber blocks were gutta-percha from an Indonesian rubber plantation named Tjipetir and were cargo on Titanic. But Williams thinks after charting where the blocks have been found and learning information from two sources that it is from the wreck of a Japanese cargo ship sunk in World War 1. Specifically the Miyazaki Maru which was sunk 150 miles west of the Isles of Scilly.
She learned that during the salvage large amounts of gutta-percha and rubber bales were released from the ship’s hold. And of course they are picked up by the current and tossed around in the ocean until it lands on a beach somewhere. It turns out that the Miyazaki Maru was sunk by the same U-Boat captain who sank the Lusitania in 1915–Walther Schwieger who was one of Germany’s top U-Boat captains during the war. He died in 1917 when his U-Boat struck a British mine while being chased by HMS Stonecrop.
It is speculated that these rubber blocks may be washing up on UK and northern Europe beaches for years to come. It is possible there is more than one source of these blocks as many ships carrying them were sunk during the war. And there still is the possibility some might be from Titanic.
HMHS Britannic seen during World War I. Image:public domain
1. David Reynolds, age 55, decided to do something to commemorate HMHS Brittanic, Titanic’s sister ship that served in World War I. So he made a matchstick model comprised of 50,000 matchsticks, glue, varnish to build his 5 foot model. And it looks pretty good from the picture in the news article. It took him 700 hours to build the model, which is radio-controlled and water tested. He has built matchstick models before. His 23 foot tall oil rig “Cathedrals of the Sea” is at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in Florida and a world record for the largest matchstick structure. The article does not reveal what he plans to do with the completed model.
Source: Remarkable Matchstick Model Of Titanic’s Sister Ship HMHS Britannic(1 May 2014,Daily Echo)
Sewol at the moment of capsizing Photo:Korea Coast Guard
2. As we learn more about the sinking of the South Korean ferry more sad stories are emerging about its final moments. The ferry had lots of school students aboard and footage from cell phones are know surfacing, In one the kids, who do not know how dire the situation was, were heard to say ‘This is like Titanic.’ Cries of desperation are also heard in kids saying they did not want to die, this looks like the end, or asking to call mom. More harrowing are images of an arm banging on glass to get the attention of rescuers and then sadly the ferry sinks out of range of the rescuers leaving the trapped to their doom. The footage is now part of the official investigation as to what happened. The captain has been detained and facing charges as are several crew members. Two employees of the ferry’s owner have also been detained. And now we learn that there were structural issues as well. Another ship captain warned of the instability caused by adding more cabins to the ferry. All in all, this is a major screw-up and preventable tragedy. Out of 476 passengers, 174 survived. 2 crew members also perished.
Source:It’s Like The Titanic!’: Harrowing footage from aboard doomed South Korean ferry shows students joking and laughing when ship begins to capsize(1 May 2014,Daily Mail)
Poster Advertising Vinolia Otto Soap for Titanic Image:Public Domain
3. In advertising before its sinking, Vinolia soap advertised it was being used on Titanic. In the movie A Night To Remember, Lightoller pokes fun at the advertising in the rail car scene at the beginning of the movie (in fact the actor had a reproduction of the ad he was looking at for the scene). The Vinolia Soap Works were once located in Bebington, UK , which is where a Unilever building stands today. It was a pricey soap back then costing 35 cents a bar so only people with money to spend could afford it. It was advertised as a cold cream bath soap that had “both antiseptic and antibacterial thanks to the boracic creams used in the recipe.” Vinolia was the only product given permission to advertise its connection to Titanic before the maiden voyage. The company itself was bought in the 1900’s by Lever Brothers and now part of Unilever. You can still buy the soap today but packaging may vary. At the Vermont Country Store, two bars sell for $16.00 and come in standard packaging bearing the name Vinolia. Sometimes it is packaged to show its Titanic connection such as on Amazon. As far as I can tell, they are the same product just different packaging (and prices do vary so shop accordingly).
Source:Bebington Soap Deemed Suitable For The Titanic(30 April 2014,Wirral News)
4. Denise Sheldon writes in The News Herald about how the first class ate on Titanic. They ate very well as many already know. She notes the excellent book, Last Dinner on the Titanic(Rick Archbold and Dana McCauley), as part of her article on the subject. She mentions something that does not get a lot of mention when discussing food and that its preparation was nearly all done by hand. Although Titanic had the best cooking facilities at the time, it required a huge staff to do all the prep work needed for every meal. Remember there were no food processors back then, blenders, standing mixers etc. Which meant you had to hand chop just about everything. Now that does not mean they were without any labor saving devices. They had food mills (hand cranked like the one I have to put my cooked potatoes through to make mashed potatoes), sieves, ovens, toaster racks etc. Just lower tech than what he are used to today. Today when we have tons of veggies to dice up for a crowd, we use a food processor. Back then you had teams of people to do all that chopping for every meal. At any rate Sheldon also finds a recipe, adapted for our time, with Chicken Lyonnaise. I do add a small caveat to it. I would recommend using real chicken stock rather than a broth, which are usually insipid for recipes like this. Swanson’s does have a highly rated chicken stock (highly rated by Cook’s Illustrated) or simply make your own.
Source:Titanic’s Passengers Enjoyed Fabulous Fare(30 April 2014,The News Herald)
5. The Titanic Hotel at Stanley Dock in Liverpool (not to be confused with Albion House, former home of White Star Line that is being converted into a hotel by Signature Living) is set to open in June. According to Bay Tv Liverpool:”The highly-anticipated hotel launch at Stanley Dock, Liverpool will be the first of a multi-staged redevelopment at Stanley Dock Village, which will transform the former Tobacco and South Warehouses, into an innovative residential, business, retail, educational and leisure complex.” The name Titanic Hotel is meant to concrete its connection to Titanic Centre in Belfast. While the development is certainly a positive, it certainly will be confusing to have two Titanic hotels in Liverpool. One at the old offices of the White Star Line and the other at Stanley Dock. Then again they city probably can handle two hotels centered around Titanic but it means tourists will have to be keen on which one they will want to visit. Titanic Hotel Set To Open On Historic Site In Liverpool(30 April 2014,Bay TV Liverpool)
1. Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Partners With Crossmedia to Re-envision Exhibition Marketing Strategy (19 Dec 2013,Wall Street Journal-press release)
Many of the exhibitions have been touring for a number of years and in some instances, have been in their respective markets for five plus years,” said Elizabeth Natwick, the new vice president of marketing that recently joined Premier Exhibitions. “While the concept of the exhibit and the content is evergreen and transcends generations, the way we interact with the public in terms of messaging and marketing should be evaluated and updated, and we are looking forward to doing just that with Crossmedia.”
2. Deep Subterranean Microbe Thrives On Iron And Oil(19 Dec 2013,RedOrbit)
The team found that the bacteria are able to utilize iron and nitrogen from their surroundings and recycle scarce nutrients to meet their metabolic needs. The superstructure of the sunken Titanic is being consumed by another member of the same group, named the Halomonas titanicae. The researchers also found that the microbes living in the deep sandstone deposits of the Illinois Basin were capable of metabolizing aromatic compounds, a common component of petroleum.
3. Probably Coming Out Next Halloween:Ghostly Queen Mary Supernatural Thriller To Set Sail(18 Dec 2013,Bleeding Cool)
Described as “The Shining on a ship,” the untitled film will be a supernatural thriller that taps into the Queen Mary’s own sordid reputation as one of the 10 most haunted places in America (as declared by Time magazine in 2008). One cabin is said to be haunted by someone who was murdered there, while others have claimed to have heard children playing in the nursery.
Warning! Titanic Cliche Ahead
4. Titanic Cliche Alert: Headline for Perez Hilton claims The Voice sinking like Titanic: The Voice Finale’s Ratings Sink Like The Titanic!(18 Dec 2013,Perezhilton.com)
The actual commentary never mentions Titanic so the headline is just an attention grabber. Nice try. Except of course none of those on The Voice had to leave a sinking ship on a very cold night with too few lifeboats to save them. Bad analogy Perez. For that you get the fractured finger Titanic Cliche Award.
In its most recent financial report, Premiere Exhibitions announced the following:
While both parties have worked diligently to finalize a transaction to transfer the Titanic assets, the Company terminated the non-binding LOI with the Hampton Roads consortium effective today. Mr. Weiser stated, “We always believed that Hampton Roads was an ideal location for the permanent home of the collection and the proposed transaction met our criteria of price, court satisfaction and tax efficiency. However, this group has failed to secure sufficient financing so we believe the Company needs to focus on pursuing alternatives to effect a sale of these assets for the benefit of shareholders. From the Company’s perspective, we view the termination of the LOI not as the end but as a new beginning for the process; one that will get us closer towards finalizing this in a manner that fulfills our shareholders’ expectations and satisfies the requirements of the court.”
The actual names behind this consortium has never been reported but the Virginian-Pilot reports that at one time The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News had been negotiating but could not raise the money.
Premiere also announced its second-quarter revenue was done by 42% from the same period last year. Gross profit dropped by half to $4 million compared to $8.2 million a year ago. Hurricane Sandy hurt when it forced closure of Manhattan Titanic along with more money being spent elsewhere on the 100th anniversary of Titanic sinking.
The expected approval of the Dinoking merger with Premier Exhibitions took place on 29 Oct 2015. According to the press release, the merger transaction will take place in the next few days. Upon merger completion, Daoping Bao will be appointed the president and chief executive officer of the company. Some shareholders have expressed the hope that Bao will fix the problems caused by poor management of the company.
1. Titanic Half Marathon Panned As Shambles
