Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search

[Jack the Greater]

Source: BBC

A submersible used to take people to view the wreck of the Titanic has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean, sparking a search and rescue mission. The Boston Coastguard told the BBC on Monday that an operation to find it was under way. It is not clear how many people, if any, were on board at the time it went missing.

OceanGate Expeditions, a private company that deploys submersibles for deep sea expeditions, recently posted on its social media feeds that one of its expeditions was "under way". The company, which has not commented on the reports, charges guests $250,000 (£195,270) for a place on its 8-day expedition to see the wreck. It bills the trip on its carbon-fibre submersible as a "chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary". The BBC has contacted the company for comment.

The Titanic sits 3,800m (12,500ft) beneath the surface at the bottom of the Atlantic. It is about 600km (370 miles) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65953872

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Doesn't sound good.

[sarisataka]

2. Much like outer space

The deep sea is not a place for tourists...

I hope the best for them

[milestogo]

13. Agreed.

It would be interesting, but I'd rather watch video acquired by the experts.

[2naSalit]

22. +1

[Iggo]

29. I don't ever want to be the farthest human.

When you’re the farthest, you’re on your own.

Two hundred dead bodies on Everest is more than enough to convince me.

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. One of the people thought missing had already been on a Blue Origin suborbital flight

One of those believed to be on board is Paul Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy commander, a deep diver and a submersible pilot. As director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic, Inc, he is widely considered the leading authority on the wreck site and it is possible he was in charge of the submersible on the dive, with four passengers alongside.

Nargeolet has led several expeditions to the Titanic site and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts, including the recovery of the “big piece” a 20-ton section of Titanic’s hull.
...
A British businessman, Hamish Harding, a well-known aviator as well as an explorer and one of the tiny group of tourists who have already been to space, who is normally based in the United Arab Emirates, was booked on the current trip. Harding is married and Brian Szasz, a stepson, posted on Facebook about “thoughts and prayers” as “his submarine has gone missing” and then later deleted the post.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/19/titanic-tourist-submarine-missing-north-atlantic

Harding has made many trips to the south pole and, in 2016, accompanied Buzz Aldrin, who became the oldest person to reach the south pole at 86. He also went into space last year with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company.
...
Harding is the current holder of three Guinness world records, relating to his work as an adventurer. In 2019, he was commended for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth via both poles.
...
Alongside Victor Vescovo, Harding dove in a two-man submarine to the lowest point in the world’s oceans, the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep – a depth of about 36,000 ft.

The 13-hour underwater mission was also the longest duration spent at full ocean depth (four hours and 15 minutes) and the longest distance traversed at full ocean depth (4.6 km).

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/19/hamish-harding-the-british-explorer-missing-at-sea-near-the-titanic

[Aviation Pro]

3. Just like STS - 107 (Colombia)

Overdue means nothing good.

[sanatanadharma]

4. Clicking through from BBC with my bolding

"Navigating the sub around the wreck, which lies in two main pieces about 600m apart, was challenging.
Bad weather in the Atlantic and strong underwater currents made the dives difficult. Getting entangled with the wreck was also a significant risk for the team."

"Titanic sub dive reveals parts are being lost to sea"

[prodigitalson]

30. I avoid strong underwater currents, everyday

[Blue Owl]

5. No thanks...

Have no desire to ever descend to those depths!

[AZ8theist]

7. Same here!!

There's not enough money in the universe to get me into that thing 2 miles down....

[mzmolly]

6. OMG

That's horrible.

[hlthe2b]

8. Yikes. Maybe not having that kind of $$ to even be tempted is not such a curse after all...

The Newfies will surely welcome them, (just as they did the original Titanic survivors and our 911 stranded flight passengers) if we are lucky enough to find them. 🍀🍀🍀🍀

[Warpy]

9. I wonder how many rich ghouls it held per trip

and you can bet none of those junketers realized they towere visiting a mass grave, they just wanted to see what was in the movie.

I remember when rich man's extreme tourism meant needing to charter a sea plane to get to the beach. This stuff has gone beyond ridiculous.

You can tell when it's about to come crashing down by how bored they are with their multiple palaces all over the globe.

[localroger]

27. Crew of 5

One pilot, three paying passengers, and an expert on the wreck. The paying passengers paid USD$250,000 for the privilege.

[moreland01]

19. Mercury baths

Used to be a luxury for the wealthy. LOL

[TeamProg]

10. Is seeing the Titanic so important to risk your life? In ANY submersible, let alone a carbon-fiber

shell 2 miles+ under all that pressure?

Sad, but man, what are they thinking?!

The compnay shold at LEAST report how many people were onboard.

[VMA131Marine]

18. You write this like engineers don't understand pressure and how to do structural stress calculations

This submarine was designed for a depth of 4,000m (just over 13,000 ft) and safety factors of 50% would be typical.

Until we know for sure what has happened, it is pointless to speculate.

From Wikipedia:

Titan (4000 meters)
Edit
OceanGate worked with engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama to develop and manufacture Titan, a 5-person vessel made of carbon fiber and titanium.[5] The filament wound cylinder that forms the center section of the pressure vessel is 5 in (130 mm) thick and made from 660 layers of carbon fiber material. The entire pressure vessel consists of two titanium hemispheres, two matching titanium interface rings, and the 142 cm (56 in) internal diameter, 2.4 meters (7 ft 10 in) long carbon fiber wound cylinder – the largest such device ever built for use in a crewed submersible.

The use of carbon fiber drastically reduces the overall weight compared to other deep-sea submersibles and the integrated launch and recovery platform increases flexibility during deployment and transportation.

OceanGate’s Titan is the vessel used in the survey expeditions of the RMS Titanic wreckage site. The first expedition took place in 2021.[6]

In June 2023, while on a dive to the Titanic wreck site, a tourist sub went missing.[7]

[TeamProg]

39. Yes Sir! And they would have had to pass all kinds of unknown safety tests, licensing, etc..

"pointless to speculate" Really?

That's what people do. That's what got us to the moon.

FYI - It is actully okay to wonder and speculate about things, sir!

[TeamProg]

79. Note to self - don't believe what the above poster writes.

[Zeitghost]

73. And yet

Almost all of us jump into cars every day that kill tens of thousands every year without a second thought that the trip down to the market to pick up a snack may mean death.

[TeamProg]

74. Taking a mini sub down two miles to see the sunken Titanic is not unlike

taking a Vespa to check out the local morgue.

But that's just me.

But then, I've got several two-seater sports cars, one's a ragtop = really safe.

[edhopper]

11. This is similar to rich fools

Last edited Mon Jun 19, 2023, 01:04 PM - Edit history (1)

trying to summit Everest, where there is a 2.5% fatality rate.

[Richard D]

14. Statistically,

It sits around 1%, not 25%. A horrifying 800 people climb the mountain every year. St 25% that would be 200 deaths per year. That is not happening.

[edhopper]

23. Oops

left off that pesky decimal point. Fixed.

Post in haste and live to regret it.

[onenote]

26. Even 2.5% is more than double the actual percentage

And the fatality rate is lower for experienced climbers who go with a reputable expedition group. That doesn’t mean fatalities don’t occur even in those circumstances— unpredictable rvents(earthquake , avalanche) in particular have been responsible for a number of fatalities

[edhopper]

34. The stats I read

was closer to 2.5%

[onenote]

35. From Univ. of Washington and UC Davis

Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California, Davis, revealed that 1 percent of climbers die on the mountain, and that rate has stayed steady since 1990, although the success rate of those trying to reach the top has doubled.

https://www.newsweek.com/mount-everest-deaths-new-rules-1711652?amp=1

[Wonder Why]

12. "chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary"?

Like a chance to see how short life can be for $250K?

[littlemissmartypants]

15. I wonder if they have insurance on their enterprise...

This doesn't sound good and no doubt is terrible for the explorer, his patrons and all of the loved ones involved.

There will be legal fillings. It's too catastrophic.

I hope everyone is found safe and sound.

Conversely, there is something macabre about wanting to visit a place where so many people died.

[Torchlight]

16. Another reason I avoid open water when possible.

The dad took me to see Jaws opening weekend, I was ten that year. It's pretty much kept me away from boats ever since. A submersible would see me going bonkers after ten minutes.

[MissB]

58. I grew up on a lake

We had property right across the street and the neighborhood shared a lot on the lake, including a floating dock.

After jaws came out? I feared swimming in the lake, lol.

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. It seems like a lot of rich people die prematurely just

because they can afford stuff that most of us could never afford.

[Kid Berwyn]

20. Trieste cracked its window on its first descent into Marianas Trench

The crack in a plexiglass outer window happened at a depth of about 5 1/2 miles. The two adventurers kept going and proceeded more than a mile to the bottom and back. Happened in 1960.

This news from today is heartbreaking -- I pray the people in the OceanGate sub make it.

[3catwoman3]

21. I don't even want to snorkel.

In 1978, my 3 yrs younger brother (and only sibling) died is a scuba diving adventure gone wrong, so no scuba diving for me.

No way in hell I would do something like this.

[Skittles]

60. aw man

so sorry

[The Grand Illuminist]

24. Leave the Titanic alone.

There are remains of human beings there and even in sightseeing, you are disturbing them. It has been found, now let's leave it at that and let them rest in peace.

[dalton99a]

52. +1.

[EX500rider]

69. I fail to see how sightseeing is disturbing them

Any more than looking at a cemetery when you drive past it.

[Sky Jewels]

25. Absolutely terrifying

[prodigitalson]

28. ironically

these are exactly the kind of people who probably would have survived the sinking of the Titanic, having 250 grand to fork out for their own terrifying watery deaths.

On a related note, as broke as I am you could pay me 250 grand to do this.

[rsdsharp]

31. How do you "search" 2 1/2 miles underwater?

Do they have another submersible? Or do they just putter around on the surface, shouting “Yoo-hoo!”?

[drmeow]

44. Poke sticks in the water till they hit something! NT

[TomDaisy]

32. this seems like it was never a good idea

[Sky Jewels]

33. Deep sea subs expeditions, private rocket rides, climbing Everest ...

A lot of very rich people have the mindset that they should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, and that they should be guaranteed safety and not pay any consequences for taking these risks.

[DFW]

36. "A chance to step outside of everyday life." Man, they weren't kidding.

The only thing they forgot to mention was the possibility that the trip might be one way, and that the "chance to step outside of everyday life" might be permanant.

[shrike3]

47. As some wag said, "Nothing like the full Titanic experience."

[keithbvadu2]

37. Waivers of liability were certainly signed.

[CTyankee]

40. why would you do this when you could go to Paris?

[Paladin]

43. +1000. Merci. (nt)

[shrike3]

46. Ah, oui

[CTyankee]

64. I try not to be so snarky, but I wonder sometimes. However, a thrill is a thrill, be it from this

kind of craziness to other, more refined but still exciting thrills.

[shrike3]

67. I have a mortal fear of my own demise. (Pun intended)

So do not pursue physically dangerous activities. But others do, and that's their choice.

[CTyankee]

68. Well, of course. But some of us like danger.

to which I say, you do you and I'll do me.

[yardwork]

70. My thoughts exactly!

There are almost an infinite number of things I would rather do than this, especially if I had $250,000 to spend.

[CTyankee]

71. But you could also spend it on taking friends/family members with you on trips. That would be nice.

And think of all the good you could do for institutions that need help. You could fund a scholarship for kids who need them.

[mountain grammy]

41. I'm 75

If gifted the trip I'd go in a minute. The Titanic has fascinated me since I saw A Night to Remember when I was 11.

If gifted the $$ I'd stop in Belfast and visit the museum on my trip around the world.

Hoping for the best for the submersible and the passengers..

[shrike3]

45. No, thanks. But I'm wildly claustrophobic

Can't imagine being miles under the ocean in a submarine.

I've gone on safari in Africa, but that's as dangerous as I want to get.

[mountain grammy]

48. Oh I'd love to go on a safari..

Is it as great an experience as everyone says? I can only imagine.

[shrike3]

49. It was a fantastic experience. I'm working on going back, different country this time.

As a man I encountered said, "Africa is hard to get to, and hard to leave."

[mountain grammy]

50. Where did you go the first time?

[shrike3]

51. Tanzania. Spent two days in the Ngorongoro crater.

Also went to Tarangire, Lake Manyara. Very safe safari. Very conservative. I saw photos from one where the tourists were riding in an open vehicle. We were in a van. The top of it opened up, and we could stand and take pictures. I much preferred that experience. But the folks I met who safaried in the open jeep had no trouble.

Animals were profoundly disinterested in us, probably because they saw so many tourists. We were surrounded by elephants at one point, but they were in the middle of a migration, so they didn't care what we were doing. Saw many hippos, two of which were grazing on land. Tons of animals, hoofed animals, birds. Lions: a pride, and then a pair at one of the other parks. Didn't see any rhinos, one of the reasons I'd like to go back. If you ever get a chance to go, please do.

[mountain grammy]

54. Fascinating, thanks for sharing that experience.

It would take a remarkable twist of fate for it to happen, but I'd never rule it out and if given the chance I'd go in a heartbeat. I have a friend in the UK who has family ties in The Gambia and did a road trip from the UK to Africa last year. I went with him virtually, what fun!

[shrike3]

59. You never know what life will bring. I REALLY hope you get there one day.

[mountain grammy]

66. Thank you and I hope you get to your second..

[mountain grammy]

55. I just looked up the Ngorongoro crater

Wow.. The wonders of Africa.

[Demovictory9]

72. Did a Rwanda Safari

[shrike3]

75. Good for you. It's a great experience.

My only regret is that we didn't get to see a rhino, or a cheetah or leopard, for that matter.

[XanaDUer2]

76. Me too nt

[eShirl]

42. "French expert and British explorer believed to be among five onboard submersible missing..."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/19/titanic-tourist-submarine-missing-north-atlantic

4-paragraph excerpt:

Search and rescue teams were racing against time on Monday to find a tourist submarine with prominent maritime experts and explorers believed to be onboard that went missing in the North Atlantic while on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.

Fears were rising about the fate of the vessel as military and coast guard aircraft stepped up efforts later on Monday.

The submersible was reported overdue, according to the US Coast Guard on Monday, which later tweeted that contact was lost with the sub just 1 hour 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday afternoon.

A British explorer and a French military veteran and submarine expert are believed to be among those onboard.

[mn9driver]

53. The Canadians and the US have been sending P3 and P8

Submarine hunter aircraft to the search area. The only thing better suited for such a search would be another submarine.

The fact that this sub hasn’t surfaced or communicated or apparently even made a detectable noise for this long is a very, very bad sign for those on board. I hope I’m wrong.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

56. I hope you're wrong also,

but I fear you're right, all the signs of a catastrophic failure are there and I think this is a search and recovery op.

But who knows, stranger things have happened and I hope this is one of them and they are found alive and rescused.

[Duppers]

57. But you're probably not.

😔

[purr-rat beauty]

61. The Rich are not indestructible

Quite often those with the money die in the most idiotic ways

[Oopsie Daisy]

62. How is dying in the most idiotic ways is more prevalent to "the rich"?

[MarineCombatEngineer]

63. That's not what was said.

But you knew that.

BTW, welcome to DU, I think.

[Oopsie Daisy]

65. "Quite often" is what was said. You knew that. And, thanks, I think. 😏

[JudyM]

77. Kicking

[pfitz59]

78. Who's footing the bill?

Does the sub's company have insurance? Seems like an enormous expense for small return...