Titanic II – “I’m Flying” Feature

Large_Clive Palmer1 — Clive Palmer (Blue Star Line)

In the early days of the project, Clive Palmer, said that his Titanic II ship would have an “I’m flying” feature.

Now I assume that most people have seen James Cameron’s classic 1997 “Titanic” move? If you haven’t, shame on you, it’s wonderful.

Jack stands at the very bow of the Titanic and declares that he is “King of the world”. Later Jack and Rose share an intimate moment at the bow and she declares “I’m Flying”.

Palmer said that passengers would be able to stand at the bow of the Titanic II and emulate Jack and Rose’s “flying scene”. He suggested that their would be a camera on the bow, to capture the moment – then I guess he could sell you the picture (or video)?

Although this all sounds rather ‘silly’, I’m sure that it would be a tremendously popular feature, in this modern age of ‘Social Media’ and ‘Selfies’.

Stumbling Blocks

I can see a few very practical obstacles, to implementing this idea.

Firstly, most modern cruise ships do not allow passengers access to the bow for Health & Safety reasons.

In the case of the original Titanic, there is a ladder to negotiate, as the ‘forecastle’ deck, at the very bow of the ship, is raised quite considerably. (Ideally palmer would also need to provide disability access.)

Then there is quite a lot of equipment in the way of easy access, including a small crane, representing many possible trip-hazards. (Assuming Palmer recreates the original deck equipment exactly).

titanic_bow__cycles_render_3__by_cleptrophese_dcwxwnz-fullview — Rendering of RMS titanic Forecastle (Courtesy cleptrophese)

A second issue is that it simply would not be safe for passengers to stand on the bow railings of a ship – somebody would eventually fall off the ship.

Interestingly it is normally ALWAYS very windy and chilly, on transatlantic crossing, even in the summer. It is especially windy at the bow.

The speed of the ship (up to 23 knots) in part enhanced the headwind. At times it would even be difficult to walk to the bow, due to the force of the headwind. Miraculously in the movie, Jack & Rose only experienced a very gentle breeze!

The Solution

Palmer may well decide to make Titanic’s decks a little less crowded. I’m sure much of the deck equipment (on all outer decks) is not required by a modern ships and would definitely get in passengers way. I would probably be a Health & Safety risk, today.

The bow railing could be positioned a meter or two away from the edge of the ship, with a safety net. If/when somebody did fall, they would not actually fall off the ship into the sea.

However actually falling into the sea from Titanic II would make an excellent ‘viral’ YouTube clip!

Malcolm

Below: Unofficial video