You Were Warned: Titanic II Sinks in English Harbor

Most people would think twice before buying a boat named Titanic II. And sure enough, when Briton Mark Wilkinson took the 16-foot (4.8-meter) cabin cruiser out for its maiden voyage, it promptly sank.

"If it wasn't for the harbormaster I would have gone down with the Titanic," Wilkinson, who had to be fished out of the sea at West Bay harbor in Dorset, southern England, told local media.

"It's all a bit embarrassing and I got pretty fed up with people asking me if I had hit an iceberg."

Wilkinson, in his 40s, had only recently bought the boat and brought it by road from his home in Birmingham in central England for its first outing.

After a successful fishing trip, things started to go wrong when he entered the harbor and the boat began taking on water. Wilkinson was forced to abandon ship and pictures showed him clinging to a rail before he was rescued.

One eyewitness said: "It wasn't a very big boat -- I think an ice cube could have sunk it!"