Simon Mills - Exploring the Britannic: The Life, Last Voyage and Wreck of Titanics Tragic Twin

ADLARD COLES

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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This electronic edition published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain 2019

Copyright Simon Mills, 2019

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Whenever I am interviewed, the first question I am nearly always asked is: why did you buy the Britannic?

Fair question, and even after all this time my answer today is exactly the same as it was over 20 years ago I have not got the faintest idea! Perhaps I was just in the right place at the right time though the only justification I could think of at the time was that I was single, had a well-paid job and had money to spare. Perhaps it also had something to do with the thrill and kudos of owning something unique? I suppose all of these reasons have some validity...

I have never forgotten the look of what can only be described as complete bewilderment on my fathers face when I first told him that I had bought the wreck. Perhaps he could not believe what he was hearing, or maybe he just thought that his son and heir had finally lost his few remaining marbles, but even now I remember not only his next three words to me, but also the subdued manner in which he said them. Youve done... what? It was not exactly the ringing endorsement I had expected, his brief pause, which could only have lasted for barely a second, speaking volumes.

Even so, the fact remains that on 20 August 1996 I had signed a piece of paper that, had I but known it, would change the direction of my life for ever. The whirlwind of circumstances over the previous days had been so unexpected that Id hardly had time to catch my breath before the deed was done. Suddenly I was no longer just a busy camera technician carving out a moderately successful living in the British film industry; I was now, in addition, the proud owner of the UK governments legal title to the 900-foot wreck of the sister ship of the Titanic, when up to that point researching shipwrecks had been just a hobby.

Another curious thing I remember is that although the Britannic was suddenly all mine, I really had no idea what I actually wanted to do with it. My first instinct had been to do nothing at all, but a host of maritime historians, marine biologists, engineers, scientists and technical divers appeared to have other ideas. They certainly gave me ample food for thought, and it didnt take me long to realise that in spite of what the legal paperwork stated, the reality was that I would never control the Britannic; rather, the Britannic now controlled me. Suddenly I was headed down a road to somewhere I would never previously have thought possible, turning round every now and then to make sure that no one was taking any pot shots at the target now fixed firmly to my back.

Over the years Ive come to realise that no one can just own something like the Britannic. With rights come responsibilities, particularly when you have the legal title to something as remarkable as the sister ship of the Titanic, so in spite of my evident naivety at the outset, I suspect that deep down I always knew that I was not embarking on an ordinary voyage of discovery. Like bootlegging in America during Prohibition, working on the Britannic has not just been a job its been more of an adventure.

Inevitably, everything that has been achieved over the last 20 years has come at a cost, not just financial, but also personal and professional, so the time has come to put things into their proper context, while at the same time acknowledging the work of the many individuals and organisations who have helped to make it all possible.

Whether doing so will ever help me to understand how a simple hobby ultimately turned into a life-changing obsession is another matter.