A tourist sub set to take passengers to the wreckage of the Titanic in the deep ocean is missing. Here are the details on what we know as of Tuesday morning.
What Happened: The Titanic sailed from England to New York in 1912 on its maiden voyage. The boat sank at the hands of an iceberg and its story was turned into one of the highest-grossing movies of all time in 1997.
A deep sea submersible vehicle called Titan lost contact with research vessel Polar Prince Sunday morning. Titan was seeking to dive to the wreckage of the Titanic.
The dive was organized by private research and tourism company OceanGate Expeditions, a company that has completed several Titanic dives in the last two years. The company charges an estimated $250,000 per person to take part in the deep ocean trip.
The Titan can reach 13,123 feet underwater, according to OceanGate. The sub is 22 feet by 9.2 feet by 9.3 feet. The vessel can travel at a speed of 3 knots. The Titanic wreckage is at around 13,000 feet underwater.
Search Ongoing: The search for the submersible vessel continues on Tuesday with concerns of the oxygen supply on board running out on or before Thursday.
The U.S. Coast Guard is among the parties trying to locate the missing sub. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger is leading the search and spoke Tuesday morning with “Good Morning America."
Teams have been “working around-the-clock to bring all capabilities that we have to bear,” Mauger said. The search zone is around 1,000 miles wide and 13,000 feet deep, making it around the size of Connecticut.
“We’re expanding our capabilities to search underwater as well.”
The Titan Passengers: A total of five people are onboard the Titan, and their names are starting to be released by relatives and government officials. The five people include a commander piloting the vessel, a research expert and three people who paid to take part in the trip, Mauger said.
British billionaire Hamish Harding is among the people onboard. Harding posted about his trip on social media prior to departing.
“This mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” Harding said.
Harding is a well-known pilot and explorer and chairman of Action Aviation.
Harding’s friend Terry Virts revealed to “Good Morning America” that the last text message he received from the British billionaire was one saying they were heading out on Sunday, as shared by the New York Post.
“He understood the risks for sure, there’s no doubt about that,” Virts said. “He went down to the deepest part of the ocean, set a few world records … at the Mariana Trench and we talked quite a bit about the risks and the different things that they were going to be able to do.”
Harding recently flew to space aboard a Blue Origin flight in 2022. Harding was one of six astronauts who went to space aboard the Jeff Bezos-owned space company’s June 2022 flight.
Harding holds three Guinness World Records for his exploration efforts.
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman are also among the missing passengers; their family confirmed in a statement the duo is on the Titan.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet has been named as a Titan passenger by The New York Times. Nargeolet is the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic Inc, the company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic wreck and has recovered many artifacts found in Titanic exhibitions. Nargeolet has been on over 35 dives to the wreckage site of the Titanic, according to the report.
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Inside The Titan: While the public continues to read about the search and rescue operation for the Titan and its passengers, interest is being shown in the living quarters on the sub and its link to a video game controller.
According to a report from Newsweek, the interior of the Titan is around the size of a van.
Those who are claustrophobic have likely shied away from reading the details of the cramped quarters inside the Titan. It was reported Monday the vessel is bolted shut from the outside, making it impossible to get out without the assistance of someone on the outside.
Another item catching attention on social media is old footage from a CBS interview with OceanGate that showed a Logitech video game controller being used as a controller for the deep ocean operations.
Along with “Titanic” trending on social media Monday, phrases like “video game controller,” “Xbox controller” and “Playstation controller” became trending items.
The old controller from Logitech LOGI featured in the interview with CBS Sunday Morning in 2022 and other controls led to a reporter questioning the operations.
“It seems like the submersible has some elements of MacGyever-y jerry-rigged-ness,” CBS reporter David Pogue said. “I mean you’re putting construction pipes as ballasts.”
Video game controllers are easy to use and could be used for submersible vehicles given the minimal training needed, according to the Newsweek report.
Titanic Interest Continues: Despite the sinking of the Titanic occurring over 100 years ago, the doomed ocean liner remains one of the most talked about ships and continues to draw interest from the public.
Some of this was helped by the 1997 film directed by James Cameron, “Titanic.” The movie became one of the highest grossing in history, becoming the first to hit $1 billion in worldwide box office.
“Titanic” ranks as the ninth highest-grossing movie domestically with $674.3 million at the box office. The movie ranks fourth all-time worldwide with a box office gross of $2.26 billion.
The movie is tied for the most all-time Academy Award nominations at 14 and the most Academy Award wins at 11.
“Titanic” has seen several re-releases in theaters over the years and continues to be one of the most well-known Paramount Pictures PARA titles.
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Photo courtesy of OceanGate Expeditions.
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