I agree about the McNeece monstrosity, but I must be the only person I know that actually likes the MISTRAL !!

I wont believe this will happen like Project America.

By DAVID O'REILLY
LONDON
Sunday 4 June 2000

During the past month, some of the world's richest people have begun depositing money in an interest-bearing account administered by a Florida law company.

When that bankroll reaches a critical mass in the next three months, American Norman Nixon will hit the "go" button to begin construction of the Freedom Ship.

In this ship's shadow, other great ocean-going vessels of the past, like the Titanic, are minnows. Even in an age of numbing scientific wonders and Hollywood computer-enhanced visual wizardry, this one - if it comes off - will take some beating.

Almost 1500 metres long and 300 metres wide, the ship will rise 25 stories above the waterline. It is basically a high-tech barge, comprising 600 huge flotation "cells", and containing 20,000 residential units, serviced by all the trappings of a modern small city. It can accommodate 110,000 residents and will have shopping malls, cinemas and theatres, power plants, a hospital, schools and a university. There will be an airport on its roof and a fleet of ferries docking in the stern to move residents and visitors to and from shore.

It is envisaged that, as it glides along at 10 knots, the largest moving object ever created will circumnavigate the globe every two years, anchoring in international waters 25 kilometres off, say Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

Originally, Norman Nixon, a rich American engineer, dreamt of building a "new" Hong Kong on an island in the Bahamas. When talks with the politicians there broke down he came up with the idea of a high-tech "island" paradise that moved. After six years of design work and a worldwide search for a building site that eventually settled on Honduras, the selling began 18 months ago. Now, Nixon and his marketing offsider Roger Gooch say 15 per cent of the 20,000 residences, ranging in price from $A130,000 to $7 million, have been reserved. From May 1, the bookings had to be followed up with lodgment of deposits of up to $SA50,000.

Mr Gooch said the company expected all the units to be sold within a year.

Mr Gooch admits that with the company keen to get construction underway within three months, other sources of finance are being examined besides home sales. Ultimately, the project is expected to cost $9 billion.

Mr Gooch says that for the money a customer gets "the opportunity to live in a safe and secure alternative lifestyle".

"You get the chance to be on your own, go to work, run your own business, go to school, visit a different country of the world every week all from the luxury of your own home. It will have restaurants and an airport and the largest duty free shopping in the world and it will constantly stay in international waters so there will be no taxes. Where is there a vehicle anywhere in the world that allows you to do that?"

The ship will have high-tech "incinerator" toilets and a 2000-member security force. While Mr Gooch will not use the word "unsinkable", he says that because the hull is so long, so wide and so flat, even huge seas would barely cause a shudder.

Mr Gooch says the law on ship will be as applied in the country in which the vessel is flagged. The rest is up to the captain to sort out.

Two years ago, Mr Nixon, Gooch and others from Freedom Ship International Inc. came to Australia from their Florida base to investigate the possibility of building the vessel at Whyalla in South Australia. They opted for Honduras because it was close to the US, and threr were "extremely appreciable savings" on wage rates and working conditions.

Construction will involve 22,000 people and take three years. ---------------

LINKS
www.freedomship.com