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of a biblical prophet. He said that Gibbs sailed on the United

States only one time — its maiden voyage.

According to Braynard, Gibbs only went traveling aboard vessels he designed.

Apparently, Gibbs was traumatized by a fire aboard, and ultimate sinking, of a vessel he designed — the Morro Castle, which went down off the coast of New

Jersey. He designed the S.S. United

States to be the safest ship afloat, liber- that one time because he had a fear of ally using aluminum and non-flammable materials.

Gibbs' granddaughter, Susan Gibbs, who serves as the United States

Foundation's president, understood her grandfather's passion for his work, and the S.S. United States, even though she was just a child when the vessel was launched. "This ship was my grandfa-

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What They're Saying

While NCL has not released refurbishment esti- mates for the S.S. United States, many agree the job could cost between 300-$400 million.

Here's what a few leading interior designers had to say about the project.

Tomas Tillberg

Tillberg Design

With Tillberg's London office working as lead designers of what is to be the world's largest ocean liner — Queen Mary 2 — launching the end of this year, the company would be, as Tillberg said, happy to design the United States. In fact, according to

Tillberg, the firm completed a design study on the vessel approximately 10 years ago, for the owners who had the vessel towed to Istanbul,

Turkey for possible refurbishment. He said the price to perform the vessel's refurbishment would be approximately 300-S400 million. "I pro- posed to Colin (Veitch) that we have several eager architects in our U.S. office, who would love to take on the task," Tillberg said. "All but one in our U.S. office are American — therefore it would be wonderful to design an American ship."

He added: "The S.S. United States was the flag- ship of America, the same as the QE2 is in the

U.K. and the Normandie was for France."

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Joseph Farcus, President

Joseph Farcus Architects

Farcus simply stated that he's glad he's not involved. "As a ship enthu- siast, I find it fascinating,"

Farcus said. 'But, from a practical standpoint I think it would be an extremely difficult proj- ect." He added: "I'm not a businessman, but it just doesn't make any economic sense."

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Julie Parmentier, Interior Designer

Maritime Services Corp.

Parmentier said that the planning stages of the job would encompass about one to two years, and that f she would want to keep all the classic elements of the vessel in place. "It will be lots of work, but if they (designers) can keep the ele- gance of the vessel, then it would be just won- derful," she said. "The designs (on S.S. United

States) were very mod for that time, and that's what is 'in' right now."

Scott Butler, Design Director, Wilson Butler

Lodge Architects "It would be a monumental task to take on," said

Butler. "You would basical- ly have to rebuild the ship from inside out." In terms of its cost, Butler com- pared the dollar amount to that of a modern day cruise vessel, such as

Celebrity's Millennium ($350 million). w"The

United States was heading into a mod period at the time the vessel was launched," Butler said. "I would push things back to that era with a retro, streamlined, art-deco feel." — Regina P. Ciardiello 36

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