A submersible has gone missing when taking tourists to see the titanic. One of them is billionaire Hamish Harding
I didn't even know these vessels or underwater trips existed and after reading through this current situation,it sounds a bit 'unsafe' to say the least? You're locked into a tube with no means of escape,4 days oxygen,and contact with those above is sketchy at best? Why in God's name would any sane-minded person take such a risk with their lives? Hopefully they are found safe and I pray that they are(they've got limited oxygen and the clocks ticking) but the whole set up is insanity to me!!
please log in to view this image It steers using a game station controller - what could possibly go wrong
Headlines made it sound like it was some sort of 'tourist trip / sub'. I think I'm right saying that it was actually mainly a research trip / sub that has capacity to take along a couple of paying 'guests', which I guess helps dramatically with the funding as they were charging them over £100k I think I heard. So unlike headlines to mislead But yes, a bit insane to my mind.
Not important in the grand scale of things but I'm more of the opinion that it's very much a touristy gimmick designed to make money by charging $250,000 a pop.Reading further into it,it hasn't been approved by any regulatory body and you sign a waiver before going down... Edit:- Listening to a talk-in and it seems there are some elements of the dives that incorporate research into the decay of the Titanic so you're probably nearer the mark than I am.
The tourist submarine missing 12,500ft below the Atlantic Ocean with five people on board has disappeared before - as video from last summer reveals the vessel lost communication with its mothership for two and a half hours. On Monday, CBS Sunday Morning reporter David Pogue shared his experience after the United States and Canadian Coast Guards launched a search for a missing OceanGate Expeditions vessel. He said he took the $250,000-a-person trip last year, but his voyage was marred by bad weather and communications problems on the cramped submarine. 'There's no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the ship to the shipwreck by sending text messages,' Pogue said in his November 2022 news story. 'But on this dive, communication somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.' 'We were lost,' one of the passengers said in the news package. 'We were lost for two and a half hours.' Fortunately, no one was injured during that time, and footage showed the passengers being brought back above sea level. The company said it would offer passengers onboard that trip a 'free do-over' in the summer. It is unclear if any of those explorers were taking their free trip when the submarine disappeared Sunday. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...anGate-Titanic-sub-vanished-HOURS-summer.html
They weren’t doing much research. It wasn’t spending much time down there and 3 out of 5 on the sub are non scientific people and another is the CEO of the company involved.
Somewhat safer using an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) as Robert Ballard did when he discovered the wreck.
I'm guessing that once you've got a certain amount of money, you can buy anything and so what's left to buy apart from experiences that few have. As you wrote, from looking at the photos of the sub, it looks more 'garage made' rather than military standard.
I just saw an interview with some bloke who has previously been on it and during his interview he said something which is of great significance and really is quite final. I'm not quoting him word for word but he said something along the lines of..Even if it was located on the bottom of the ocean they don't have the technology/means to bring it back up.? It's just an awful situation and as crazy as it may seem to me and probably others,that they have paid to do this,I do hope for some sort of miracle for those aboard.
Apparently part of the problem is that it isn't made in a way that enables a rescue vessel to dock with it. I read somewhere that there is no way of opening it from the inside either, so if it was close enough to the surface, they still wouldn't have an option of getting out to fresh air and improve the chances of being seen. The smell of ****e, sweat and piss in that small space would be bad enough without everything else that would be going through their mind.
Yes,I read that it is bolted from the outside? I can't even begin to imagine the thoughts that would be going through their minds in such a situation but I myself wouldn't ever be in that situation as I have a fear of enclosed space.
Ye, but a US/UK/French military sub costs between $2-3 billion, so relatively $18 million is 'garage made' (a central London underground garage perhaps) and **** all for a sub going that deep.
Me too. The thing is, they were only ever going to see it through glass at best and more likely on a screen from external cameras, so for that sort of money they could have sent down state of the art cameras and had an immersive screen to watch it on for pretty much the same view.
18m is **** all for a vehicle of this scale and it's pittance in terms of investment money that's still sloshing around. Apparently it uses a knock-off gaming controller for manoeuvring, some construction piping as ballasts and quite regularly loses comms with the mother ship... A far cry from the sub we saw in the film.
You'd have thought it would have the capability of diverting some of that oxygen to a buoyancy device to get it back to the top, assuming it's not literally trapped under the grand staircase. That and the ability to open a hatch from the inside, of course...
^^That's the telling part - there's no rescue here, they all knew that when they climbed into it; for me personally, part of the boarding gear would need to be a cyanide pill, I wouldn't wish their last few days suffering on anyone.
Lost in space or at the bottom of the ocean. Can’t think of a more helpless situation. It’s an awful place for them right now.
I watched the clips last night on this. I can’t image being in a worse situation than this. Sadly, I think this is a recovery job. I really feel for the families waiting for news. Hoping for good news, but it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
