Within ten years, the Titanic may have completely disappeared, eaten away by salt and bacteria. Then the famous ship can no longer count on its one legend to survive. A legend still alive, attests to the amusement park bearing his effigy in China, but also a message found on a beach in Canada and potentially written by one of the passengers.
"I'm throwing this bottle into the sea in the middle of the Atlantic. We have to get to New York in a few days."
This message is the one found in 2017 in a bottle washed up on a beach in Canada.
So, is it the work of a passenger on the Titanic?
Could he have drifted a hundred years at sea?
The first results leave room for doubt still fascinate today, like the liner deemed unsinkable but the victim of a shipwreck in 1912. As proof, an amusement park dedicated to its legend will soon see the light of day in China.
Two stories which demonstrate that the mythical ship has lost none of its power of fascination.
Was this letter really written by a passenger on the ship?
The bottle in the sea, first. What we do know is that the signatory of the letter, Mathilde Lefèvre, was indeed on the ship's passenger list. She was a 12-year-old girl from Liévin in France, who was traveling in third class with her mother and siblings to join her expatriate father in the New World. A father who will unfortunately never see his family again after the shipwreck.
The material findings also suggest that the bottle may well date from the beginning of the 20th century, given its chemical composition and the quality of the glass. The same goes for the paper and the ink used. However, it is difficult to understand how the bottle was discovered in 2017, 105 years later, on the Canadian coast. The probability that the sea currents of the time carried it towards Europe was indeed much higher.
Another element that raises questions: handwriting.
It seems a little too personal for a little girl, far from the cursive standard taught in the schools of the Third Republic.
Conclusion therefore for the moment: scientists still can not pronounce and definitively rule out the possibility of a hoax, which would be both cruel and brutally well done.
A future amusement park in China
The Titanic therefore continues to fascinate all over the world. Like the excessiveness of the ship, a pharaonic project is emerging in China: a replica is being built in the middle of the fields, in the southwest of the country. It will be a future amusement park. This life-size reproduction for the moment only looks like a vast cluster of jails surrounded by scaffolding. But it is a copy as only the Chinese know how to make. From the dining room to the door handles, everything conforms to the original, which still lies at a depth of 4,000 meters.
The idea germinated in the mind of a millionaire, Su Shaojun, passionate about the history of the giant liner, but above all a wise businessman.
"We will attract tourists from all over the world. The number of visitors is estimated between 2 and 5 million each year. With such attendance, the return on investment is assured," he explained at the microphone of Europe 1.
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The visits will follow the rhythm of the soundtrack of the famous film by James Cameron.
Another nod to cinema: it is Bernard Hill, the British actor who played the role of captain in James Cameron's Titanic, who will take the helm during the opening ceremony.
After six years of work and 150 million euros invested, this Titanic Land should welcome its first passengers at the end of the year for real-fake cruises on dry land. Billed anyway 250 euros per night.