Even those who have no interest in shipwrecks or diving are familiar with the Titanic’s story. Perhaps the most talked about shipwreck ever is this one. It is sometimes regarded as one of the most well-known and tragic shipwrecks in history, having claimed 1,514 lives.
Canadian director James Cameron, well known for the 1997 film “Titanic,” made 33 trips to the Titanic in a 24-foot submersible he created that he named the “Deepsea Challenger.” Cameron brought cameras along to record the whole journey across the western Pacific.
OceanGate
Based in Everett, Washington, OceanGate Inc. was a privately held American corporation that offered crewed submersibles for industry, tourism, research, and exploration. Guillermo Söhnlein and Stockton Rush launched the business in 2009. After purchasing Antipodes, a submersible ship, the corporation went on to construct Cyclops 1 and Titan, two of its own. In 2021, OceanGate started offering paid tours of the Titanic wreck to visitors. The cost per individual to join an OceanGate mission to the Titanic shipwreck in 2022 was $250,000.
All five people on board, including Rush, perished when Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, while travelling to the location of the Titanic wreck. After a global search and rescue effort was initiated, the debris was discovered on the seabed on June 22 approximately 500 meters (1,600 feet) away from the Titanic wreck site.
As part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s ongoing investigation into how the Titan submarine imploded during that fateful dive in 2023, killing all five persons on board, a number of new data and revelations were made public in September 2024. The moments that made headlines occurred at a hearing in Charleston, South Carolina. These included eyewitness recollections of working or diving with Titan operator OceanGate, verification of the submersible’s last communications to the surface, and pictures and footage of recovery crews later finding the submersible’s remains on the ocean floor.
David Lochridge, a former director of operations at OceanGate, claimed he and Rush had regular disagreements and that the company’s main goal was to maximize profits.
According to engineer Don Kramer, the pressure hull of the Titan submarine was constructed with carbon fibre that had creases and porosity. He stated that during a dive on July 15, 2022, two different types of Titan sensors recorded the “loud acoustic event” that previous witnesses had reported hearing.
“All good here” was the final message that the Titan crew relayed to Polar Prince, the support ship, prior to the submersible collapsing.
OceanGate stated on June 21 that its Everett office would be closing indefinitely. On July 6, the company ceased operations. Gordon Gardiner has served as the company’s CEO since August 2023. The business is closed, all employees are gone, until all formal investigations are finished.
A global discussion concerning the future of private undersea exploration was sparked by this catastrophe.