Richard M. Jones is publishing a new work about ships that ‘stood in’ for the ill-fated liner in film
A Bridlington historian and author is about to release his 29th book, this time looking at the roles that four different ships played in portraying the ill-fated ocean liner, Titanic. For Richard M. Jones, the work will be his sixth published just this year.
Titanic – The Movie Ships looks at the four vessels that were used as the infamous liner for the sole purpose of making a movie. The book will be launched on Monday, December 1.
Richard said the book related to “four movies, four ships, each ship having its own history and each movie having its own reviews and successes – or not, as the case may be”. The author said: “As part of my project to study the ships of the Titanic story, I have previously published three other books about the Titanic, the two released this year focusing on the ones in 1912 – published as The Titanic Fleet – and the expeditions to the wreck in the modern era, published as Titanic – The Searches and the Dives.
“Now my final instalment will be Titanic – The Movie Ships, which will tell the story of the liners Asturias, Athinai, Queen Mary and Cap Arcona and how they came to be used on the big screen as the most tragic of liners.” Richard said: “The irony about the Cap Arcona is that once filming had finished it suffered a horrendous fate which ended up taking three times more lives than Titanic did.
“I personally paid a visit to the area where the ship went down during the Second World War and paid my respects at the memorial to this most horrific of shipwrecks.” It is 34 years since Richard watched the movie, Raise The Titanic, as a young lad, sparking an interest that led to today.
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“Now I can add my own history to this movie and tell the story of the liner that was so rusty and broken that it doubled up as the salvaged wreck for this very film,” he said. “This has been a very long project to get these books written, what started off as one volume and ended up being three separate books.”
Titanic – The Bridlington Connections was Richard’s first book on the topic, published in 2019. It focused on the links between the ship and his home town.
“To now have a further three to add to this tally is a great feeling, as each book tells something new about the Titanic that was not previously published,” he said. With many more projects being worked on by Richard, 2026 is set to see the release of several shipwreck and Bridlington books as well as keeping up with his writing for a number of publications and social media pages.
Titanic – The Movie Ships, by Richard M. Jones, will be available to order online from Amazon, from Richard’s website or via Facebook at Richard M. Jones. People can also email Richard at shipwreckdata@yahoo.co.uk for mail order signed copies.
Titanic – The Movie Ships is priced at £8.50 (paperback) and £17 (hardback) and on Kindle at £4.50.