Shannon Stapleton/Reuters© Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
In a 2019 interview, the Titan's maker lamented "obscenely safe" diving security regulations.
CEO Stockton Rush said he understood the regulations but regretted their effect on innovation.
Rush is understood to be on board the submersible that lost contact with the surface Sunday.
The founder of the company behind the Titan submersible previously described his industry as "obscenely safe" and complained that passenger-vessel regulations held back innovation.
OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush is understood to be aboard the Titan, the submersible that lost contact with the surface Sunday, prompting fears for his safety.
The vessel, which set out with four other passengers to view the wreck of the Titanic, was believed as of early Tuesday to have between 70 and 96 hours of oxygen left, the US Coast Guard said.
Rush's efforts to advance the commercial submersible industry — distinct from the world of submarines —have been well documented in the media.
Describing the industry in a 2019 interview, Rush said that there had been no injuries in the field for decades, adding: "It's obscenely safe because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn't innovated or grown — because they have all these regulations."
Related video: Former passenger describes what it's like inside the submersible (cbc.ca) Duration 1:35 View on Watch
OceanGate did not immediately respond to a request for comment, sent outside working hours.
Its website describes a commitment to "high-level operational safety" and the Titan's "unparalleled" hull-monitoring safety system.
The profile of Rush, which appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, describes his efforts to expand human exploration of the deep, calling him a "daredevil inventor."
It chronicles Rush's passion for exploring and his efforts to energize the market in private submersibles, which had long been dampened by the number of industrial accidents in offshore submarine work.
A 1993 regulation put strict controls on safety standards and who could pilot a submersible.
Rush called these developments "understandable but illogical," saying he felt the law was well meaning but lamenting the stifling effect it put on commercial innovation.
His remarks on safety came as part of a wider set of regrets about how little the US government prioritized ocean research.
A 2019 blog post on OceanGate's website cites speed of innovation as one of the reasons the Titan isn't classed according to standard regulatory processes. It said that while the company met standards "where they apply," the slow processes of vessel classification were "anathema to innovation."
Rush's company began to advertise in 2019 commercial trips in the Titan to see the famed Titanic wreck, touting an experimental design whose carbon-fiber hull was considerably lighter than other vehicles.
Trips were postponed, according to the magazine, after the company failed to get the proper permits for its contracted research-support vessel.
As of Tuesday, efforts to locate and contact the Titan were still underway.
Who is on the missing Titanic sub? Crew includes businessman who took spaceflight
Story by Bloomberg News • Today
Hamish Harding is seen here just before the start of RMS Titanic Expedition Mission 5 on the morning of June 18, 2023.© Provided by National Post
The five people aboard the missing submersible in the North Atlantic include the CEO of the company that owns it, a Guinness World Record holder for deep-sea exploration, and one of the leading experts on the Titanic wreckage that the vessel was on the way to visit when contact was lost. Here is some more information on the crew.
Stockton Rush
Rush, CEO of OceanGate, hoped to make the Titanic more accessible with visits to the wreckage aboard his privately owned five-person sub. The initial goal was to take paying guests to the site on weekly visits from May to September, coupling the trips with research efforts that allow passengers to contribute as citizen scientists.
Rush has a degree from Princeton University in aerospace engineering and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Now in his early 60s, he became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world when, at 19, he obtained his Captain’s rating at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute in 1981, according to his biography on the OceanGate website.
He worked with Boeing Co. on an early design of the Titan carbon-fibre sub, and then with NASA. He has experienced aborted trips to the Titanic wreckage site in the past — his sub was hit by lightning in 2018, destroying its electrical system and scuttling the mission. A second attempt ended unsuccessfully the next year because of issues with the “mother ship” used to transport the team and equipment.
While he initially targeted space, and modelled his efforts after Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, Rush said he realized that his desire to seek out new life and boldly go where no man had gone before was more likely in the ocean.
Hamish Harding
Harding, a 58-year-old Briton, is an accomplished businessman who founded U.K.- and Dubai-based private equity company Action Group in 2002. The business includes Action Aviation, which offers aircraft brokerage, management and financing services.
He holds a Guinness World Record for the longest time at the bottom of the ocean, which came from March 2021, when he spent 4 hours and 15 minutes on the sea floor of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in a submergence vehicle, at a depth of 10,930 metres.
A second record is for the longest distance travelled along the deepest part of the ocean — 4.634 kms, which he did during the same dive in 2021. He also holds the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth via both poles, which took 46 hours and 40 minutes in July, 2019. He was the pilot and mission director.
In 2016, the Washington Post reports, Harding went to Antarctica with retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who nearly died after suffering altitude sickness on that trip. Harding also went to the edge of space last year with Blue Origin LLC, the American company founded by Jeff Bezos, on the company’s fifth human spaceflight.
The president of the Explorers Club, Richard Garriott de Cayeux, said in a statement Monday that Harding was on board the Titan.
“His excitement about this expedition was palpable,” said de Cayeux, adding that they had recently spoken. “I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site.”
Harding wrote in a June 18 post on Instagram that this was likely to be the only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023 “due to the worst weather in Newfoundland in 40 years,” adding: “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”
Harding graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in natural sciences and chemical engineering. He is married and has two children.
Paul Henry Nargeolet
Nargeolet, 73, is a pre-eminent diver and considered to be the world’s leading expert on the Titanic wreckage and its debris field, which covers 25 square nautical miles. He is director of underwater research for Experiential Media Group, or E/M Group, and RMS Titanic Inc., and has completed dozens of submersible dives to the wreckage site, spending more time there than any other explorer. Known as “Mr. Titanic,” he is thought to be the one piloting the Titan.
Nargeolet was born in Chamonix, France, and lived with his family in Africa for 13 years, completed his studies in Paris and then spent 22 years in the French Navy, rising to the rank of commander, according to his biography on the E/M Group’s website. He led the first crewed expedition to the Titanic in 1987, just two years after it was discovered by an autonomous submersible, and was the first to recover a remnant – a silver plate.
In 2019 he participated in the Five Deeps expedition , exploring the deepest parts of all five of the Earth’s oceans, and breaking the record for deepest submersible dive, at 10,928 metres.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner that year, Nargeolet was asked whether he ever got scared diving 3,810 metres to reach the wreck. He replied: “If you are 11 metres or 11 km down, if something bad happens, the result is the same. When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realize that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem.”
Last year he published a book, In the Depths of the Titanic . The Daily Telegraph reports that he admitted at the time to sometimes pushing the envelope when diving to the wreck.
“You stand down four, five, six, seven eight hours, which is the longest, and even then you don’t really want to come back up,” he said. “Sometimes I go to the end of the (sub) batteries and sometimes even more than to the end. Indeed, I’ve been told off for doing so several times. Then the resurfacing takes just as long, so one can be down between 10 to 12 hours.”
Shahzada and Suleman Dawood
The Dawoods – Shahzada and his son, Suleman – are members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families, which released a statement Tuesday confirming they are on board the Titan.
“Contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available. A rescue effort that is being jointly led by multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies is underway to re-establish contact with the submersible and bring them back safely,” it said.
“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time. The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”
Shahzada Dawood is vice-chairman of Engro Corp., which has businesses stretching from fertilizers to power generation. He graduated from the University of Buckingham with a law degree in 1998 and from Philadelphia University with a Master’s in textile marketing in 2000. He is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
With additional reporting from The Associated Press
Story by Dan Mangan •
The OceanGate Expeditions submersible that went missing with five people aboard while trying to visit the site of the Titanic wreckage has only 41 hours or less of oxygen left, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.
Rescuers are searching an area of ocean that is "larger than the state of Connecticut" for the Titan submersible, Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, is on board the vessel.
Also aboard are the billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Suleman and Shahzada Dawood.© Provided by CNBC
The OceanGate Expeditions submersible that went missing with five people aboard while trying to visit the site of the Titanic wreckage has only 41 hours or less of oxygen left, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, federal court filings from a 2018 lawsuit came to light, revealing that a then-OceanGate director warned that company's submersible posed potential "extreme danger" to passengers because it had not been properly tested for use at very low water depths.
Rescuers are searching an area of ocean that is "larger than the state of Connecticut" for the Titan submersible, Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said at a news briefing Tuesday.
But there have been "no results" thus far, he said.
"Search and rescue crews are working around the clock to find the submersible and crew," said Frederick, who called it a "very complex search."
The submersible went missing Sunday, less than two hours into its dive about 900 nautical miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, is on board the vessel.
Also aboard are the billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation; Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48; and his 19-year-old son Suleman. The fifth person is a crew member of the vessel.
OceanGate began offering trips on the submersible, whose passengers pay $250,000 apiece, in 2021.
Missing Titanic submersible: 41 hours or less of oxygen left, Coast Guard says© Provided by CNBC
"This is your chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary," the company said on its website advertising the trips.
In a "CBS Sunday Morning" segment in November about his trip on the submersible, correspondent David Pogue read out loud the text of a waiver he signed for the excursion.
"An experimental submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death," Pogue read.
Court filings from a 2018 lawsuit between OceanGate and its former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, show that he had "disagreed with OceanGate's position to dive the submersible without any non-destructive testing to prove its integrity."
Lochridge, in a court filing first reported by The New Republic, said the failure to perform that testing would "subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible."
"Lochridge first expressed verbal concerns over the safety and quality control issues regarding the Titan to OceanGate executive management," he said in that court filing. "These verbal communications were ignored."
The filing said that Lochridge had been denied access to information about the vessel's viewport — the section where passengers could look out from the submersible — which revealed that it "was only built to certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate intended to take passengers down to depths of 4,000 meters."
"Lochridge learned that the viewport manufacturer would only certify to a depth of 1,300 meters due to the experimental design of the viewport supplied by OceanGate, which was out of the Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy ('PVHO') standards," the filing said.
Submersible pilot Randy Holt, right, communicates with the support boat as he and Stockton Rush, left, CEO and Co-Founder of OceanGate, dive in the company's submersible,© Provided by CNBC
"OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the required depth of 4,000 meters," the filing said. "The paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible."
OceanGate had sued Lochridge and his wife in Washington state court in June 2018, alleging breach of contract, fraud and other claims that the company said arose from him discussing OceanGate's confidential information with at least two other people, as well as representatives of the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration in purported violation of a non-disclosure agreement.
Lochridge then filed a counterclaim against OceanGate in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The case was settled in late 2018.
OceanGate did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.
The Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage from England to New York City on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg. More than 1,500 people died in the disaster.
The wreckage of the ship was not found until 1985 off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It sits about 13,000 feet under the Atlantic Ocean.
Story by Bloomberg News • Today
Hamish Harding is seen here just before the start of RMS Titanic Expedition Mission 5 on the morning of June 18, 2023.© Provided by National Post
The five people aboard the missing submersible in the North Atlantic include the CEO of the company that owns it, a Guinness World Record holder for deep-sea exploration, and one of the leading experts on the Titanic wreckage that the vessel was on the way to visit when contact was lost. Here is some more information on the crew.
Stockton Rush
Rush, CEO of OceanGate, hoped to make the Titanic more accessible with visits to the wreckage aboard his privately owned five-person sub. The initial goal was to take paying guests to the site on weekly visits from May to September, coupling the trips with research efforts that allow passengers to contribute as citizen scientists.
Rush has a degree from Princeton University in aerospace engineering and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Now in his early 60s, he became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world when, at 19, he obtained his Captain’s rating at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute in 1981, according to his biography on the OceanGate website.
He worked with Boeing Co. on an early design of the Titan carbon-fibre sub, and then with NASA. He has experienced aborted trips to the Titanic wreckage site in the past — his sub was hit by lightning in 2018, destroying its electrical system and scuttling the mission. A second attempt ended unsuccessfully the next year because of issues with the “mother ship” used to transport the team and equipment.
While he initially targeted space, and modelled his efforts after Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, Rush said he realized that his desire to seek out new life and boldly go where no man had gone before was more likely in the ocean.
Hamish Harding
Harding, a 58-year-old Briton, is an accomplished businessman who founded U.K.- and Dubai-based private equity company Action Group in 2002. The business includes Action Aviation, which offers aircraft brokerage, management and financing services.
He holds a Guinness World Record for the longest time at the bottom of the ocean, which came from March 2021, when he spent 4 hours and 15 minutes on the sea floor of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in a submergence vehicle, at a depth of 10,930 metres.
A second record is for the longest distance travelled along the deepest part of the ocean — 4.634 kms, which he did during the same dive in 2021. He also holds the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth via both poles, which took 46 hours and 40 minutes in July, 2019. He was the pilot and mission director.
In 2016, the Washington Post reports, Harding went to Antarctica with retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who nearly died after suffering altitude sickness on that trip. Harding also went to the edge of space last year with Blue Origin LLC, the American company founded by Jeff Bezos, on the company’s fifth human spaceflight.
The president of the Explorers Club, Richard Garriott de Cayeux, said in a statement Monday that Harding was on board the Titan.
“His excitement about this expedition was palpable,” said de Cayeux, adding that they had recently spoken. “I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site.”
Harding wrote in a June 18 post on Instagram that this was likely to be the only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023 “due to the worst weather in Newfoundland in 40 years,” adding: “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”
Harding graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in natural sciences and chemical engineering. He is married and has two children.
Paul Henry Nargeolet
Nargeolet, 73, is a pre-eminent diver and considered to be the world’s leading expert on the Titanic wreckage and its debris field, which covers 25 square nautical miles. He is director of underwater research for Experiential Media Group, or E/M Group, and RMS Titanic Inc., and has completed dozens of submersible dives to the wreckage site, spending more time there than any other explorer. Known as “Mr. Titanic,” he is thought to be the one piloting the Titan.
Nargeolet was born in Chamonix, France, and lived with his family in Africa for 13 years, completed his studies in Paris and then spent 22 years in the French Navy, rising to the rank of commander, according to his biography on the E/M Group’s website. He led the first crewed expedition to the Titanic in 1987, just two years after it was discovered by an autonomous submersible, and was the first to recover a remnant – a silver plate.
In 2019 he participated in the Five Deeps expedition , exploring the deepest parts of all five of the Earth’s oceans, and breaking the record for deepest submersible dive, at 10,928 metres.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner that year, Nargeolet was asked whether he ever got scared diving 3,810 metres to reach the wreck. He replied: “If you are 11 metres or 11 km down, if something bad happens, the result is the same. When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realize that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem.”
Last year he published a book, In the Depths of the Titanic . The Daily Telegraph reports that he admitted at the time to sometimes pushing the envelope when diving to the wreck.
“You stand down four, five, six, seven eight hours, which is the longest, and even then you don’t really want to come back up,” he said. “Sometimes I go to the end of the (sub) batteries and sometimes even more than to the end. Indeed, I’ve been told off for doing so several times. Then the resurfacing takes just as long, so one can be down between 10 to 12 hours.”
Shahzada and Suleman Dawood
The Dawoods – Shahzada and his son, Suleman – are members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families, which released a statement Tuesday confirming they are on board the Titan.
“Contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available. A rescue effort that is being jointly led by multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies is underway to re-establish contact with the submersible and bring them back safely,” it said.
“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time. The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”
Shahzada Dawood is vice-chairman of Engro Corp., which has businesses stretching from fertilizers to power generation. He graduated from the University of Buckingham with a law degree in 1998 and from Philadelphia University with a Master’s in textile marketing in 2000. He is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
With additional reporting from The Associated Press
Missing Titanic submersible posed risk of 'extreme danger' to passengers, OceanGate exec warned in 2018
Story by Dan Mangan •
The OceanGate Expeditions submersible that went missing with five people aboard while trying to visit the site of the Titanic wreckage has only 41 hours or less of oxygen left, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.
Rescuers are searching an area of ocean that is "larger than the state of Connecticut" for the Titan submersible, Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, is on board the vessel.
Also aboard are the billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Suleman and Shahzada Dawood.© Provided by CNBC
The OceanGate Expeditions submersible that went missing with five people aboard while trying to visit the site of the Titanic wreckage has only 41 hours or less of oxygen left, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, federal court filings from a 2018 lawsuit came to light, revealing that a then-OceanGate director warned that company's submersible posed potential "extreme danger" to passengers because it had not been properly tested for use at very low water depths.
Rescuers are searching an area of ocean that is "larger than the state of Connecticut" for the Titan submersible, Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said at a news briefing Tuesday.
But there have been "no results" thus far, he said.
"Search and rescue crews are working around the clock to find the submersible and crew," said Frederick, who called it a "very complex search."
The submersible went missing Sunday, less than two hours into its dive about 900 nautical miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, is on board the vessel.
Also aboard are the billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation; Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48; and his 19-year-old son Suleman. The fifth person is a crew member of the vessel.
OceanGate began offering trips on the submersible, whose passengers pay $250,000 apiece, in 2021.
Missing Titanic submersible: 41 hours or less of oxygen left, Coast Guard says© Provided by CNBC
"This is your chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary," the company said on its website advertising the trips.
In a "CBS Sunday Morning" segment in November about his trip on the submersible, correspondent David Pogue read out loud the text of a waiver he signed for the excursion.
"An experimental submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death," Pogue read.
Court filings from a 2018 lawsuit between OceanGate and its former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, show that he had "disagreed with OceanGate's position to dive the submersible without any non-destructive testing to prove its integrity."
Lochridge, in a court filing first reported by The New Republic, said the failure to perform that testing would "subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible."
"Lochridge first expressed verbal concerns over the safety and quality control issues regarding the Titan to OceanGate executive management," he said in that court filing. "These verbal communications were ignored."
The filing said that Lochridge had been denied access to information about the vessel's viewport — the section where passengers could look out from the submersible — which revealed that it "was only built to certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate intended to take passengers down to depths of 4,000 meters."
"Lochridge learned that the viewport manufacturer would only certify to a depth of 1,300 meters due to the experimental design of the viewport supplied by OceanGate, which was out of the Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy ('PVHO') standards," the filing said.
Submersible pilot Randy Holt, right, communicates with the support boat as he and Stockton Rush, left, CEO and Co-Founder of OceanGate, dive in the company's submersible,© Provided by CNBC
"OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the required depth of 4,000 meters," the filing said. "The paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible."
OceanGate had sued Lochridge and his wife in Washington state court in June 2018, alleging breach of contract, fraud and other claims that the company said arose from him discussing OceanGate's confidential information with at least two other people, as well as representatives of the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration in purported violation of a non-disclosure agreement.
Lochridge then filed a counterclaim against OceanGate in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The case was settled in late 2018.
OceanGate did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.
The Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage from England to New York City on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg. More than 1,500 people died in the disaster.
The wreckage of the ship was not found until 1985 off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It sits about 13,000 feet under the Atlantic Ocean.
This submersible takes passengers to The Titanic wreck. Climb in!
CBC NL - Newfoundland and Labrador
It can take five passengers to The Titanic on the ocean floor, you can pilot it with a gaming controller...and it has a toilet. Climb aboard Titan, a unique submarine used to explore the world's most famous shipwreck.
CBC NL - Newfoundland and Labrador
10 months ago
It can take five passengers to The Titanic on the ocean floor, you can pilot it with a gaming controller...and it has a toilet. Climb aboard Titan, a unique submarine used to explore the world's most famous shipwreck.
Billionaire on Missing Titanic Submarine Last Posted About Bad Weather
Story by Anna Commander • Yesterday
A photo shows the front of the Titanic shipwreck, which lies deep under the ocean in Newfoundland.© RMS Titanic Team Expedition 2004, ROI, IFE, NOAA-OE
Captain Hamish Harding posted to Instagram on Saturday about the now missing submarine exploring the RMS Titanic and how this may be the only manned mission in 2023 due to the "worst winter" in 40 years.
OceanGate Expeditions confirmed to CBS News that its submersible is the subject of a search and rescue mission. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson told The Guardian that five people were on board the vessel when it went missing. Newsweek reached out to the USCG for comment.
The Marine Traffic website reported that three tugboats from a port in St. John's, Newfoundland, were headed to the Titanic site, which is about 370 miles off the Canadian coast. The Canadian Coast Guard referred Newsweek to the USGC's Boston Rescue Coordination Center for comment.
"I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic," Harding said in his Instagram post.
"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do," he wrote.
"The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet. More expedition updates to follow IF the weather holds!"
Harding is the chair of the private plane firm Action Aviation and in his Instagram bio he says he "buy[s] and sell[s] business jets." Harding is also a skydiver, was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in 2022 and is a trustee of the Explorers Club, according to The Guardian.
Harding has made many trips to the South Pole, including with astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 2016, who became the oldest person to reach the South Pole at 86. He also went into space last year with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company.
The Titanic was the world's largest ship when it sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. Of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew members on board, more than 1,500 died.
The passenger liner, which wasn't discovered until 1985, lies in two parts at 12,500 feet below sea level. Last month, the first full-sized digital scan of the wreck provided viewers with a 3D view of the ship using deep-sea mapping.
For $250,000, OceanGate Expeditions offers tourists the opportunity to "become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes" with an eight-day trip, according to its website. The expedition to the Titanic wreckage was planned from June 12 to June 30.
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Story by Anna Commander • Yesterday
A photo shows the front of the Titanic shipwreck, which lies deep under the ocean in Newfoundland.© RMS Titanic Team Expedition 2004, ROI, IFE, NOAA-OE
Captain Hamish Harding posted to Instagram on Saturday about the now missing submarine exploring the RMS Titanic and how this may be the only manned mission in 2023 due to the "worst winter" in 40 years.
OceanGate Expeditions confirmed to CBS News that its submersible is the subject of a search and rescue mission. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson told The Guardian that five people were on board the vessel when it went missing. Newsweek reached out to the USCG for comment.
The Marine Traffic website reported that three tugboats from a port in St. John's, Newfoundland, were headed to the Titanic site, which is about 370 miles off the Canadian coast. The Canadian Coast Guard referred Newsweek to the USGC's Boston Rescue Coordination Center for comment.
"I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic," Harding said in his Instagram post.
"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do," he wrote.
"The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet. More expedition updates to follow IF the weather holds!"
Related video: Sub missing at Titanic wreck site: Boston-based Coast Guard admiral coordinating search (WCVB Boston) Duration 6:15 View on Watch
Harding is the chair of the private plane firm Action Aviation and in his Instagram bio he says he "buy[s] and sell[s] business jets." Harding is also a skydiver, was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in 2022 and is a trustee of the Explorers Club, according to The Guardian.
Harding has made many trips to the South Pole, including with astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 2016, who became the oldest person to reach the South Pole at 86. He also went into space last year with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company.
The Titanic was the world's largest ship when it sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. Of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew members on board, more than 1,500 died.
The passenger liner, which wasn't discovered until 1985, lies in two parts at 12,500 feet below sea level. Last month, the first full-sized digital scan of the wreck provided viewers with a 3D view of the ship using deep-sea mapping.
For $250,000, OceanGate Expeditions offers tourists the opportunity to "become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes" with an eight-day trip, according to its website. The expedition to the Titanic wreckage was planned from June 12 to June 30.
Related Articles
The Titanic Sub Could Only Receive Messages Directly Below the Support Ship
Passengers on Missing Titanic Submersible Have No Way To Escape
Who is Stockton Rush? Stricken Titanic Tourist Sub CEO Aboard Capsule
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