From the AFR:
Whatever you do, don’t call it unsinkable.
That was the clear message in New York overnight as Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer unveiled the blueprints for his fate-tempting luxury cruise ship Titanic II.
Whatever you do, don’t let the classes mingle. That was also the word as Palmer revealed some rules for his shipping enterprise that bear striking similarity to the 1912 conventions that governed travel on the original Titantic’s single voyage.
“I’m not too superstitious,” the billionaire said when asked whether creating a ship named the Titanic II was asking for trouble. He bluntly addressed the question of whether or not the ship would be unsinkable, as White Star Line billed its then flagship vessel.
“Anything will sink if you put a hole in it … I think it would be very cavalier to say,” the jocular miner said, adding that “one of the benefits of global warming is there’s not as many icebergs in the North Atlantic”.
In a mining boom that has caused all sorts of strange changes, this is surely the most bizarre!
