Far from putting travellers off, Mr Gous believes the romance of the Leonardo Di Caprio movie has inspired cruise line enthusiasts.

BBC: Tycoon presents Titanic II proposal

Last year, after the Providence Journal questioned Mr. Caprio about the timing of the donations, he announced that he was returning contributions from plaintiffs' firms.

WSJ: New York Attorney General Candidate Donated to Campaigns in States Where His Then-Firm Sought Work

In a 1993 article co-written with Gerard Caprio, an economist at the Bank, Mr Summers argued that it was unrealistic to expect better bank supervision alone to forestall bank failures in poor countries.

ECONOMIST: The case for mild repression

"Rather than have to deal with these questions, he just decided he wanted the office to be beyond reproach and return contributions from all plaintiffs' securities firms, " said Mark Dingley, chief of staff to Mr. Caprio.

WSJ: New York Attorney General Candidate Donated to Campaigns in States Where His Then-Firm Sought Work

The Titanic might have grabbed headlines as the world's most glamorous luxury liner, immortalized on the Silver Screen by Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet's love story in the Oscar-winning 1997 eponymous film, but there was another ship that was almost twice the weight, which did not sink, and she is still afloat, as a hotel.

BBC: A ghostly visit on the RMS Queen Mary hotel