The Titan submersible that was meant to explore the wreckage of the Titanic
imploded beneath the sea. Now, as investigators dig through the recently found debris field,
all eyes are watching to see what they might find.
More than a week after the June 18, 2023 disappearance of the submersible Titan,
a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, named Odysseus 6K,
continues to search the North Atlantic seafloor, 12,500 feet down. The Odysseus first discovered
the Titan's debris field on June 22 about 1,600 feet from the wreck of the RMS Titanic,
which the tourist submarine with five people aboard had intended to explore.
The ROV located two debris fields, a larger one where it discovered the, quote, "front end bell
of the pressure hull." In a smaller debris field nearby, the robot found "the totality of that
pressure vessel." It was this discovery that led authorities to conclude everyone aboard the sub
had died in a, quote, "catastrophic implosion of the vessel." As of that moment, the massive
search operation became an investigation into how the tragedy occurred and a recovery effort.
An hour and 45 minutes after Titan began its descent into the frigid North Atlantic about
400 miles east of Nantucket, Massachusetts, all communication with its mother ship, the Polar
Prince, suddenly ended. The sub was carrying five people, including three tourists who paid up to
$250,000 each to see the wreckage of the Titanic, along with Stockton Rush, the CEO
of OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the trip, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
There had been concerns from within the company and from outside experts that the
Titan needed more testing and should have been certified by a professional agency,
which OceanGate refused to do, according to The New York Times. Both the U.S. and Canada
are conducting preliminary investigations into exactly how the disaster happened and whether
there would be civil or criminal penalties regarding the accident. Capt. Jason Neubauer,
the U.S. Coast Guard's chief investigator said at a recent press conference,
"My primary goal is to prevent a similar occurrence by making the
necessary recommendations to advance the safety of the maritime domain worldwide."
The Coast Guard's current priority is recovering the debris from the bottom of the North Atlantic,
which won't be easy. The Odysseus has found five large pieces of the Titan,
including the nose cone and front and back ends of the pressurized chamber. However,
Captain Neubauer, wouldn't outright say whether they had found any bodies yet,
according to Sky News and CNN. At a press conference, he stated,
"I'm not getting into the details of the recovery operations but we are
taking all precautions on site if we are to encounter any human remains. At this time,
a priority of the investigation is to recover items from the sea floor."
The Odysseus 6K ROV, which discovered the remains of the Titan, is equipped with
both cameras and sonar and when not underwater is being housed on the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic,
according to the Independent. While it is now working nearly 2.5 miles down,
it can go even deeper, nearly 20,000 feet deep.
Even so, getting the large pieces of the sub to the surface would require the help of Deep Energy,
a nautical vessel which was also part of the rescue mission turned salvage
operation. Jeff Mahoney, a spokesperson for Pelagic Research Services, told CNN,
quote, "the debris will likely be too heavy for Pelagic's ROV to lift by
itself." The Deep Energy is mainly used to lay deep underwater cable,
according to The Guardian. The search mission will continue for another week, Mahoney told CNN.
Unfortunately, the remote location in the North Atlantic and the great depth make
the recovery even harder. Mahoney, in a statement,
said it was "a remarkably difficult and risky operation." He continued to say,
"Given its continuous operation under the incredible atmospheric pressures,
temperatures, and environmental stresses,
it's a testament to the skill of the team and the engineering of Odysseus."
As The Scottish Sun reported, the cost of the operation to find and recover
the Titan is expected to run into the millions just for the U.S. Coast Guard.