When the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912,  a number of those who died were celebrities of their day, including the American millionaires John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim.  Canadian railroad president Charles Melville Hays and Isidor Straus, American owner of the Macy’s department store also died in the sinking.  Several survivors became celebrities simply because they survived. Margaret Brown, an American socialite, would become famous as the “Unsinkable Molly Brown,” inspiring a Broadway musical and a movie by the same name.

Now as we approach the centennial of the ship’s sinking, celebrities are venturing back to the Titanic.

Billionaire Richard Branson has invited the actress Kate Winslet, who was the female lead in the blockbuster movie about the ship’s sinking, to join him on a submarine dive to visit the wreck.  Titanic director James Cameron also plans to return to the wreck in April on the first of five planned tourist trips to mark the centennial of the sinking. The dives are being arranged by Deep Ocean Expeditions.

‘I’ll take Kate to see Titanic prow for real’: Virgin boss Richard Branson and actress to dive 12,500ft to shipwreck

On the surface,a Titanic Memorial Cruise is to set sail in April 2012, on the Fred Olsen Line, MS Balmoral, departing from Southampton, England, on April 8, just as the Titanic did.  The MS Balmoral will be carrying exactly the same number of passengers – 1309. One of the passengers may be the singer/songwriter, Rod Stewart. The 12-night memorial cruise will visit the sight of the sinking and, Barring a collision with an iceberg, will then take passengers to Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, where they can visit the cemeteries where some of the Titanic victims are buried. The trip will end in New York, where the Titanic was headed.

Scots singer Rod Stewart wants to sail route of doomed ship Titanic

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the articles along.