Titanic tourist sub goes missing in Atlantic Ocean, June 2023 #2

[imstilla.grandma]

A specialist vehicle owned by Guernsey company Magellan was earlier loaded onto a C17 at Jersey Airport.

Magellan's CEO said another aircraft will arrive before trying again.
Richard Parkinson said there had been a "glitch" in getting the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on board: "They've warped their palettes getting it onto the plane.

"I believe it's something to do with the way it's been loaded. I don't think it happens very often but it's happened here."

Titanic sub: 'Glitch' in loading search vehicle in Jersey

The specialist vehicle had been due to be used to help find the missing Titan sub.

www.bbc.com

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[AliceInPain]

2m ago
The family of British billionaire Hamish Harding, who is on board the missing Titan, has accused OceanGate of having taken “far too long” to report the sub’s disappearance.

Communications between the submersible and the surface vessel, Polar Prince, were lost at about 9.45am local time on Sunday, 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting its descent to the Titanic wreck. But it was not until 5.40pm local time that the US Coast Guard was made aware.

Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of Harding, told the Telegraph:

US navy says it picked up ‘anomaly’ hours after sub began mission – as it happened

Anomaly ‘consistent with an implosion’ was detected near where craft was operating when it lost communications

www.theguardian.com

Too soon <modsnip: not victim friendly>, wait and see if they can be found first.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

I

If something catostrophic happened, is it pretty much the same as cabin depressurization on an airplane? People just slipping into unconsciousness and never waking back up?

I don’t think so.
The air pressure in a plane is higher than the pressure outside so a failure would push things outward including oxygen. A small hole might just require oxygen masks until the plane descends, a much large hole might blow larger things including people out.
The pressures for a sub are the opposite, greater outside than inside the sub. The pressure of the ocean at depth is tremendous. That is why the hull of submarines have to be super strong and are supposed to be rigorously tested. There are no small hole accidents. One tiny breech leads to catastrophic failure. In a second, anything inside would be crushed into almost nothingness.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I went on the submarine ride at Disneyland decades ago and even then felt a bit claustrophobic which is silly. I cannot imagine riding on a sub of any kind. What really freaks me out the most is the sub being bolted from the outside.

Speaking of amusement park analogies, I was imagining yesterday that it must be so dark in the depths of the sea, similar to those few frightening seconds at the start of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland and WDW. Passengers are crowded into a space with no windows and, suddenly, you are standing in total darkness and cannot even see the people standing right near you. I'm not particularly claustrophobic, but those few seconds in pitch darkness are creepy

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

I don’t think so.
The air pressure in a plane is higher than the pressure outside so a failure would push things outward including oxygen. A small hole might just require oxygen masks until the plane descends, a much large hole might blow larger things including people out.
The pressures for a sub are the opposite, greater outside than inside the sub. The pressure of the ocean at depth is tremendous. That is why the hull of submarines have to be super strong and are supposed to be rigorously tested. There are no small hole accidents. One tiny breech leads to catastrophic failure. In a second, anything inside would be crushed into almost nothingness.

I don't mean to sound macabre, but that would be absolutely insane to see.

 

[Blondiexoxo]

This whole situation is giving me such bad anxiety. I cannot even imagine the horror they are experiencing if they are still alive.

I know it’s not a nice thought to have and I’ve had reservations about saying this out loud but could another possibility be something similar to what is believed to have happened with the pilot of MH370?
I doubt this is likely as a distress signal was sent but with no way of communicating I suppose all scenarios could be possible…

I just hope that whatever happened was fast and painless for them. But still hoping for a miracle

 

[flowershop]

Interview with Mike Reiss who has done the excursion.

Does this man ever worry about anything? This video really gives me an idea of the mindset of the people who do these sorts of adventures.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Two planes, usually based at RAF Brize Norton, took off from RAF Lossiemouth earlier today to transfer support to agencies in Canada involved in the search near the Titanic wreck, which is about 425 miles south-east of Newfoundland.

Specialist loaders and crew are being transported that will significantly decrease the time it takes for equipment to be on task searching for the submersible.

Group Captain Jim Lee, station commander at RAF Lossiemouth, said: “The RAF stepped up today to support the vital work of the rescue efforts.

Planes leave RAF Lossiemouth to help search for missing Titanic sub

Two planes have taken off from the north-east to provide support to rescuers in Canada.

www.pressandjournal.co.uk

 

[fred&edna]

Does this man ever worry about anything? This video really gives me an idea of the mindset of the people who do these sorts of adventures.

He napped during the descent. And, it seems he'd do it again if this excursion is not deemed a fatal disaster.

ETA: People do dangerous things all the time... and often repeat them.

 

[Curiousobserver]

I don't mean to sound macabre, but that would be absolutely insane to see.

All the compressible elements in you body would be reduced roughly 400X in volume in less than 100 milliseconds... back of the envelope calculation

 

[wary]

I mean, what’s the bloody point, now?

Well, the whole point of the Titanic story is that people don’t always know what they think they know. I speak as someone who was given up for dead, myself.

 

[LaineyJ]

Do we know when the last bangs were heard yesterday? Like what time?

At least I thought they said they detected banging yesterday. Though I know it can’t be confirmed what the source was.

 

[gliving]

Interesting article about passenger Hamish Harding <modsnip>

Who is missing British billionaire Hamish Harding?

The 58-year-old chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation is a pilot, skydiver and astronaut.

www.independent.co.uk

"Missing British billionaire Hamish Harding is an adventurer who has been to space, taken Buzz Aldrin to the South Pole and holds three Guinness World Records.”.

"He lives in Dubai with his wife Linda and two sons Rory and Giles, according to the awards body."

He holds three Guinness World Records – fastest circumnavigation of the Earth via both poles by plane, greatest distance covered at full ocean depth and the greatest duration spent at full ocean depth.

In 2019, Harding led a team of pilots and astronauts to achieve the first record in 46 hours, 40 minutes and 22 seconds.

This was to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, according to the Living Legends of Aviation.

But Harding has made more than one trip to the South Pole.

The awards body said that in 2016 he accompanied Mr Aldrin – who became the oldest person to reach the South Pole aged 86 – <modsnip>

In 2021, Harding dived in a two-man submarine mission lasting 36 hours to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench with American explorer Victor Vescovo, breaking records by traversing the deepest part of the ocean for four hours and 15 minutes and travelling 4.6 kilometres along the sea floor."

 

[fred&edna]

Well, the whole point of the Titanic story is that people don’t always know what they think they know. I speak as someone who was given up for dead, myself.

Glad you're here to tell about it!

 

[10ofRods]

Good question.

Also, why wasn’t this connected to the surface vessel by a tether?

It's been explained in various places as too dangerous, due to the fact that any such tether would weigh a great deal and would be capable of breaking.

Apparently, if the rope/chain/whatever breaks, then that adds weight to the submersible, and now the submersible cannot come up using its usual method (getting rid of weight).

It would have had to be at least 15,000 feet long (because the submersible would be at various angles to the mother ship and needs slack). That would have been a giant spool and probably necessitated a larger launch vessel (and with at least a winch to rewind the tether). So cost savings??

Also, the terrain at the bottom is not flat and the tether could get tangled in something (the submersible is not very maneuverable, and it goes pretty slowly, would not be able to disentangle.

Without a giant winch, this tether wouldn't have helped them come up, but it sure would have made their location known.

OTOH, an underwater-capable beacon of some kind would have also helped (something that had its own power supply - something like the device that was producing the pings, but redundant and on a separate power supply).

IMO, based on various reading yesterday.

 

[cujenn81]

A specialist vehicle owned by Guernsey company Magellan was earlier loaded onto a C17 at Jersey Airport.

Magellan's CEO said another aircraft will arrive before trying again.
Richard Parkinson said there had been a "glitch" in getting the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on board: "They've warped their palettes getting it onto the plane.

"I believe it's something to do with the way it's been loaded. I don't think it happens very often but it's happened here."

Titanic sub: 'Glitch' in loading search vehicle in Jersey

The specialist vehicle had been due to be used to help find the missing Titan sub.

www.bbc.com

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

IMHO, this is the primary reason it was being held up by the US government (or however the company worded it). Because they need THREE military planes to transport the ROV and its equipment to the search location, and they have to work around passenger flights to get it done.

Alistair Varrie, head of aerodrome operations for Ports of Jersey said: "It's quite an unusual aircraft for us to have in here, it's about as big as it gets for us here".

He added that it had been "quite challenging" to keep the airport open with passenger flights running.

He said the C17 would take the ROV, and another two C17s are expected to arrive at Jersey Airport later to collect additional equipment.

Mr Varrie explained: "We can only accommodate one aircraft at a time, so the current aircraft on the ground will depart with its load and travel off presumably to Canada or stop to refuel on route.

"The second aircraft will come in to pick up a second load of equipment, and then the third aircraft will come and pick up the loading equipment that was needed to be brought in because we've got nothing on island that is capable of servicing this type of aircraft."

 

[Luna20]

If they aren’t recovered I hope that one of them penned an accounting for any optimism that they were hanging on to. Including any thoughts for their families. In the same way the few 9-11 victims were able to. The surviving family members have expressed how that helped them more in their grief.

 

[BeachSky]

2m ago
The family of British billionaire Hamish Harding, who is on board the missing Titan, has accused OceanGate of having taken “far too long” to report the sub’s disappearance.

Communications between the submersible and the surface vessel, Polar Prince, were lost at about 9.45am local time on Sunday, 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting its descent to the Titanic wreck. But it was not until 5.40pm local time that the US Coast Guard was made aware.

Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of Harding, told the Telegraph:

US navy says it picked up ‘anomaly’ hours after sub began mission – as it happened

Anomaly ‘consistent with an implosion’ was detected near where craft was operating when it lost communications

www.theguardian.com

I have to agree. When I read the timeline I thought why in the world would they hold back on calling for help? So what if it was a false alarm or a quick retrieval …better than this late start..with possibly 5 fatalities.
JMO

 

[Rolypolyoly]

If their bodies (sorry) can be recovered, then hopefully any last messages they may have written to their loved ones will bring them comfort.

I was thinking that if there wasn't a catastrophic incident and they were alive and awaiting rescue, maybe if they had their phones on them (for pictures, videos) they may have recorded messages, and an account of what happened. I don't know if they were allowed to take phones though.

I would hope so. Goodbye within one second. Just hoping some of them were hugging or holding hands

I think it would have been too quick even for that, they wouldn't have known a thing and they is no small mercy. I really hope that's the way this went.

 

[flowershop]

Desperately sad.

Apologies, this has probably already been addressed but the threads are moving so quickly. I'm aware they lost communication 1hr 45 into the dive - does anyone know how often communications were expected? Is it safe to assume something happened at 1hr 45 into the dive? Or would it be normal to go 10-15 mins without contact between the two? That would be useful to gauge whether it ever made it to the wreck or not.

There have been several individuals who have returned from these trips to say the communication failures happened but eventually communication was restored. Communication failure on the order of hours. I think it is difficult to say what "normal" is in this scenario.