Titanic tourist sub goes missing in Atlantic Ocean, June 2023

[heartandsoul]

I’m so not a tech person but on occasion learn interesting tidbits from my passion for all types of mysterious events. The technology exists with advancement of satellite tracking systems but the issue is with the exorbitant costs in upgrading airline systems for each individual airplane. I assume as older inventory is replaced with updated airplanes that will ensure accurate tracking.
Not positive but recall discussions several years ago on regulations mandating system upgrades by a certain date in the future. After upgrade cost analysis, airline determined fines associated with violation less costly than system upgrade.

Makes perfect sense, thank you! Seems such a shame when things go wrong and we just lose them.

Re: whales. Orcas do not generally dive below 100m - max. There are, of course, deeper diving whales and sharks, and it’s an interesting thought. But I don’t think that’s what’s happened in this specific case (watch me be wrong!).

 

[Nova]

I am only guessing--and, full disclosure, my degrees are in theater, not in the sciences, much less oceanography or engineering--but perhaps the crew is bolted in from the outside because the great pressure at great depths (one source estimated 400 atmospheres) pushes the bolts* "in". This holds them in place no matter how great the pressure outside the craft.

If the bolts* went from inside to outside, great pressure might push the bolt* back into the submersible, thus creating an opening and causing the sub to implode.

In movies, at least, submarines responded to explosions outside the hull (i.e., additional pressure) by shooting interior, outward-pointed bolts like bullets through the interior of the sub.

*I am imagining a regular bolt that I could buy at my local hardware store. I assume the actual equipment is something more sophisticated, though if the sub is "driven" with a Playstation handset, who knows?

 

[iamshadow21]

A spot on this Titanic submersible expedition costs more than $300,000 — here's what we know about it

Really good breakdown of what is known about the dive.

Specifies that there is one pilot, and the rest of the 'crew' are paying customers.

Also, that two people on board are a Pakistani businessman and his son.

MOO

 

[Dhighsmith]

Makes perfect sense, thank you! Seems such a shame when things go wrong and we just lose them.

Absolutely agree especially disturbing in these type disasters is knowing the individuals have no or minimal control over situation, helpless. Ex-husband, litigation attorney represented several clients in airline disasters that I assisted with, after first case refused to be involved in future cases. It was over a year before I flew again, still require sedative when flying- pure fear of experiencing what I heard from audio recording, two minutes of panic is forever.
Praying for successful rescue.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Two more crew members named - one of Pakistan’s richest men Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince's Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-65953941

 

[ChatteringBirds]

From what I hear, many many people are not happy once they are under water in a submersible.

Do you mean the sense of claustrophobia, or what do people - who thought they'd be okay with it- unexpectedly experience?

two people on board are a Pakistani businessman and his son.

You have to wonder what the businessman/son on board really knew about the risks/ past problems with the vessel. It's really heartbreaking to imagine a dad and son just wanting to experience something really interesting and unusual together, but something went wrong.

I think the others on board, who have done this kind of thing before, just have a love/passion for this and knew the risks, but the risks were worth it to them.
JMO.

 

[gitana1]

Not having a beacon sounds kind of illegal to me, but also, just plain silly. Especially if they've 'lost' it before. I'd expect any customers paying to go aboard would expect a beacon as a bare minimum.

 MOO

I heard people paid upwards of 100k each to get on that thing.

Sounds like my idea of hell.

 

[Lyall0814]

Do you mean the sense of claustrophobia, or what do people - who thought they'd be okay with it- unexpectedly experience?



You have to wonder what the businessman/son on board really knew about the risks/ past problems with the vessel. It's really heartbreaking to imagine a dad and son just wanting to experience something really interesting and unusual together, but something went wrong.

I think the others on board, who have done this kind of thing before, just have a love/passion for this and knew the risks, but the risks were worth it to them.
JMO.

'You sign a massive waiver that mentions death three times' says Mike Reiss, a New York-based writer and producer, who has worked on the Simpsons, and took a trip on the Titan sub last year.

BBC live updates

Sounds like it's riskier than going into space, and everyone who goes down there knows it. Doesn't stop them going though.

 

[Sarahlou]

Two more crew members named - one of Pakistan’s richest men Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince's Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-65953941

The poor mother/wife. I just can't fathom why they'd both go on this. Such high risk. Very sad.

 

[Dhighsmith]

I heard people paid upwards of 100k each to get on that thing.



Sounds like my idea of hell.

Actually, it’s $250k per MSM.

 

[dalsglen]

I heard people paid upwards of 100k each to get on that thing.

Sounds like my idea of hell.

The thoughts terrifying huh? You couldn't pay me all the money in the world to get in the world's most safest sub in a paddling pool nevermind in the middle of the ocean. Two miles is the length of my town, it's mindblowing....

 

[gitana1]

Yeah, I strongly suspect if they find it, they're going to find there was catastrophic failure, and they're going to find evidence of explosive decompression. Incredibly unpleasant, but in its favour, at that depth, a very quick death.

MOO

This is the logical outcome but I’m sure sabotage has crossed other people’s minds as it has mine?

But yeah, some sort of technical failure is the most likely theory.

updated less than 10 mins ago

Snipped...
...The exact number of people missing remains unclear but the submarines carry up to five people at a time. There has been no contact with the vessel for more than seven hours.

OceanGate CEO’s chilling words revealed as Titan sub company shuts down

Debris from the imploded Titan submersible was recovered from the ocean floor last week

www.independent.co.uk

So this thing detaches from a larger vessel? The red vessel? And then floats around? If so, where is that vessel?

 

[gitana1]

The thoughts terrifying huh? You couldn't pay me all the money in the world to get in the world's most safest sub in a paddling pool nevermind in the middle of the ocean. Two miles is the length of my town, it's mindblowing....

I can’t even go on the submarine ride at Disney which doesn’t even fully submerge.

 

[iamshadow21]

Yeah, I strongly suspect if they find it, they're going to find there was catastrophic failure, and they're going to find evidence of explosive decompression. Incredibly unpleasant, but in its favour, at that depth, a very quick death.

MOO

I realised after I'd had a good night's sleep I probably used the wrong term, because the pressure in this case is higher on the outside of the submersible than the inside. Implosion, rather than explosion. But still.

MOO

 

[gitana1]

USCGNortheast
@USCGNortheast

The
@USCG
is searching for a 21-foot submersible from the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince. The 5 person crew submerged Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince lost contact with them approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes into the vessel’s dive.

So the Polar Prince is a ship/boat and the submersible launches from it?

 

[scandinavian girl]

I have been obsessed with Titanic my whole life but nope I don´t want to visit her. Let her and the victims rest in peace and only check on her once in a while. No tourism. I went on a cruise when someone said "Here is where Estonia sank" we were right above her and it was chilling, everyone was silent. The victims are still there they never recovered them.

 

[iamshadow21]

So the Polar Prince is a ship/boat and the submersible launches from it?

There's a platform the submersible seems to launch from, but it's just a platform. As far as I know, they need the boat to get the platform/submersible to and from the surface location. But I could be wrong, that's just my impression, having read probably exactly the same articles you've read over the past day.

MOO

 

[Betty P]

I have been obsessed with Titanic my whole life but nope I don´t want to visit her. Let her and the victims rest in peace and only check on her once in a while. No tourism. I went on a cruise when someone said "Here is where Estonia sank" we were right above her and it was chilling, everyone was silent. The victims are still there they never recovered them.

Bob Ballard did a series of dives in Iron Bottom Sound off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. My gr uncle went down with the USS Quincy in that battle. While it was a great thing for my grandmother and her surviving brother to see Ballards video of the Quincy where her brother and hundreds of shipmates rest, it’s a grave. Ballard respected that.

Several years ago, I saw a video on You Tube of some US tourists diving on the Quincy wreck, cracking off color jokes and picking through the wreckage. It was shocking and disrespectful. Its the same for the Titanic and other shipwrecks where people are buried.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I heard people paid upwards of 100k each to get on that thing.

Sounds like my idea of hell.

Same here, I don’t even like snorkelling.

 

[gitana1]

Per CNN (TV), The company waited for two hours before reporting it to the Coast Guard.
Contact was lost 1:45 hours after it started the dive.
As of approx 2:00 CST today, the submersible has been missing for about 24 hours.

JMO

Two hours of precious time lost. Ugh.