Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Miscellaneous | June 20, 2023
A submarine exploring the sunken wreckage of the Titanic went missing on Sunday. The research vessel Polar Prince lost contact with the crew of the Titan sub about one and a half hours into its dive. A search operation is currently underway to locate the submarine, which has five passengers on board.
The trip to the Titanic is offered as a deal by tour firm OceanGate. This privately owned company charges guests $250,000 for a seat on the 10-day mission to explore the infamous ship. However, they also say on their website that the expeditions allow them to ‘supplement the work done on previous scientific expeditions to capture data and images for the continued scientific study of the site.’
Among the five people on board the Titan are British billionaire businessman Hamish Harding (who has previously gone into space and considers himself an extreme tourist), Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood, French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, chief executive of OceanGate.
The US Coast Guard has sent two C-130 Hercules aircraft to search for the sub on the surface, while a sonar search has begun underwater. On Monday night, the US Coast Guard estimated the sub had between 70 and 96 hours of emergency oxygen.
A 5️⃣-person tourist submersible is missing in the North Atlantic and is reported to have a 96-hour oxygen supply.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 20, 2023
Here's what we know so far about the missing Titanic sub https://t.co/eQ5g5rsRtN pic.twitter.com/UP2w15ybpK
This story has ignited much interest due to its unique nature, as well as the inclusion of one of the most well-known tragedies of the 20th century and the notion of expensive tourist trips dedicated to exploring a wreck that killed over 1500 people. Titanic tourism is nothing new and something of a favourite among rich explorers, similar to climbing Everest. The BBC interviewed one such former visitor, TV writer and former The Simpsons writer Mike Reiss, which only further emphasized the surrealness of this story. He explained, ‘You sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip. They mention death three times on page one so it’s never far from your mind.’
Understandably, the search for the sub is complex. The wreck is located about about 370 miles south of Newfoundland and sits 3,800m (12,500ft) deep at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. That’s actually not even as deep as the ocean can go. Very little life can survive down there, certainly not humans. So much of our oceans remain unexplored. It took decades to locate the Titanic, despite scientists having a general idea of where it was, because of the sheer logistics and scale of the operation. There’s no natural light down there. OceanGate’s Titan is one of the few subs capable of taking humans down to this level. It’s only 22 feet long, and according to the company’s website, is ‘outfitted with state-of-the-art lighting and sonar navigation systems plus internally and externally mounted 4K video and photographic equipment.’
It is unknown right now what caused the sub to lose contact with the above world. A submarine expert told the BBC he believes it could have been a power failure.
When CBS sent a reporter on a voyage with OceanGate, he described the vessel as ‘experimental’ and ‘improvised’ and said it had ‘not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death.’ The CEO’s tour of the sub then revealed that the lights came from Camperworld and that the sub is run with a modified PlayStation controller.
Several publications are reporting on this story live, with both the BBC and The Guardian offering live blogs.
