A Submarine Used To Explore Wreckage From The Titanic Has Gone Missing
For the past century, people have been romanticizing the last moments of the SS Titanic‘s ill-fated one-way trip to the bottom of the ocean as if it were a cruise that promoted a little deep-sea diving as an incentive for its guests. Let me remind anyone who wants to see the wreckage in 2023; DON’T. It’s an old rusted ship you can see in photos online, dry and at home. But some people still want to see it up close. And this is one time when the secrets of the sea should have been left where they are as a submarine owned by OceanGate, which provides excursions to see the Titanic after days at sea, has been missing since the weekend, and many are concerned about its whereabouts.
According to TMZ, a five-member voyage began last week and went missing about an hour and 45 minutes into its journey. On the sub is billionaire Hamish Harding, who easily dropped the $250K for the trip, but it shouldn’t be that surprising since this is the same dude who bummed a ride on Jeff Bezos’ dick rocket last year.
Listen, I’m all for space exploration because we’re not getting to the flying cars we were promised as kids fast enough. But when it comes to the sea, I don’t even want to dip my toe in the water because, with my luck, that one random current will grab my whole foot and take me to Atlantis so I can sing with Ariel and Flounder. In other words, it’s always going to be a no for me, dawg. Not Hamish, as TMZ has reported. Apparently, the final frontier of space was not enough of a thrill for Hamish as he and a crew of four OceanGate members have been missing since Sunday after their most recent deep dive, and this may not ruin out on a happy note after all of this time.
Unclear where exactly it lost touch with its home base … but reports say the submarine had begun a 12,500-foot descent into the ocean to see the Titanic wreckage up close off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. [Harding] is said to be the lone civilian accompanying the crew … as confirmed by his family.
Harding — who once paid top-dollar for a ride in Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket — posted a proud pic of himself Sunday, hyping up the fact that he’d be the last person to see the Titanic in ’23. The org that owns and operates this submarine, OceanGate Expeditions, was actually set to resume voyages in 2024 — and this one was going to be their last of the year.
OceanGate has said this sub belongs to them … and that their team had yet to return from the mission. They’re a private company that offers tours of the Titanic … and tickets for this go as high as $250k.
Realizing it was time to break out the statement they’d need for such an occasion, OceanGate broke their silence about their efforts to find the missing submarine.
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 19, 2023
Those on board with Hamish include Pakistani businessman mogul Shanzada Dawood, his teenage son Sulaiman, and experienced deep diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Here’s a tour of the sub they’re on:
There's been a lot of buzz surrounding the search for the lost Oceangate Titan Sub. With a capacity for five passengers, the Titan is capable of diving to depths of 13,123 feet and reaches a speed of 3 mph. However, news has surfaced that the sub does not have a black box, making… pic.twitter.com/4LZVfc8KNM
— Bryan Nexus (@Bryanjnexus) June 20, 2023
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that this lucrative leap thousands of leagues under the sea will bring everyone home safely and teach folks a lesson to leave the Titanic alone. It has literally been sunken for decades and doesn’t want to be bothered with a bunch of looky-loos spying on its watery graveyard. Let’s finally leave it alone, untouched by humans under the sea.
Pic: OceanGate