111 years later, Titanic has claimed 5 more victims

[majorhavoc]

Missing submersible disappears in vicinity of Titanic shipwreck

I'll admit it - this developing story fascinates me.

[MacWa77ace]

The chief executive of OceanGate, which was founded in 2009, has compared its project to the burgeoning space tourism industry, and the company has offered tours of the Titanic in which guests paid $250,000 to travel to the wreckage on the seabed, more than two miles below the ocean's surface.

[NT2C]

Was this the next stop on this tourist's bucket list?


https://www.tiktok.com/@cherlin95/video/7241971653163470107

[Anianna]

The chief executive of OceanGate, which was founded in 2009, has compared its project to the burgeoning space tourism industry, and the company has offered tours of the Titanic in which guests paid $250,000 to travel to the wreckage on the seabed, more than two miles below the ocean's surface.

With no deep ocean rescue capabilities should something go wrong, apparently. 

[Uomo Senza Nome]

The chief executive of OceanGate, which was founded in 2009, has compared its project to the burgeoning space tourism industry, and the company has offered tours of the Titanic in which guests paid $250,000 to travel to the wreckage on the seabed, more than two miles below the ocean's surface.

With no deep ocean rescue capabilities should something go wrong, apparently. 

Rescue attempt is underway. It will be very costly.

[majorhavoc]

I'm normally not a pessimist, but the families should prepare themselves for bad news.

[EBuff75]

Submersibles like this usually have positive buoyancy (i.e. they float) and have to use weights in order to descend.  To come back up, all they have to do is release the weights.  That's the sort of system that likely has redundant options to release the weights, including manual.  When the surface lost comms with the submersible, that could've been any number of technical issues, but they would still have been able to release the weights and come back up, even if there had been a significant power issue (and a loss of communications / power would almost certainly count as an emergency which would cause them to scrub the dive). 

Right from the start I figured that this is probably a hull failure of some type and that the likelihood of survival is extremely low.  I don't know what the design of this submersible is like, but many of them have several spheres welded together, with one for the people and another one or more for the mechanicals.  If there was a leak in the mechanical section, it could make it too heavy to return to the surface, even if the weights were dropped.  That's the only scenario that I see where they might possibly be alive right now.

But even if that's the case I doubt that they'll be able to be rescued due to the depth, which would mean a cold, dark death from suffocation/freezing.  Robert Ballard (the guy who found the Titanic) had a few close calls when diving as well, and completely swore off of one type of design (I believe the bathyscape submersible type) after several serious issues with them when diving.  At those depths, very small things become enormous problems really quickly.  It's not a forgiving environment.

[majorhavoc]

An example of the lazy, uninformed garbage that passes as factual reporting, even in established news media like The New York Times:

The push to build human-operated submersibles began in the 1950s, during the space race.  The first vehicles were tested in the 1960s at a maximum depth of 70 feet, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.

I get it that whatever source they were talking to at Woods Hole was probably referring to deep sea submersibles, but come on, man - that's kind of an important distinction. This is how widespread misconceptions start. Next thing you know, people will be claiming the U-boat menace of WW2 was just a hoax because manned submersibles weren't even invented until the 1950s.

[EBuff75]

The BBC had an article that gives some info about this submersible.  It's not certified by any organization (it's classified as experimental) and all participants have to sign a waiver acknowledging that it's dangerous and that they may die.  It's basically a tube with a carpeted floor that you sit on (no seats) and is piloted using a PlayStation controller.  Navigation is done via text messages back up to the surface ship, who gives them directions on which way to go (there's no onboard navigation system).  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65960217

Um, no thanks...

[MacWa77ace]

An example of the lazy, uninformed garbage that passes as factual reporting, even in established news media like The New York Times:

The push to build human-operated submersibles began in the 1950s, during the space race.  The first vehicles were tested in the 1960s at a maximum depth of 70 feet, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.

I get it that whatever source they were talking to at Woods Hole was probably referring to deep sea submersibles, but come on, man - that's kind of an important distinction. This is how widespread misconceptions start. Next thing you know, people will be claiming the U-boat menace of WW2 was just a hoax because manned submersibles weren't even invented until the 1950s.

yeah, probably leaving out a lot of words like 'govt funded research' when referring to the 'push'. Where there may not have been any real govt. monetary interest before. But 70 ft? is that a typo?

I like words like bathysphere 1930's and 3000 ft. or Bathyscaphe 1940's and 4600 ft. both manned submersibles.

classified as a submersible, not a submarine, because it does not function as an autonomous craft, instead relying on a support platform to deploy and return.

definitely a difference in type of apparatus.

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2020/10/16/more-than-just-the-hunley-the-other-submarines-of-the-u-s-civil-war-2/


And diving bells are mentioned and in use as early as the 4th century BC. Another type of submersible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_bell#History

Here's one from the future, made from jelly fish skins and lawn chairs. à la Waterworld.



Idiocracy here we come.

[Uomo Senza Nome]

The BBC had an article that gives some info about this submersible.  It's not certified by any organization (it's classified as experimental) and all participants have to sign a waiver acknowledging that it's dangerous and that they may die.  It's basically a tube with a carpeted floor that you sit on (no seats) and is piloted using a PlayStation controller.  Navigation is done via text messages back up to the surface ship, who gives them directions on which way to go (there's no onboard navigation system).  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65960217

Um, no thanks...

Why not? What could go wrong?

[NT2C]

The BBC had an article that gives some info about this submersible.  It's not certified by any organization (it's classified as experimental) and all participants have to sign a waiver acknowledging that it's dangerous and that they may die.  It's basically a tube with a carpeted floor that you sit on (no seats) and is piloted using a PlayStation controller.  Navigation is done via text messages back up to the surface ship, who gives them directions on which way to go (there's no onboard navigation system).  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65960217

Um, no thanks...

Why not? What could go wrong?

Could run into Bowser.

[EBuff75]

The BBC had an article that gives some info about this submersible.  It's not certified by any organization (it's classified as experimental) and all participants have to sign a waiver acknowledging that it's dangerous and that they may die.  It's basically a tube with a carpeted floor that you sit on (no seats) and is piloted using a PlayStation controller.  Navigation is done via text messages back up to the surface ship, who gives them directions on which way to go (there's no onboard navigation system).  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65960217

Um, no thanks...

Why not? What could go wrong?

Could run into Bowser.

Pilot:  Uh-oh
Nervous passengers:  What's wrong?
Pilot:  Uh, anyone got any fresh AA batteries?...

[majorhavoc]

Note to self: remove "Decend to crushing depth of 2.5 miles under the sea in an unregistered, uncertified experimental vessel run by for-profit "research" organization" from bucket list.

[Uomo Senza Nome]

Note to self: remove "Decend to crushing depth of 2.5 miles under the sea in an unregistered, uncertified experimental vessel run by for-profit "research" organization" from bucket list.

I'm keeping it there, but saving it for last.

[NT2C]

Note to self: remove "Decend to crushing depth of 2.5 miles under the sea in an unregistered, uncertified experimental vessel run by for-profit "research" organization" from bucket list.

I'm keeping it there, but saving it for last.

When you return from Mars?

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I really hate to say this, but I'm getting a strong feeling that this will end up being more of a body recovery mission than a rescue mission.

[majorhavoc]

Reading between the lines, sounds like the only reasonable hope for a successful rescue is if the Titan submersible somehow ascended to the surface and hasn't been located yet.

[Raptor]

Note to self: remove "Decend to crushing depth of 2.5 miles under the sea in an unregistered, uncertified experimental vessel run by for-profit "research" organization" from bucket list.

Agreed... I mean what could possibly go wrong with that?

Just think we both saved ourselves $250,000

[Anianna]

The chief executive of OceanGate, which was founded in 2009, has compared its project to the burgeoning space tourism industry, and the company has offered tours of the Titanic in which guests paid $250,000 to travel to the wreckage on the seabed, more than two miles below the ocean's surface.

With no deep ocean rescue capabilities should something go wrong, apparently. 

Rescue attempt is underway. It will be very costly.

Yea, but I'm of the opinion that if the company wants to offer submersible tourism, they should have the capability to retrieve their own vehicle.  I hope the bill for recovery is sent to the company.