Race to find Titanic tourist submarine with British billionaire and four others aboard that has vanished

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12,500ft below the Atlantic Ocean with only 72 HOURS of air left: US Coast Guard joins rescue​

A frantic marine search is underway for a missing tourist submersible which has not been seen since it launched to take five people to the Titanic wreckage yesterday morning.

The Boston Coastguard and Canadian Coastguard are both now looking for the missing vessel that is operated by tour company OceanGate Expeditions.

The wreckage of the iconic ship sits 12,500ft- 2.5 miles - underwater around 370 miles from Newfoundland, Canada. OceanGate Expeditions is thought to be the only company that offers the tours.

As of 1pm Monday, the sub had just 72 hours of oxygen left, according to the US Coast Guard Admiral leading the coordinated effort to find it.

Among those onboard is British billionaire Hamish Harding. He posted excitedly on Instagram about being able to commence the dive after a bout of bad weather in Newfoundland.

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OceanGate Expeditions is one of the only companies that offers the tours. Tickets cost up to $250,000. WHat ?????:eek:..have these people never heard of youtube videos ?

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Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted to social media about being there yesterday

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Expedition ship Polar Prince is believed to have departed St Johns in Newfoundland on Saturday, with the submersible launching at around 4am Sunday.

OceanGate has not confirmed how long the sub has been missing, but Rear Admiral John W. Mauger told Fox News that it had 72 hours of oxygen left based on OceanGate's ads that the sub has a life support of 96 hours.

He added that the Coast Guard does not have any ships or subs available to rescue the Titan from the ocean bed, and that more help is on the way.

'We don't have equipment onsite that can do a survey of the bottom... there is a lot of debris [at this wreckage] so locating will be difficult.

French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet is believed to be taking part in the expedition, though it's unclear if he is onboard the missing sub


part in the expedition, though it's unclear if he is onboard the missing sub
'We don't have the capabilities at this time. Right now, we're focused on trying to locate it,' he said.

OceanGate said 'several' government agencies were involved in addition to the Coast Guard.

The Titan subs have no way of directing themselves under water.

Instead, they rely on text messages from the mothership, instructing them where to go.
Tickets cost $250,000 for an eight-day excursion during which groups pair off into smaller pods to dive in the submersibles for up to ten hours.

The company on Monday confirmed its sub was missing.

'We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.

'Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families.

'We are working toward the safe return of the crew members.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ing-groups-Titanic-wreckage-goes-missing.html
 

I can well understand the appeal of wanting to get up close to a part of legendary history personally, although the cost is prohibitive for most if not all of us here. It’s also possible to pay to be on a brief space flight by a private company. I think that the risks involved in such ventures are downplayed, however. Remember that the Titanic itself was ironically considered to be “unsinkable…”
 
Fyrefox said:
I can well understand the appeal of wanting to get up close to a part of legendary history personally, although the cost is prohibitive for most if not all of us here. It’s also possible to pay to be on a brief space flight by a private company. I think that the risks involved in such ventures are downplayed, however. Remember that the Titanic itself was ironically considered to be “unsinkable…”
Click to expand...
yes and it transpires it also nearly took a similar expedition in 2000 when suddenly the sub was caught up it it's propellers...

This is the inside of the little submarine...

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Crew on missing Titanic sub face risk of hypothermia as air runs out, expert warns, as final photos of the vessel setting out with British billionaire, UK-based businessman and his teenage son on board are revealed​


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Shahzada Dawood, 48, (pictured with his wife Christine) a UK-based board member of the Prince's Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are amongst the five people missing in the submarine that set off to see the wreck of the Titanic, it was revealed today

You can see how tiny the sub is ( 21 feet).. as it's towed...by the mother ship out to where the Titanic lies..

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A previous Titanic sub traveller described his trip ... when you listen to what he says.. you realise what madness this is...click on the link to hear what he has to say

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-65958936​


Titanic sub visitor: We're aware of risks, it's not a lark

Mike Reiss, who travelled to see the Titanic on a submersible that has now gone missing, spoke to the BBC to describe his trip.
He said the vessel sunk like a stone and was propelled by small fans once it hit the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Search teams are racing against time to find the missing tourist vessel, which has five people on board and vanished during a dive on Sunday.
 
Last night on the news, the commentator that was connected to the company stated that they had about 40 hours of oxygen left. His main concern was that the sub may be trapped in debris, which is what they worry with divers also. The Titanic sits some 13,000+ feet below the surface. I wish them all the luck in he world just to locate the sub. I don't know how they would raise it if it has no power.
 
It's like something from a horror film - five men trapped inside a tiny 22ft tube with a single window and no seats, thousands of feet below sea level with no way of reaching the outside world.
Those onboard, including British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, will have to contend with the cramped conditions - all while not being able to see beyond the black depths of the ocean from the single window.
They don't just have to contend with the claustrophobic conditions in the vessel, which includes a toilet that only has a curtain for privacy, but also a dwindling supply of oxygen and the risk of hypothermia.
Assuming that the vessel is still intact, they currently have no communication to the outside world, and so no knowledge if and when anyone will reach them.

The US Coast Guard is leading the search for the small craft, named Titan, in the North Atlantic Ocean where it vanished on Sunday. Shahzada Dawood, 48, a board member of the Prince's Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, were also on board the vessel when it vanished.
Thanks to previous reports on the Titan's deep-sea missions, we have a clear idea of what it is like for those trapped inside the submarine, where time is running out.

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There are no seats and only one toilet - a small black box - with a black curtain drawn across for privacy. All passengers are barefoot and must sit on the floor.




It was revealed yesterday that tourists who pay $250,000 to descend almost 13,000 feet below sea level to view the wreck of the Titanic must sign a waiver saying they accept the submersible is not approved by any regulatory body,.

While it is therefore likely the submarine is still intact, the missing submersible is a small vessel only designed to hold five people for a single day.

Typically, journeys would involved a two-hour dive, several hours exploring the titanic, and then a two-hour return trip back to the surface.

In total, dives can last up to 10 hours each.

However, the craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.

It has now been lost for around two days.

Inside, the passengers will be contesting with cramped conditions. The craft measures 22 feet in length, with a width of 9.5 feet - and has the appearance from the outside of a shiny metal. It has two separate titanium hemispherical domes at each end, the front one featuring an integrated 380-mm-diameter acrylic viewport.

There is no 'door' to get in and out of the vessel.

Instead, the passengers are bolted in from the outside before their journey begins with 17 bolts, which begins with the Titan being launched from a recovery platform, which has tanks used to sink and resurface the vessel.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...conditions-inside-missing-Titanic-vessel.html
 
I don't know much about this sub, but from what I've seen on TV, they all have fail-safe ways of returning to the surface. They have weights, which can be jettisoned by a hand lever- no electricity involved. If the sub's on the surface, they should still be well. If it's not- there's no such thing as a little leak at those depths. It would be an immediate implosion.
 
As you point out @fuzzybuddy they have numerous ways of resurfacing should they lose power to propel themselves back to the surface so I'm guessing perhaps they've somehow snagged on something near the ocean floor or; they've become entangle in what's called a 'ghost net'; a nylon fishing net that's broken free and floats submerged in the ocean. There's many of them all over the oceans. I suppose they've also lost power/communication capability too somehow?
 

Titan sub is like a 'kit car built from Amazon parts': Observers say 'flimsy' vessel uses camping shop lights, 'off the shelf' cameras, salvaged metal pipes for ballast and a Playstation controller - with a comms team in a ship previously traded on eBay​


Chris Parry described the small craft, named Titan, as 'very flimsy and fragile' - as a journalist who once sat inside claimed it features lights from a camping shop, off the shelf CCTV cameras and salvaged metal pipes for ballast.

The sub - which consists of a five-inch thick carbon fibre tube about the size of a minivan with a 22-inch Plexiglas window at one end - is said to be controlled using a modified Playstation controller.

It does not have a GPS system and uses Elon Musk's Starlink to communicate with a communications and tracking team on its mothership, MV Polar Prince, via short text messages.

The sub is meant to communicate with the main ship - which in 2005 was listed on eBay with a reserve price of $1million - every 15 minutes to inform the team of its location.

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There are no seats and only one toilet - a small black box containing Ziploc bags - with a black curtain drawn across and music played for privacy.

However, the company's website recommends 'you restrict your diet before and during the dive to reduce the likelihood that you will need to use the facilities'.

The walls of the sub are heated because conditions can become extremely cold.

It emerged today that Titan reportedly suffered electrical damage and also had to be rebuilt for not being able to withstand the deep ocean before it was eventually able to start carrying wealthy tourists to the site.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12214617/Titanic-sub-like-kit-car-built-Amazon-parts.html
 

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