Titanic II sinks on maiden voyage, lives up to its name

Mark Wilkinson's second-hand boat, which he rechristened as the Titanic II, behaved on its maiden voyage exactly as one might expect from a vessel with that name.
Mr. Wilkinson towed the 16-foot cabin cruiser, which he had just purchased for about $1,600, from his home in Birmingham, England, and set out on a fishing trip from West Bay harbor in Dorset on Saturday morning. On his way back, as the Titanic II made its way into the harbor and ... well, you can pretty much see this one coming

Is this another keen marketing campaign from Paramount for TITANIC’s 3D release?!  Not really.  It’s all just a little bit of history repeating.  Most people would have thought twice about buying a ship named the “Titanic II” but not Mark Wilkinson. Oh, no!  According to Yahoo News, the 44-year-old owner of the 16-foot cabin cruiser found himself clinging to the side of the boat as it slowly sank into the harbor.
I’m sure that when he left the harbor, Wilkinson felt like “the king of the world,” but not so much upon re-entry.That’s when the boat began to sink.  Amusingly enough, it was following a successful fishing trip.It was the vessel’s maiden voyage, though Wilkinson had bought the boat second hand, costing him a cool £1,000 (about $1,640).
“It’s all a bit embarrassing – I’m fed up with people asking me if I hit an iceberg,” he told the Sun.
Wilkinson even had to be rescued by the coast guard.  A large hole had opened up in the fiberglass hull as the ship came to dock in West Bay, Dorset in Great Britain.  April 15, 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the original Titanic, a disaster that claimed 1,517 lives.