Titanic: A Century Later, MS Barmoral Traces Infamous Cruise Ship’s Journey
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Universal History Archive/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Hundreds of passengers boarded a cruise ship Sunday morning that will retrace the route of the RMS Titanic, exactly 100 years after the infamous ship set sail.
The Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on April 8, 1912, for New York, and on Sunday the MS Balmoral is doing the same thing.
The memorial cruise was the idea of travel agent Miles Morgan, and it sold out two years ago.
Morgan says he is not worried about icebergs.
“I’ll never say we’re not 100 percent on things, I’m just confident to say we’ve got the equipment to make it safe,” said Morgan.
Two passengers, Jane and Frank Allen, are tracing the trip of Jane Allen’s great aunt and uncle, who were passengers on the original journey. Thomas, 29, died that night. Edith, just 22, made it to a lifeboat and survived.
“I don’t think it’s ghoulish or macabre at all. But it was still quite unbelievable what happened that night,” said Jane Allen.
Frank Allen is haunted by the events that night a century ago.
“You look at the face of the man and wonder just how he met his end. He was never found. There was no body–he just disappeared on that night,” he said.
The Balmoral is nothing like the Titanic, but it too has 1,309 passengers, will be serving some of the same menus, and is tracing the Titanic’s route from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France, to Cobh, Ireland and then stopping at the wreck site for a memorial service on April 14.
The original Titanic apparently hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, which ripped open the hull. The cruise liner later sank.
Unlike the Titanic, this cruise is expected to make it to New York in ten days.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio