Tourist(s) missing in submarine while trying to reach the Titannic

[Ming the Merciless]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/u-s-coa...-sub-1.6446841

A search and rescue operation is currently underway to locate a submarine that went missing during an expedition to the Titanic.
The U.S. Coast Guard was looking for the submarine Monday morning after it disappeared during the expedition from St. John's, N.L. The infamous 1912 wreck is located more than 600 kilometres southeast of the province in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The trip to the Titanic was being run by OceanGate Expeditions, a U.S.-based company. It uses a five-person submersible named Titan to reach the wreckage 3,800 metres below the surface. OceanGate's website advertises a seven-night voyage to the Titanic for US$250,000 per person, or approximately CA$330,000.
"We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely," an OceanGate spokesperson said in an email to CTV News. "Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families."


Those tours are a series of five eight-day missions to the Titanic with the money raised by tourists going towards Titanic research. Posts on social media show the ship launched from the St. John's area last week.

Did they really have 5 people in this?? Or do they have a larger version??

[Ocotillo]

"The rich are good people deep down"
Seen in Seattle, Washington pic.twitter.com/hJuCQphesY

— Radical Graffiti (@GraffitiRadical) July 2, 2023

[Kiimo]

That is a tragic read. I wish Stockton Rush would have survived only to be held accountable for his crimes, hubris and stupidity.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Enid Borden

This is the most in depth and horrible thing I've read about Stockton Rush and his shitty sub.



The Titan Submersible Was “an Accident Waiting to Happen”

Yikes, that's a brutal read.

I don't understand the organizational structures, but it's odd that he could just keep going (and would keep going) when all of the experts were telling him that it was a bad idea.

This makes me feel bad for the passengers (errr, "mission specialists"). Every expert knew that this guy was headed for trouble, and those people presumably never heard anything but the ads. I recognize that people were afraid of lawsuits, but geez - at some point send a bunch of anonymous emails to them saying that it's a bad idea to get on a non-certified ship. There were ethical and legal failings to those people, but also moral failings.

This is why government regulation is necessary, even if it chafes us sometimes. This seems like it was handled a lot like the food industry back in the Upton Sinclair era, where the philosphy was that the consumer will take the risk and it's up to them to figure out if they were being sold spoiled food or not. The consumer shouldn't be the one responsible in that situation.

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Enid Borden

This is the most in depth and horrible thing I've read about Stockton Rush and his shitty sub.



The Titan Submersible Was “an Accident Waiting to Happen”

Good lord, people should read this. Some of the tl:dr...

It hints that there actually was a way to scan the hull for integrity. It sounds like most people were in agreement that carbon fiber and repeated use was just a really bad idea.

It really clears up the weird "mission specialist" titles passengers were given as well. It wasn't just some touristy honorary badge. So, "customers" provided a payment to a foreign entity operating outside of jurisdictions. That foreign entity hires the company who is only set up to operate in international waters to provided you with an opportunity to conduct your own research mission. Killing a "crew member" has different penalties when compared to killing a "passenger". That's quite the set of flaming hoops they're jumping through. Seem odd to go through all those levels of protection if you're one of the people in the damn thing.

Other than the one guy we know who nope'd the **** out on the deal, I wonder how many other customers put all this together. Where is the footage from one of the earlier customers who had previously survived a complication on the bottom of the ocean and why is it not being blasted everywhere?

It just keeps getting worse and worse as you read. Did the old guy with significant experience actually have a death wish?

Betwixt is a word. Other than nerds, who knew?

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yikes, that's a brutal read.

I don't understand the organizational structures, but it's odd that he could just keep going (and would keep going) when all of the experts were telling him that it was a bad idea.

This makes me feel bad for the passengers (errr, "mission specialists"). Every expert knew that this guy was headed for trouble, and those people presumably never heard anything but the ads. I recognize that people were afraid of lawsuits, but geez - at some point send a bunch of anonymous emails to them saying that it's a bad idea to get on a non-certified ship. There were ethical and legal failings to those people, but also moral failings.

This is why government regulation is necessary, even if it chafes us sometimes. This seems like it was handled a lot like the food industry back in the Upton Sinclair era, where the philosphy was that the consumer will take the risk and it's up to them to figure out if they were being sold spoiled food or not. The consumer shouldn't be the one responsible in that situation.

To go a step further, there were plenty of proven companies and vessels that would facilitate the trip:

Expeditions, had transported tourists to the Titanic in the two-thousands, using two Soviet submarines that had been rated to six thousand metres.

[RedRaider56]

wow...What Rush did is beyond criminal. Innocent lives lost because of one man's ego.

[Rain Man]

Zoicks. This is kind of scary. I mean, it was good thinking in the moment, but people shouldn't have been participating in this.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rubik-cub...172330364.html

Bill Price, retired from running a family travel business in California, went on a Titan dive in 2021. During the descent, Rush realized that Titan had lost its propulsion system on one side. He aborted the trip, Price said.

But he could not get what he called the “drop-weight mechanism” to release ballast for the ascent, as designed, Price said. (In a video interview with Alan Estrada, a Mexican social media influencer, Rush explained the ballast system, which included six 24-inch sewer pipes that weighed 37 pounds, “and we dump that pipe, one by one.”)

Rush calmly explained that the weights were loaded from the top with no stopper — so if they could rock the submersible enough, they would drop off.

Everyone lined up in a row, rushed to one side, then the other, back and forth, to tip the Titan and dislodge the ballast, the way someone might rock a vending machine to free a candy bar stuck on a spindle.

“After several rolls, we got momentum going,” Price said. “Then, we heard a clunk, and we all collectively knew one had dropped off. So we continued to do that, until the weights were all out.”

None of this prevented Titan from making a dive the next day, with Price aboard. They saw the Titanic and celebrated at the surface with sparkling cider.

[kcpasco]

The more I keep reading about this Rush guy the more certain I am of him being a real life cartoon villain.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yikes, that's a brutal read.

I don't understand the organizational structures, but it's odd that he could just keep going (and would keep going) when all of the experts were telling him that it was a bad idea.

This makes me feel bad for the passengers (errr, "mission specialists"). Every expert knew that this guy was headed for trouble, and those people presumably never heard anything but the ads. I recognize that people were afraid of lawsuits, but geez - at some point send a bunch of anonymous emails to them saying that it's a bad idea to get on a non-certified ship. There were ethical and legal failings to those people, but also moral failings.

This is why government regulation is necessary, even if it chafes us sometimes. This seems like it was handled a lot like the food industry back in the Upton Sinclair era, where the philosphy was that the consumer will take the risk and it's up to them to figure out if they were being sold spoiled food or not. The consumer shouldn't be the one responsible in that situation.

Was just going to post something similar; I know it's trendy to hate on regulations, but they exist for a reason.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by kcpasco

The more I keep reading about this Rush guy the more certain I am of him being a real life cartoon villain.

Say what you will about the guy, but he paid the ultimate price for his carelessness and hubris. A true villain would have been snorting coke off a hooker's ass in a multi-million dollar penthouse when that thing imploded, not riding inside it along with everybody else.

Should he have known it was unsafe? Sure. But he obviously didn't think it was unsafe.

[Eleazar]

He's sort of the personification of "Do your own research"

[Enid Borden]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Say what you will about the guy, but he paid the ultimate price for his carelessness and hubris. A true villain would have been snorting coke off a hooker's ass in a multi-million dollar penthouse when that thing imploded, not riding inside it along with everybody else.

Should he have known it was unsafe? Sure. But he obviously didn't think it was unsafe.

He actually tried to get an accounting girl to be a pilot for him, and she freaked out and quit.

[Ocotillo]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Say what you will about the guy, but he paid the ultimate price for his carelessness and hubris. A true villain would have been snorting coke off a hooker's ass in a multi-million dollar penthouse when that thing imploded, not riding inside it along with everybody else.

Should he have known it was unsafe? Sure. But he obviously didn't think it was unsafe.

The first page of the OceanGate waiver mentioned the word death three times. It was loud and clear that it was a risky endeavor.

[Enid Borden]

Originally Posted by ghak99

It hints that there actually was a way to scan the hull for integrity. It sounds like most people were in agreement that carbon fiber and repeated use was just a really bad idea.

That he felt the need to install such an unheard of mechanism on his ship spoke volumes in and of itself. That's not normal equipment. He knew it was trash and he did it anyway, thinking he could walk the tightrope and he'd have time to resurface without it imploding. Nargeolet clearly knew otherwise and didn't care, apparently wanting to die at sea.

[Enid Borden]

Originally Posted by Ocotillo

The first page of the OceanGate waiver mentioned the word death three times. It was loud and clear that it was a risky endeavor.

He turned around the pitched it as being "safer than crossing the street." He was just trying to avoid litigation with those waivers.