One of our most memorable marine adventures occurred in April, 2016 in Barbados when we took the mini-sub Atlantis III to a depth of 155 feet to witness a wreck from over 65 years earlier. The photos below - taken during the dive - show some of what we saw:
Inside the sub - peering through portholes
The discovery of wreckage from the Titan submersible last Thursday on the North Atlantic seabed reminded us of our own much shallower (but arguably much safer) sub dive. The difference is we had no qualms about going down given the Atlantis III had already made hundreds of such depth dives compared to less than 20 for the Titan. Also, the pressure at the depth we settled at (about 130 feet) was vastly less than for the submersible, e.g. 1,911 lbs. per square inch, vs. nearly 6,000 lbs. per square inch. So the Titan's 5 passengers were in vastly greater jeopardy with a far more suspect vessel. (See first link under 'See Also' - below).
Those five occupants likely were lost the first day and barely 6 hrs. into the dive - not even halfway to the final depth. This based on high tech U.S. Navy sonar (developed after WWII) which captured an "acoustic anomaly" at the time, e.g.
The US Navy detected an implosion Sunday and told rescuers, an official tells CNN | CNN
And from which point all communication was lost. In other words the extended 4- day search saga was more a case of eyeball-grabbing performative TV drama than actual hopeful purpose, i.e. in rescuing anyone.
In the era of 24-hour news, few events grabbed the public imagination (and attention) quite as firmly as a real-time "rich people-in-peril story". The sinking of the migrant ship Adriana in the Mediterranean, not so much. Too many perishing at once, and besides they weren't doing a deep sea dive to get to the Titanic.
Beyond all that, the prospect of these extreme "bucket list", high cost ($259k each) tourist adventures calls into question their innate wisdom - no matter how much the adrenalin junkies want them.
And it’s hard to imagine a more extreme or unpleasant peril than being suddenly imploded nearly 1 1/2 miles deep in the north Atlantic in a craft the size of a minivan. In this case he design of the Titan was also suspect. Thus, the elongated shape - which would be fine in an actual submarine - like we were in - is undesirable for mega-deep dives, given pressure loads increase in the midsections. This increases fatigue and invites disaster after repeated deep dives - which increase stress and fatigue.
The sad aspect is the Titan's passengers were likely doomed from the moment they set foot into the tiny submersible - built using carbon fibers instead of more enduring steel like in real subs. They'd have been better off going to Barbados and taking the Atlantis III to see the ship wreck we visited. But alas, they were obsessed with the 111-year old mystique of Titanic.
Now we learned last night (NBC News), the U.S. plans to launch a full maritime investigation into the disaster. It ought to begin with why the early 'acoustic anomaly' was basically ignored in favor of a multi-million $ search. When the assorted powers-that-be knew it was all over- except for the final location of the imploded debris field. Respect for the deceased and dearly departed? What about those hundreds of migrants lost on their sinking vessels? Anyone shedding tears for them?
See Also:
Son’s Warning About Safety of 'Titan' Sub Saved Him and His Father (people.com)
And:
And:
by Sonali Kolhatkar | June 28, 2023 - 7:22am | permalink
Excerpt:
A hundred and eleven years ago, a ship considered to be “unsinkable” fell to the bottom of the ocean after hitting an iceberg. More than a thousand people died as the Titanic sank into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, among them the engineer who had warned against cutting corners and safety standards.
The parallels between the Titanic and the Titan—the tiny headline-garnering submersible that was lost while trying to view the sunken ship’s remains—would be laughably striking were it not for the fact that lives were lost.
Whereas the White Star Line company was focused on building luxury liners for the very wealthy, OceanGate, the company that owned the doomed submersible, runs a marine tourism business for people willing to pay $250,000 to dive more than 12,000 feet into the ocean inside a cramped tube to see the ruins of the Titanic.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the submersible and is presumed dead along with his four passengers, once boasted about “breaking rules” to engineer a craft made of carbon fiber instead of steel to withstand the pressures of the deep ocean.
And:
by Dan La Botz | June 24, 2023 - 5:58am | permalink
— from Foreign Policy In Focus
Excerpt:
The sinking of two vessels—the Andrianna, filled with hundreds of desperate migrants, and the Titan, with a handful of multi-millionaires—provides a vivid picture of the world today. All drowning deaths in the ocean are tragic, and one has to sympathize with the families who have lost loved ones. Yet these events also dramatically demonstrate global economic inequality and injustice.
Those who died on the Titan have names. Stockton Rush, chief executive and founder of OceanGate, was the pilot of the Titan. Hamis Harding was a British businessman, chairman of Action Aviation based in Dubai, and an explorer. Paul-Henri Nargeolet was director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc., an American firm that owns the rights to the wreck of the Titanic. And finally, Shazad Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulem Dawood were scions of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families.
And:
by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan | June 26, 2023 - 5:45am | permalink
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