Nomadic, Titanic & other historic vessels

[Renegadenemo]

I once dived a wreck that we'd only ever seen in really poor visibility due to its proximity to the mouth of the Tyne only to find the water crystal clear and the whole ship visible from one end to the other. There in the stern deck was a perfectly circular hole about ten feet across and in the bottom was a 20mm, Oerlikon AA cannon sat bolt upright. Its circular mounting plate and the heavy gun had literally dropped through the rust-thinned deck.
Two minutes later I was stood, finger on the trigger, blazing away at imaginary, HE111s through the hole above - you can blame the old nitrogen narcosis for that.
I always wonder whether these ships sank on a calm, moonlit night, in bright sunshine or in the middle of a storm. I wonder who was lost and who got off and what it must have been like as the ship was rent by a torpedo or mine explosion and what the scene on board must have been like as she settled and sank.

[Mike Bull]

Preliminary plans for Clive Palmer's Titanic II have been released...

http://media.news.com.au/fe/2012/07/titanic2plans/doc/titanic-ii-plans.pdf

Looks like she's gained a deck- the new 'safety deck'(!)- and is wider with a broad curving frontage to her bridge, will have a pair of thruster pods in place of the old triple screws, different masts, different stem profile...

[klingon]

Closer inspection reveals that no-one can do the "flying" scene from the bow or look over the stern either-both covered in

[Pullman99]

Don't get me started on paintings / art.. £45m for a piece of "art" that has little to no significance to British culture is a little OTT!

And.. there's more. The latest art drain supported by the HLF amidst general loss of funding (did I mention The Olympics?) for truly important heritage projects. The City of Oxford does seem to have ended up with a bargain, however. Thought they might have been doing it for the Monet, but it turns out that it's by Manet. Still, made an Impression(ist) on me!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-19164978

[Mike Bull]

Oh dear...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19598868

[jonwrightk7]

indeed!

[tony]

It does look awful sat on top of the glasshouse....
And of course, how much of it is original now?

[Renegadenemo]

You have to remember that 2% (yeah, right) was lost in the fire so you have to factor in the extra teak from the dismantled Indian schoolhouse and the salvaged WWI cargo. Then there's the plywood deck with a thin veneer of real wood over it. Then you have to factor out the original ballast stone that they threw out to lighten the job before hoisting their boat into the sky to make it into some sort of tea clipper Disneyland ride and this is essentially the same lot who told us we couldn't rebuild K7 because it would be destroying history.

[Richie]

thats awesome that ! i take it i am looking at the newest exhibit for the pirates show in vegas ?

[Renegadenemo]

Unfortunately it all has to be about sustainability these days. It would be nice to build a quaint little sailing ship but it would only appeal to a spoonful of anoraks as the years went on but by turning it into Disneyland it can be sold to a much wider audience. Corporate entertainment, weddings, that sort of thing, so at least we still have a Cutty Sark. OK, so it looks a bit of an abortion stuck on top of that glass bauble but it'll grow on us and ultimately it ought to be a sustainable attraction. Hope so, anyway.