Ruth: And where, exactly, do you live, Mr. Dawson?
Jack: Well, right now, my address is the R.M.S. Titanic. After that, I’m on God’s good humor.
Ruth: And how is it you have means to travel?
Jack: I work my way from place to place. You know, tramp steamers and such. But I won my ticket on Titanic here at a lucky hand at poker. A very lucky hand.
Archie: All life is a game of luck.
Cal: Mmm. A real man makes his own luck, Archie. Right, Dawson?
Jack: Mmm.
Ruth: And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?
Jack: Well,yes, ma’am, I do. I mean, got everything I need right here with me. Got air in my lungs and a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what’s going to happen or who I’m going to meet, where I’m going to wind up. Just the other night, I was sleeping under a bridge, and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. I’ll take some more of that.

A daring salvage operation has begun to lift the Costa Concordia cruise ship from rocks off the Tuscan coast. Unprecedented efforts by engineers from 26 countries to right the 114,500-tonne vessel continued this evening. The ship has been on its side for more than 20 months, dominating the tiny Italian port of Giglio, off which it ran aground and capsized on January 13 last year with the loss of 32 lives. Two bodies are still missing, and it is hoped they will be found during or after the salvage.

At around £500million, the cost of the pioneering effort is more than the ship cost to build. Engineers were using remote controls to guide a system of pulleys, weights and chains looped under the Concordia’s hull in their bid to rotate it upright. During the process, known as “parbuckling”, a series of tanks fixed on the exposed side of the hull will be filled with water to help pull it down. More than 30,000 tonnes of steel have been used in the fabrication of all the components required to lift the ship — equivalent to four times the weight of the Eiffel Tower. Once the ship is upright, engineers hope to attach an equal number of tanks filled with water on the other side to balance, anchor and stabilise it during the winter months.

Nick Sloane, the South African engineer leading the recovery, said: “We have done parbuckling before but never like this. She is on the side of a mountain on the seabed, balanced on two reefs and she is a really large ship — she’s three football fields long, 100,000 tonnes-plus, so it’s never been done on this scale.”

Bad weather delayed the start of the operation for three hours. After work began it was as long again before the first signs of the wreck shifting as cameras recorded water swirling where it rested on the sea bed. It is hoped the ship will be towed away for scrap by spring. Giancarlo Farni, one of the first rescuers on the scene when it capsized, said last night: “I saw it sink. Now I want to see it brought upright and taken away.” One danger as the ship rises is that water polluted by its food store may pour out.

Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial in Italy for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his vessel during a chaotic evacuation. He allegedly ordered the ship off course so passengers could wave at people on the shore. It hit a reef, which the skipper claimed was not mapped. Rocks gashed open the hull and 4,200 passengers and crew were forced to flee on lifeboats.

salvage operation – mentőakció
vessel – hajó
to run aground– zátonyra futni
to capsize – felborulni, felfordulni
effort – erőfeszítés
remote control – távirányítás, távirányító
rotate – elfordít, megfordít
tank – tartály
equivalent – vminek a megfelelője
to anchor – lehorgonyozni
seabed– tengerfenék
reef – zátony
on this scale – ilyen méretű, ilyen létékű
to delay – késlekedik, késik
wreck – roncs
to tow away – elvontat
scrap – ócskavas
polluted – szennyezett
to be on trial – bírósági tárgyalás alatt áll
manslaughter – gondatlanságból elkövetett emberölés
to abandon – elhagyni, otthagyni
allegedly – állítólag
off course – eltér a menetiránytól
skipper  – kapitány
to gash– felhasít
flee – menekül

Exercise:

1. The wreck will be salvaged and towed away to a scrapyard.                                                     

2. The captain of the ship did everything to avoid chaos.                                                 

3. The metal equipment used for turning the ship weighs as much as the Eiffel Tower.       

4. 32 people disappeared during the shipwreck.                                                                          

5. There is a danger of pollution during the rescue operations.                                                    

answers: t, f, f, f, t

‘A kiürítés azonnal megkezdődött, ám a hajó rohamosan dőlni kezdett, ezáltal bonyolultabbá vált a kiürítés.’ nyilatkozta a Costa. ‘Jelenleg nem tudjuk megerősíteni a baleset okát. A Costa Cruises a legnagyobb elkötelezettséggel dolgozik azon, hogy a vendégek, a személyzet tagjai, és a helyi olasz hatóságok számára megadja a szükséges segítséget.’
A Costa Concordia a jelentések szerint egy homokzátonynak ütközött az olaszországi Giglio sziget közelében mialatt az utasok vacsoráztak. A sajtójelentésekben idézett utasok elmondták, hogy amikor a hajó az oldalára kezdett dőlni, az utasok között pánik tört ki. A legtöbben a mentőcsónakokban értek partot, míg néhányan partra úsztak és másokat pedig helikopterek mentettek ki. A 114,500 tonnás Costa Concordia a valaha elsüllyedt legnagyobb hajó.

‘A tragédia mélyen érinti vállalatunkat’, jelentette ki a Costa egy nyilatkozatában. ‘Először az áldozatokra gondolunk, és részvétünket, valamint együttérzésünket fejezzük ki családjaik és barátaik részére. Most minden erőfeszítésünket az utolsó vészhelyzeti műveletek befejezésére összpontosítjuk, és arra, hogy segítséget nyújtsunk a fedélzeten lévő vendégek és a személyzet tagjai számára abban, hogy mihamarabb haza juthassanak. A hajótársaság kijelentette, hogy teljes mértékben együttműködik az illetékes hatóságokkal a baleset okainak meghatározásában.

Queen Mary Long Beach

Set against the backdrop of the dramatic Long Beach city skyline, the Queen Mary ship has been a coastal icon in California since 1967. She was purchased by the city at a cost of $3.5 million, and has been a tourist attraction and hotel ever since.

Veronica Hill of California Travel Tips tours this massive ship and learns a little bit more about its ghostly residents and the Queen Mary history.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Cunard Queen Mary launched at Clydebank, Scotland in 1934, and was the most luxurious ocean liner of Her time.

Roughly twice the size of Titanic, the RMS Queen Mary sailed the Atlantic for White Star Lines between 1936 and 1967.

Designed in the Art Deco style, this ship boasted the finest materials and modern comforts, including puncalouvers for air conditioning and a choice of fresh or salt water in the bath.

During its heydey, the Queen Mary carried famous passengers such as Fred Astaire, Greta Garbo, and Winston Churchill, who signed D-Day invasion plans right on the ship.

In fact, during World War 2, the Queen Mary became a troopship, swiftly transporting as many as 16,000 soldiers at a time. She was one of the fastest and largest ships in the War.

Adolph Hitler offered a $250,000 bounty for the ship, which was nicknamed the Grey Ghost. The Queen Mary weighs over 81,000 tons and stretches more than 1,000 feet.

Today, the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach offers a bit of nostalgia in a very modern city, with several fine restaurants and 365 updated staterooms, complete with flat-screen TVs and iPod docking stations.

Check out the Upper Deck, where you can get great views of the Long Beach skyline, then head over to the Observation Bar, which was once the First Class Lounge. In the Verandah Grill, you’ll spy a famous painting of Marie Antionette with a mouse in her hair.

Dozens of Queen Mary tours are offered day and night, but by far the most entertaining are the Queen Mary ghost tour and Queen Mary Dinner with the Spirits Tour, hosted by paranormal expert Erika Frost.

The paranormal investigation starts out with a gourmet Continental meal at Sir Winstons, which is worth a visit even if you don’t go on the Queen Mary tour, followed by a 2-hour exploration into the most haunted Queen Mary hallways and rooms.

Walking down into the ships engine room, Frost uses dousing rods and a recording device to connect with the most famous Queen Mary ghost John Pedder, who was killed during a drill in 1966.

“John got crushed in a door during a game of chicken or last man standing with friends,” says Frost. “He is the Casper of the Queen Mary. John is a person who’s in transition, he’s a lot of fun.”

Other ghost sightings include soldiers marching down empty hallways, a man wearing black boots in the restroom of Sir Winstons, and a very angry spirit named Henry who is believed to haunt the ships Green Room.

“Henry is bald, about 6 foot 3, and he’s just angry,” says Frost. “He is very bitter very angry, negative. He’s upset and frustrated by the fact that he was killed doing something he was passionate about, which was working in the boiler room. From what I understand a boiler exploded and he was scalded. I don’t usually open myself up to communicate with him. I try to focus more on the positive side of things, but it is a bit of an adrenaline rush when he comes around.”

We never did see any ghosts, but I did capture some weird green lights in the Engine Room.

Was it a ghost or a reflection? You decide!

TRAVEL TIP: Be sure to save your parking ticket stub on arrival. A lost ticket will cost you $85!

Credit: Queen Mary thumbnail by Mike Harbison/Stockxchg free stock photography