On 18 June 2023, billionaire Hamish Harding shared this post on Instagram. Unknown to him, this should be the last-ever photo taken of him and his last-ever post on the social media platform. Four days after this photo was taken, Hamish Harding, along with four others, would be declared dead, all victims of the doomed Titan submersible expedition. The expedition set out to tour the wrecked side of the RMS Titanic. The passengers on board the Titan were British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Suleiman Daud, French diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and founder of Ocean Gate Expeditions and leader of the expedition, Stockton Rush.
Each seat on the fatal expedition cost a quarter of a million dollars. The Titan submersible and its mothership, the Polar Prince, left for the site of the RMS Titanic's wreck from Saint John's City in Canada's Newfoundland on Friday, 16th of June. At 7 am on 18 June, Titan began its descent to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The descent was supposed to take two hours, or one hour and 45 minutes. After it started, Titan seized all communication with the mothership. Titan had gone silent.
A submersible is a part of the submarine family but is significantly smaller. Secondly, submarines can leave a port, traverse the seas, and return to land on their own resources. But a submersible needs a surface vessel to be launched from, refueled, and stay in contact with the surface. Submersibles like the Titan only have enough power and resources for shorter expeditions.
Titan was designed to reach depths of 4,000 meters or 13,000 feet. The ocean's pressure at this depth is more than 380 times the atmospheric pressure on the surface. But Titan was built to withstand this pressure and conduct inspection, research, and data collection. It was also capable of carrying oxygen and resources for a 96-hour expedition, roughly 4 days.
In an unsettling development, the U.S. Navy said that it had detected an implosion from the area on Sunday, 18th June, the day Titan had launched. Could this implosion have been averted? Were safety measures overlooked on this expedition?
Each seat on the fatal expedition cost a quarter of a million dollars. The Titan submersible and its mothership, the Polar Prince, left for the site of the RMS Titanic's wreck from Saint John's City in Canada's Newfoundland on Friday, 16th of June. At 7 am on 18 June, Titan began its descent to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The descent was supposed to take two hours, or one hour and 45 minutes. After it started, Titan seized all communication with the mothership. Titan had gone silent.
A submersible is a part of the submarine family but is significantly smaller. Secondly, submarines can leave a port, traverse the seas, and return to land on their own resources. But a submersible needs a surface vessel to be launched from, refueled, and stay in contact with the surface. Submersibles like the Titan only have enough power and resources for shorter expeditions.
Titan was designed to reach depths of 4,000 meters or 13,000 feet. The ocean's pressure at this depth is more than 380 times the atmospheric pressure on the surface. But Titan was built to withstand this pressure and conduct inspection, research, and data collection. It was also capable of carrying oxygen and resources for a 96-hour expedition, roughly 4 days.
Nine hours after Titan launched, the U.S. Coast Guard received a report that it hadn't returned from the research vessel Polar Prince. Titan's mothership, Titan, was officially missing. By Monday, 19 June, several planes from the U.S. and Canada converged on the Atlantic Ocean, dropping sonar buoys capable of monitoring activity at depths of up to 4,000 meters for any signs of Titan.
On 22nd June, five days after Titan went missing, the U.S. Coast Guard said it had found debris from the Titan submersible below the wreck of the Titanic. Soon, the Coast Guard confirmed that the Titan submersible had suffered a catastrophic implosion and that the five passengers on board were believed to be dead. A catastrophic implosion takes place when the internal pressure of a system builds up to excess, and unable to handle the pressure, the system gives way. In Titan's case, this would have meant water rushing in along with immense pressure.
On 22nd June, five days after Titan went missing, the U.S. Coast Guard said it had found debris from the Titan submersible below the wreck of the Titanic. Soon, the Coast Guard confirmed that the Titan submersible had suffered a catastrophic implosion and that the five passengers on board were believed to be dead. A catastrophic implosion takes place when the internal pressure of a system builds up to excess, and unable to handle the pressure, the system gives way. In Titan's case, this would have meant water rushing in along with immense pressure.
In an unsettling development, the U.S. Navy said that it had detected an implosion from the area on Sunday, 18th June, the day Titan had launched. Could this implosion have been averted? Were safety measures overlooked on this expedition?