The search and rescue operation for the lost OceanGate submersible that took five men down to visit the Titanic wreck remains ongoing, but life support systems are running out. The seacraft was reported missing Sunday. The Titan is the only five-man submarine in the world that can make the 12,500-foot journey to the wreck. It’s a rich man’s game since the cost to participate in this vacation expedition is prohibitive to most people. The price is $250,000 per head. There are concerns that the Titan craft has become stuck in the wreckage. There’s no way to contact the passengers or crew. Hamish Hardin, a British billionaire among the missing, texted a friend about the weather conditions before he vanished underneath the ocean. One person who partook in this adventure and survived was Mike Reiss, a producer, and writer for The Simpsons. He recollected how the waiver mentioned “death” three times on the first page (via NY Post):
“He knew this was very dangerous,” Reiss’ wife, Denise, told The Post Tuesday. “Even in the most dire situations, he has a joke.”
Reiss returned safely – but now the carbon-fiber submersible is missing. On board are OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a marine archaeologist who has made dozens of dives to the site; British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding; and British-Pakistani father Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, scions of a business dynasty.
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They flew from home in New York to St. John’s, Newfoundland, then set sail on board the MV Polar Prince, steaming south for 400 miles.
There was plenty of time to contemplate the dangers of such a precarious trip to the bottom of the ocean.
“Death is always lurking, it’s always in the back of your mind,” Reiss, 63, told The Post. “Before you even get on the boat, there’s a long, long waiver that mentions death three times on page one.”
The Polar Prince stopped roughly above the Titanic’s wreckage, where it has sat since April 15, 1912, seen by only a few hundred people. More people have been in space than have set eyes on it.
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“It’s a very tiny vessel in a very big ocean,” he said. “It is built to go where no other vessel to go, so if it’s stuck on the bottom of the ocean, I can’t foresee a way out.”
Yeah, when that ominous word is used frequently on the waiver—it’s probably best not to go at all. As the search continues, more journalists who have had the privilege of descending to the wreck have come forward to describe how dangerous it is. Former ABC science editor Dr. Michael Guillen nearly died in 2000 reporting on the Titanic when the propellers of the submersible got stuck on the wreck:
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TITANIC ACCIDENT. When I was at ABC News, I became the first TV correspondent in history to report from the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, 2-1/2 miles below the surface. An accident happened that almost claimed my life. Here's what happened. #Titanic… pic.twitter.com/b4t3WtaRdc
— Dr. Michael Guillen (@DrMGuillen) June 19, 2023
Six months ago, CBS News reporter David Pogue also had a lengthy segment on OceanGate and the craft they use for these trips. He zeroed in on how the craft is like a Frankenstein monster, with ballasts made of pipes you’d see at construction sites. He also highlighted another disconcerting passage in the waiver (via Decider):
Remember my voyage to the Titanic last last summer? In OceanGate’s homemade carbon-fiber sub? (https://t.co/BqPhXNQbl6) They took passengers out again this summer—but as of today, the sub is lost. Coast Guard is doing a search and rescue. https://t.co/1u3x3Ucjf5 pic.twitter.com/j6z1efTCBH
— David Pogue (@Pogue) June 19, 2023
As documented in the CBS Sunday Morning report, journalist David Pogue joined OceanGate on an expedition to the North Atlantic, where OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was planning to take a group of Titanic enthusiasts on the Titan submersible to visit the site of the sunken ship, which rests 2.4 miles below the sea.
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The report showed Pogue reading off the forms he had to sign before taking the expedition. “‘It has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, motion trauma, or death,'” he read aloud, before adding, “Where do I sign?”
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“I couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised,” Pogue noted in his report. The report cut to Rush explaining that they use “off the shelf components” and lights from Camping World. The sub also only had one button because “it should be like an elevator” and “shouldn’t take a lot of skill,” according to Rush.
“We run the whole thing with this game controller,” Rush said, pulling out what looked like a video game console remote.
When Pogue mentioned that elements of the Titan seemed “jerry-rigged,” Rush responded, “I don’t know if I’d use that description of it. But there’s certain things that you want to be buttoned down, so the pressure vessel is not MacGyvered at all because that’s where we work with Boeing, and NASA, and the University of Washington. Everything else can fail — your thrusters can go, your lights can go — you’re still going to be safe.”
The Titan has 96 hours of life support. That clock started on Sunday. Today, at least 10,000 square miles have been searched for the missing submersible, and nothing has been found. Time is running out.
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