Sean Hankins is the author of the series
of proposals on this site.
Born in Florida, Sean's fascination with ocean liners began in 1985 when the
wreck of the Titanic was discovered and grew during his senior year of high
school when James Cameron's blockbuster film came out. He wasn't fascinated so
much by the ship's sinking, but rather the beautiful design of the golden age of
passenger liners.
Sean attended Florida State University and the University of South Florida where
he studied Music Education and Journalism. During his college years, he had the
opportunity to work with the traveling Titanic Artifact Exhibit including the
famous "Big Piece", during which time a co-worker mentioned that he should go
visit the Queen Mary in Long Beach. While aboard, he began studying the
conversion of the ship from a palace at sea to a dockside tourist attraction.
His knowledge of the successes and failures of that operation have been used to
create this proposal for the future of the S.S. United States. It is his hope
that the ship can be restored in manner that honors what she was while giving
her the means to be a successful, self sustaining tribute to the great liners of
the 20th century.
Sean can be contacted at ss_olympic (at) yahoo.com