Palmer said: “So I could do the Titanic. I’m gonna do it. It’s a lot more fun to do the Titanic than it is to sit at home and count my money."

“All you need to be happy, I’ve found in my life, is to have someone that loves you, somewhere to sleep at night and enough for a good meal," he added. “Beyond that, the rest is an illusion – it’s like playing golf.”

According to Palmer, tenders for the ship's construction will go out in June this year, with the aim of having contracts signed by December. He believes construction, which is now estimated to cost between $500 million (£391m) and $1 billion (£782m), will start early next year and is confident he'll have found a shipyard by then. The maiden voyage is now due to go ahead in 2027 – more than a decade after its original date.

But it's not the only Titanic project in the pipeline. Read on for the story of the Unsinkable Titanic...

The two Titanic replica ships that might never be finished