Titanic II sinks on maiden voyage

When Mark Wilkinson took ownership of a cabin cruiser called Titanic II, perhaps he should have realised the omens were not good. When he took his new 16ft boat out for its maiden voyage, it lived up to its namesake, and sank.



Mr Wilkinson was left floundering as the vessel sprang a leak and began taking on water before disappearing beneath the waves. Holidaymakers looked on while Mr Wilkinson, from Birmingham, was pulled out of the sea by the local harbour master.

Titanic II was was later towed out of West Bay harbour in Dorset. Mr Wilkinson, aged in his 40s, said afterwards: "If it wasn't for the harbour master I would have gone down with the Titanic.



"It's all a bit embarrassing and I got pretty fed up with people asking me if I had hit an iceberg." One eye-witness said: "It wasn't a very big boat - I think an ice-cube could have sunk it!"