The Spectator

Barometer | 3 March 2012

issue 03 March 2012

Sister ships

The Costa Allegra, sister ship of the Costa Corcordia, suffered a fire off the Seychelles. Are families of ships jinxed?

—The Titanic had two sister ships. The Olympic collided with a naval vessel off the Isle of Wight soon after its maiden voyage in 1911, and again with a lightship off New York in 1935. It survived both incidents, though the lightship sank, killing seven crew. The second sister ship, Britannic, was sunk after being torpedoed off the Greek island of Kea in 1916, a year after being launched, while serving as a hospital ship.
—The Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a U-boat off Ireland in 1915 with the loss of 1,198 lives, had a sister ship, the Mauretania. She survived nearly 30 years of service, though did collide with a train ferry off New York in 1929.

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