Latest news with #maritimeDisaster
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Outrage over 'distasteful' Titanic game that simulates the historic tragedy with 'haunting accuracy'
An upcoming video game based on the Titanic tragedy has been slammed as 'distasteful' by gamers. The Titanic Escape Simulator, which is coming to PlayStation next year, puts players in the role of a passenger on the British ocean liner in 1912. Players must try and escape the ship as it sinks after striking an iceberg. The real-life tragedy resulted in around 1,500 passengers being killed, with the majority of the deaths being crew members and people in third class. After the game was announced, gamers and social media users alike expressed their concerns online. 'Why they making a tragedy into a game?' asked one, while another asked, 'What's next 9/11?' 'I feel like this is a game that shouldn't have been produced,' said a third, while a fourth commented, 'Seems distasteful.' 'Can't wait for the OceanGate DLC,' another mocked. However, some fans pushed back on the criticism and pointed out the hypocrisy when it comes to violence in video games. 'Kinda weird people criticize this but not the thousands of war games tbh,' wrote one. 'I agree it's weird using a tragedy for entertainment, but if this is tastefully done it's fine. 'The movie Titanic was released to make money of the tragedy, but it was done respectfully.' Others made jokes about the Titanic film, with one fan asking, 'Final boss is Rose on the door and you have to wrestle her off!' According to the game's developer, players will 'experience the most famous maritime disaster in history through immersive first-person survival gameplay.' 'Experience the disaster with haunting accuracy - from the initial confusion to the final tragic moments. 'Feel the ship listing beneath your feet as the deck angle increases. Watch chandeliers swing, furniture slide, and bulkheads give way. 'Hear the distant screams, the straining metal, and the musicians playing until the very end.' The game also promises to feature a 'dynamic flooding system' and 'hypothermia mechanics.' It will also force players to make 'difficult moral choices' when it comes to escaping on a lifeboat. On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic after hitting an iceberg just four days into its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. The now famous tragedy resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people, including children, and the remains of the boat now lie on the seafloor about 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The bodies of around 1,160 passengers were never found and where they are remains a mystery to this day - they were unaccounted for and never seen again. Only around 340 bodies with lifejackets still on them were recovered from the ocean's surface, leading people to question what happened to the others. As years passed, the RMS Titanic became the focus of endless films, documentaries, and news reports.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Shipwreck mystery solved after nearly 140 years
The mystery of a maritime disaster has been solved after experts found a vessel that sank almost 140 years ago. Diver and explorer Dom Robinson identified the SS Nantes, off Plymouth, after examining the wreck site and finding crockery. Dr Harry Bennett, an expert in maritime history, said the dive team had found "the underwater archaeological equivalent of a needle in a haystack". Mr Robinson said solving the mystery ensured those who died were not forgotten. In November 1888, the SS Nantes, which was operated by the Cunard Steamship Company, collided with a German sailing vessel, the Theodor Ruger, said Dr Bennett. The crew spent "several hours" trying to save their ship, the honorary associate professor in history at the University of Plymouth said. "They used mattresses to plug the gap which had opened up in the haul of the SS Nantes," he said. "[The ship sank] with the loss of a substantial number of the crew. There were some 23-odd fatalities. There were three survivors." Bodies from the wreckage washed ashore at Talland Bay and Looe, in Cornwall, and "locals were confronted by this picture of horror, pieces of ship together with bodies," he said. Afterwards the "wreck was essentially lost, obviously you're dealing in a period with no satellite navigation," said Dr Bennett. He added while the crew tried to save the ship it "drifted for several hours, before it finally made its way to the bottom, sadly, with many of its crewmen on board". He said the wreck was lost until a local dive team identified it in 2024. Mr Robinson, who has been diving for about 35 years, said he heard about the unidentified wreck from the UK Hydrographic Office. He said the wreck "was clearly an early steamship when we got down there" but "at the end of my dive I found a broken piece of plate... I decided to bring it up to the surface [and] we found that had the Cunard Steamship crest on it". "It was then bingo, we've found it," he said. Dr Bennett said it was identified by the build and dimensions of the wreck, the technology on board, the cargo and "lastly and most telling, they find a plate on the back of which is stamped Cunard - this is a Cunard ship". "[It was] very methodical, very, very dedicated detective work," he said. More news stories for Devon Listen to the latest news for Devon Mr Robinson said: "This was an awful tragedy. One of the things I like to think is by solving mysteries and telling those stories I'm ensuring that those people aren't forgotten." Since the initial find, Mr Robinson said he had dived the wreck again and found a second piece of Cunard crockery, providing "even more confirmation". "There are very few mysteries left to explore in this world," he said. "As a normal human being like me, going in exploring shipwrecks and identifying shipwrecks, that is just something different to my normal life, and it's a fantastic feeling." Dr Bennett said "all the pieces fit and I think the local dive team are to be congratulated on a splendid piece of detective work which reveals this maritime disaster". He said he had looked at the footage and methodology and had confirmed they were right "beyond any reasonable shadow of a doubt, this is the SS Nantes". Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram Wreck thought to be WW2 storm-hit vessel Diver buys WW1 shipwreck for £300 on Facebook University of Plymouth
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Shipwreck mystery solved after nearly 140 years
The mystery of a maritime disaster has been solved after experts found a vessel that sank almost 140 years ago. Diver and explorer Dom Robinson identified the SS Nantes, off Plymouth, after examining the wreck site and finding crockery. Dr Harry Bennett, an expert in maritime history, said the dive team had found "the underwater archaeological equivalent of a needle in a haystack". Mr Robinson said solving the mystery ensured those who died were not forgotten. In November 1888, the SS Nantes, which was operated by the Cunard Steamship Company, collided with a German sailing vessel, the Theodor Ruger, said Dr Bennett. The crew spent "several hours" trying to save their ship, the honorary associate professor in history at the University of Plymouth said. "They used mattresses to plug the gap which had opened up in the haul of the SS Nantes," he said. "[The ship sank] with the loss of a substantial number of the crew. There were some 23-odd fatalities. There were three survivors." Bodies from the wreckage washed ashore at Talland Bay and Looe, in Cornwall, and "locals were confronted by this picture of horror, pieces of ship together with bodies," he said. Afterwards the "wreck was essentially lost, obviously you're dealing in a period with no satellite navigation," said Dr Bennett. He added while the crew tried to save the ship it "drifted for several hours, before it finally made its way to the bottom, sadly, with many of its crewmen on board". He said the wreck was lost until a local dive team identified it in 2024. Mr Robinson, who has been diving for about 35 years, said he heard about the unidentified wreck from the UK Hydrographic Office. He said the wreck "was clearly an early steamship when we got down there" but "at the end of my dive I found a broken piece of plate... I decided to bring it up to the surface [and] we found that had the Cunard Steamship crest on it". "It was then bingo, we've found it," he said. Dr Bennett said it was identified by the build and dimensions of the wreck, the technology on board, the cargo and "lastly and most telling, they find a plate on the back of which is stamped Cunard - this is a Cunard ship". "[It was] very methodical, very, very dedicated detective work," he said. More news stories for Devon Listen to the latest news for Devon Mr Robinson said: "This was an awful tragedy. One of the things I like to think is by solving mysteries and telling those stories I'm ensuring that those people aren't forgotten." Since the initial find, Mr Robinson said he had dived the wreck again and found a second piece of Cunard crockery, providing "even more confirmation". "There are very few mysteries left to explore in this world," he said. "As a normal human being like me, going in exploring shipwrecks and identifying shipwrecks, that is just something different to my normal life, and it's a fantastic feeling." Dr Bennett said "all the pieces fit and I think the local dive team are to be congratulated on a splendid piece of detective work which reveals this maritime disaster". He said he had looked at the footage and methodology and had confirmed they were right "beyond any reasonable shadow of a doubt, this is the SS Nantes". Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram Wreck thought to be WW2 storm-hit vessel Diver buys WW1 shipwreck for £300 on Facebook University of Plymouth
South China Morning Post
23-05-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
Inspectors did not need to look for ship flaws, Hong Kong disaster probe told
A former Marine Department official has maintained at a court inquest into one of Hong Kong's deadliest maritime disasters that he and his colleagues were not obliged to detect structural flaws during regular ship inspections. Retired principal ship surveyor Wong Chi-kin told the Coroner's Court on Friday that department staff would only inspect specific items on a vessel 'by intuition' without looking for possible defects. Wong said ship inspectors would not have realised that the lack of a watertight door in between two underdeck rooms of the Lamma IV passenger ferry was a mistake which subsequently contributed to its rapid sinking after a collision with another vessel in 2012, as they would normally overlook matters not drawn to their attention before inspections. 'Formally, we only looked at what was required of us,' the witness said. 'It could be possible that [an inspector] found out [a structural defect] himself, but most of them would just walk past and ignore it.' Wong also defended his decision to approve what appeared to be a self-contradictory drawing of the Lamma IV that indicated an access opening was to be introduced between two supposedly watertight hull compartments at the stern. Instead, he blamed the Lamma IV's manufacturer, Cheoy Lee Shipyards, for failing to notify the department about opening the hatch without installing a watertight door, which violated official survey protocols.
South China Morning Post
19-05-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong marine officials missed ferry design flaw, disaster inquiry hears
Two Marine Department officials have told a court inquest that they failed to notice a design flaw in a ferry involved in one of Hong Kong's deadliest maritime disasters as they thought they were not required to look for such issues during periodical check-ups. The Coroner's Court on Monday heard oral evidence from three current and former ship inspectors who were involved in checks on the Lamma IV between 1997 and 2009 before it collided with another ferry and sank on October 1, 2012. The Lamma IV was hit by the Sea Smooth ferry in the waters off Lamma Island while carrying 124 HK Electric employees and their relatives to watch National Day fireworks over Victoria Harbour. The Lamma Island-bound Sea Smooth, operated by Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry, was able to continue its journey to Yung Shue Wan Pier, but the Lamma IV sank in less than two minutes, leading to 39 deaths. The court previously heard that the Lamma IV's initial design from 1995 involved six compartments on the underdeck, with the steering gear compartment and the tank room at the stern separated by a watertight bulkhead. The ferry sank in less than two minutes. Photo: Handout Lo Ngok-ying, a director at Cheoy Lee Shipyards which built the Lamma IV, later decided to introduce a hatch connecting the two rooms without a watertight door to comply with what he thought was a legal requirement on the minimal size of underdeck rooms.
