AN EXTRAVAGANT bash launched the Titanic II project in Southampton this morning.
At the gala breakfast at the Grand Cafe, 160 guests including business and community leaders, and Southampton's mayor, were shown plans for the ambitious project, which was launched by Australian mining magnate Professor Clive Palmer last week.
When it is launched from Southampton in 2016, the new ship will be a full-scale replica of the ill-fated liner which set off from the city in 1912.
The new ship will mirror the style and appearance of the original Titanic, with Prof Palmer saying it will provide a tribute to all those who died when the liner struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage to New York.
This morning's event, which was organised by the Blue Star Line, followed on from the global unveiling of the project on board the USS Intrepid in New York last Tuesday, and events in the Nova Scotian town of Halifax and London's Natural History Museum.
Although Prof Palmer was unable to attend the event, the project's global marketing director, James McDonald, said: “Southampton played a great role in the Titanic and so we came back here, in a way to pay our respects to that role, but also to the people who died on the original voyage.”
Guests, who included city council leader Richard Williams and the mayor and mayoress of Southamtpon, Cllr Derek Burke and Christina Burke, were treated to treated to an authentic breakfast which included lamb chops, gammon steak and shirred eggs.
Speaking this morning, Cllr Williams said: “I think if they can balance the need for respect with opportunity, it's going to be an important project for the city.
“It could be a massive benefit for Southampton, it will help keep us on the international stage and provide a real dynamism to the Titanic's legacy.”
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