What we know about the Titanic tourist vessel missing in the Atlantic

The submersible, operated by a private company, was reported overdue on sunday.

A white vessel with red buoys on the water

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A rescue operation is underway deep in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean south of Newfoundland and Labrador for a submersible vessel that carries people to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

The Canadian Coast Guard is assisting with the operation, which is being led by U.S. coast guard in Boston.

The underwater trip is operated by a company called OceanGate Expeditions, which confirmed one of its vessels, the Titan, was missing. 

There are five people on board, according U.S. coast guard Rear Admiral John Mauger. 

  • U.S. Coast Guard says search for missing submersible will continue through the night

What do we know about the submersible?

The Titan is a carbon fibre and titanium submersible that is "lighter in weight and more cost-efficient to mobilize than any other deep-diving submersible," according to OceanGate.

It can dive to a depth of 4,000 metres. 

It has been used on several expeditions, carrying five crew members to the wreck of the Titanic at 3,800 metres, according to the company. 

Its dimensions are 6.7 metres long by 2.8 metres wide by 2.5 metres high. It weighs about 10,000 kilograms and can carry a payload of 685 kilograms. 

titanic underwater trip

Go inside a submarine used to explore the Titanic wreck

How fast can it go.

It travels at a speed of three knots, or about 5.5 km/h, and can be operated in varying sea states. 

The submersible was reported missing  somewhere around 370 nautical miles — or 685 kilometres — off the coast of Newfoundland while on a diving mission to the legendary wreckage.

The U.S. coast guard said the Polar Prince lost contact with Titan about an hour and 45 minutes after it began its descent. 

How safe is it?

OceanGate says a series of sensors and other technology on board makes it possible to monitor the pressure inside the vessel as it descends and to "assess the integrity of the structure."

It says the system "provides early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface."

The vessel would have beacons which would always be operating, according to Doug Elsey, executive director of the Canadian Association of Diving Contractors. "You can locate them underwater, so you know where they are," he said in an interview with CBC News. 

But if communications were lost entirely between the submersible and the ship from which it was launched and it couldn't be found on the surface, Elsey says, that's when the Coast Guard would be deployed with all of its resources to try to locate the vessel either at or below the surface of the ocean. 

titanic underwater trip

The technology aiding the search for the Titan

How long can people survive on board.

According to OceanGate, in the event of an emergency, there is life support capability for five people on board the Titan for 96 hours, or four days.

How many times has the Titan gone to the Titanic wreck?

The company is currently operating its fifth Titanic "mission" of 2023, according to its website, which had been scheduled to start last week and finish on Thursday.

The Titan has made dozens of dives to the wreck site since 2019. 

A <a href="https://twitter.com/USCG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USCG</a> C-130 crew is searching for an overdue Canadian research submarine approximately 900 miles off <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CapeCod?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CapeCod</a>.<br><br>For more info and inquiries, please email [email protected] &mdash; @USCGNortheast

Corrections

  • A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the Titan went missing about 370 kilometres from Newfoundland. In fact, the distance was about 370 nautical miles, or about 685 kilometres. Jun 19, 2023 9:06 PM ET
  • A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the weight of the submersible as 10 kg. In fact, it weighs about 10,000 kg. Jun 19, 2023 4:04 PM ET

With files from Reuters

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Here's the latest on the missing Titan submersible and the race to rescue passengers

Emily Olson

Ayana Archie

titanic underwater trip

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick speaks during a press conference about the search efforts for the submersible that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic in Boston on Tuesday. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick speaks during a press conference about the search efforts for the submersible that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic in Boston on Tuesday.

For the latest updates on the search for the missing submersible, head here.

As of Tuesday night, five passengers aboard a submersible in the North Atlantic are the subject of an international search. The vessel is owned by OceanGate, and designed to explore the site of the Titanic.

Authorities estimate there's only enough oxygen in the submersible to last for less than two days.

Here's what we know:

When and where did the vessel go missing?

Missing submersible: Rescuers race to find Titan after detecting underwater noises

Missing submersible: Rescuers race to find Titan after detecting underwater noises

The 21-foot vessel, which is named Titan , lost communication with its control center on Sunday morning, roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes into its scheduled dive, the U.S. Coast Guard wrote on Twitter.

Titan had been deployed by a Canadian expedition ship, the Polar Prince, about 435 miles (380 nautical miles) south of St. John's in Newfoundland, not far from the site of the iconic shipwreck.

Why was the submersible diving?

The missing vessel is owned by OceanGate, a company based in Washington state that offers underwater voyages to explore the remains of the Titanic from the seafloor.

'Tiny sub, big ocean': Why the Titanic submersible search is so challenging

'Tiny sub, big ocean': Why the Titanic submersible search is so challenging

OceanGate is a major chronicler of the ship's decay and shared the first-ever full-size digital scan of the wreck site in May.

OceanGate is also a pioneer in the deep sea tourism economy. For $250,000 a person, the company takes adventurers on a deep sea tour lasting eight days and stretching hundreds of miles.

From St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada, explorers travel 380 miles offshore and 2.4 miles below the surface.

A remarkable new view of the Titanic shipwreck is here, thanks to deep-sea mappers

A remarkable new view of the Titanic shipwreck is here, thanks to deep-sea mappers

If successful, they can catch a glimpse of what's left of the 1912 iceberg-crash disaster, which took the lives of all but 700 of the Titanic's 2,200 passengers and crew. Today, the ship is slowly succumbing to a metal-eating bacteria , which may cause it to fully disintegrate in a matter of decades.

Mike Reiss , who joined OceanGate to glimpse the deteriorating wreck in 2022, said the trip is less tourism than it is true exploration — and the people who dare to try it are made well aware of the risks.

"You sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip," he told the BBC in an interview Tuesday. "They mention death three times on page one. So it's never far from your mind. As I was getting on to the sub, that was my thought: That this could be the end."

'You sign a massive waiver that you could die on the trip' As search teams race against time to find the small sub that went missing during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, writer Mike Reiss told #BBCBreakfast about taking the same trip last year https://t.co/FNeiSyZfLl pic.twitter.com/2STvm7YDbz — BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) June 20, 2023

Who was on board?

The Titanic-touring vessel contained one pilot and four paid passengers called "mission specialists," according to the U.S. Coast Guard. "Mission specialists" take turns operating sonar equipment and performing the tasks necessary to complete a dive.

Among those paid passengers was British businessman Hamish Harding, according to a statement from Action Aviation , a company where Harding works as chairman.

Harding holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration (4 hours, 15 minutes) at a full ocean depth (2.88 miles) by a crewed vessel. He has also trekked to the South Pole, circumnavigated the Earth in less than 48 hours and visited space in Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket .

Newly released footage of a 1986 Titanic dive reveals the ship's haunting interior

Newly released footage of a 1986 Titanic dive reveals the ship's haunting interior

Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, two members of a prominent Pakistani family known for investing, were also on board the vessel, according to a statement shared with outlets such as The Associated Press .

A fourth person on board is Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French expert on the Titanic, his agent has confirmed to several outlets, including The New York Times . Nargeolet serves as director for RMS Titanic Inc. , the U.S. company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic site. The Times reports that Nargeolet has completed over 35 dives to the wreckage, including a previous Titan expedition.

Titan's pilot and the fifth person has been identified as OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

Why did the vessel go missing?

titanic underwater trip

This 2004 photo shows the remains of a coat and boots in the mud on the sea bed near the Titanic's stern. Institute for Exploration, Center for Archaeological Oceanography/AP hide caption

This 2004 photo shows the remains of a coat and boots in the mud on the sea bed near the Titanic's stern.

It's still unclear why the submersible lost communication with its control crew on the expedition ship.

Ahead of its launch, OceanGate said it would rely on the satellite-based internet company Starlink for the communications necessary for carrying out the expedition. A text-message-based system relying on underwater acoustic positioning normally allows the Titan to communicate with the control ship, according to an Australian researcher writing for The Conversation.

OceanGate says its vessels are "equipped with some basic emergency medical supplies and 96 hours of life support," according to the company's website .

'Titanic' was king of the world 25 years ago for a good reason

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'titanic' was king of the world 25 years ago for a good reason.

And for good reason: This is not the first time an OceanGate submersible has gotten lost, according to David Pogue, a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning .

Pogue, who traveled on an OceanGate expedition to see the Titanic last summer, recalled that the control room was unable to help the submersible locate the wrecked liner for roughly three hours due to technical difficulties.

James Cameron aims to finally put that 'Titanic' door debate to rest, 25 years later

James Cameron aims to finally put that 'Titanic' door debate to rest, 25 years later

"The difference this year is that it seems like they lost contact with the ship," Pogue told NPR. "They can't even reach the sub and that's really scary."

He added that factors like bad weather and mechanical issues mean the submersible vessels rarely make it to the Titanic, despite the expensive price tag. This season has seen zero successful dives, Pogue said.

What's it like inside the Titan?

Videos from Pogue's initial CBS Sunday Morning report on OceanGate show him reading from the "mission specialist" waiver, which points out that Titan has not been approved or certified "by any regulatory body."

"I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seem improvised," Pogue adds.

“Hope is quickly fading” to find the missing submersible that left for a mission to the wreckage of the Titanic, says @Pogue , who went on board the same sub last year. He says it could be impossible to rescue the passengers if the sub is still underwater. pic.twitter.com/n0NTsLYkIJ — CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 20, 2023

A single plastic bottle and some Ziploc bags stand in for a toilet. An Xbox game controller and an elevator-esque up/down button serve as the vessel's primary controls. The interior lighting is from Camping World, notes OceanGate founder Stockton Rush.

In whole, the space inside is about the size of a minivan, not tall enough for someone to fully stand.

In an interview with NPR's All Things Considered , Pogue said there are seven different ballast mechanisms that can help the Titan rise from great depths.

"Some of these work even if the power is out or even if everyone on board is passed out," Pogue said.

The fact that rescue crews haven't spotted the vessel on the ocean's surface might mean that the Titan is snagged or its 5-inch-thick carbon fiber hull was penetrated, Pogue said.

Either situation could be catastrophic for the people on board.

What's the latest on the search efforts?

As of Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET, the Titan had about 40 hours of oxygen left, said Capt. Jamie Frederick, a response coordinator for the U.S. Coast Guard overseeing the search.

A unified command including the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, the Canadian Coast Guard and OceanGate are working together to steer the search efforts, but so far, has come up unsuccessful, Frederick said during a press conference.

Robert Ballard: What Hidden Underwater Worlds Are Left To Discover?

TED Radio Hour

Robert ballard: what hidden underwater worlds are left to discover.

"We wouldn't be searching and putting all effort out there" if the submersible wasn't recoverable, Frederick said, adding that the crews contain the "nation's best experts."

Several Canadian Coast Guard vessels were en route to the scene, as were several additional private vessels.

The teams in place are continuing to use aircraft to scan the ocean, an effort that may get easier on Tuesday as Monday's heavy fog was lifting, said a Coast Guard spokesperson.

Sonar devices are also being employed to detect possible underwater sounds coming from the submersible. Crews have covered 7,600 square miles — an area bigger than the state of Connecticut.

How (and why) this man plans to live underwater for 100 days

How (and why) this man plans to live underwater for 100 days

The teams also expanded their underwater search capability on Tuesday by adding a remotely operated vehicle in order to reach lower depths. That search is ongoing.

But even if the crews can locate the vessel at a low depth, hauling it up to the surface is another task. The Titan could be at a depth of over 13,000 feet and a distance of over 900 miles offshore. Frederick said the search and rescue crews did not yet have salvage equipment in place.

David Marquet, a retired U.S. Navy submarine captain, told NPR's Morning Edition that the odds of survival are "about 1%."

A former OceanGate executive voiced safety concerns years ago

A fired OceanGate employee urged for additional testing on the hull of the Titan years earlier, according to a 2018 lawsuit. Former director of marine operations David Lochridge sent a report he authored in January 2018, which voiced concerns that the hull used carbon fiber and not a metallic composition. The Titan was being designed to travel 4,000 meters below the surface, which had never been done by an OceanGate vessel with a hull made of carbon fiber, Lochridge stated in court documents.

Furthermore, Lochridge said vessel's viewport, which allows passengers to look outside, was only certified by the manufacturer to withstand pressures at 1,300 meters below the surface. That was due to OceanGate's design of the vessel, which did not meet federal standards, according to the complaint.

Lochridge said he encouraged a nondestructive scan of the hull to check for any defects, rather than solely relying on acoustic monitoring. According to Lochridge, acoustic monitoring only detects a problem in the hull right before it fails.

Lochridge said his concerns were ignored and he was told equipment did not exist for the type of test he was asking for. "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," court documents state. Lochridge was fired in January 2018. In its lawsuit against Lochridge, OceanGate said they did not hire him to do engineering work. However, Lochridge says he made the report at the request of CEO Stockton Rush because the plans for the Titan were being passed from the engineering team to his operations department. Lochridge, who has experience as a submersible pilot and diver, was hired by OceanGate in May 2015 as an independent contractor and later became an employee, according to documents. OceanGate sued Lochridge for fraud, breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets and nearly $24,000, claiming that he repeatedly violated the nondisclosure agreement he signed by talking to at least two people about plans for the Titan.

The agreement stated he would not disparage the company and would "hold [OceanGate's] confidential information in strict confidence, and not disclose or use it except as authorized by [OceanGate] and for [OceanGate's] benefit." Lochridge denied violating the NDA, saying it was not properly executed and that his report was not critical of the company. He countersued for wrongful termination, though the parties ultimately reached a settlement.

NPR's Juliana Kim and Tovia Smith contributed reporting.

Correction June 20, 2023

A previous version of this story stated that the submersible has a 5-foot-thick carbon fiber hull. In fact, the hull is 5 inches thick.

  • deep sea exploration

Titanic sub updates: Boeing denies it helped build sub, search for human remains may be moot

Editor's note: This page reflects the news on the Titan submersible from Friday, June 23. For the  latest updates on the lost submersible  and the recovery efforts, read our  live updates page for Saturday, June 24 .

After the mission turned from rescue to recovery following the grisly discovery that the missing Titan submersible imploded, institutions cited as partners in its manufacture distanced themselves from claims of their involvement in the ill-fated vessel's design.

In statements, Boeing, NASA, and the University of Washington clarified their roles in the development and testing of the Titan watercraft built and billed by OceanGate Inc. as a safe, seaworthy vehicle that would provide an unmatched, once-in-a-lifetime experience for passengers at $250,000 a pop ‒ even as the OceanGate CEO conceded some rules had been broken to speed the innovative submersible's debut.

Officials determined a "catastrophic implosion" killed the five people aboard the Titan vessel after starting its dive to view the Titanic wreckage site . The U.S. Navy analyzed its acoustic data and found an anomaly consistent with an implosion near where the submersible was operating when communications were lost June 18, Coast Guard spokesperson Briana Carter confirmed to USA TODAY. The information was shared immediately with the search commander.

Here's the latest on the search and recovery efforts and the high-stakes finger-pointing after a tragic mission gone wrong.

Critiques about 'experimental' carbon fiber used to construct The Titan continue to surface, OceanGate website down on Friday

On Friday, several experts critiqued OceanGate's use of experimental materials like carbon fiber on a submersible they invited passengers to board when they knew of potential risks.

Bart Kemper, a principal engineer at Kemper Engineering Services, told NBC News the carbon fiber that was used to create The Titan is not guaranteed to withstand the pressures of the deep sea.

“It’s a design that’s not been used in this way at this depth. All it has to do is fail in one spot and game over," Kemper told the news outlet.

According to OceanGate's website, which was down Friday afternoon, the company constructed The Titan with titanium and filament-wound carbon fiber.

"There are a number of reasons why it could have imploded," said Aileen Maria Marty, an expert in infectious disease and disaster medicine, adding that there are other safe subs that use regulated materials. "One is simply a problem with the carbon filaments."

– Kayla Jimenez, USA Today

OceanGate exaggerated ties to University of Washington, Boeing in Titan submersible design

Questions were swirling Friday about whether OceanGate may have over-hyped its ties to NASA, Boeing, and the University of Washington in developing the Titan submersible.

According to archived webpages, OceanGate Expeditions wrote on its site that the "state-of-the-art vessel" was "designed and engineered" in "collaboration (with) experts from NASA, Boeing and the University of Washington."

A brochure hailed the "innovative vessel" constructed of titanium and carbon fiber that was "designed in collaboration with NASA to provide a safe and comfortable pressure hull which will withstand the enormous pressures." A press release OceanGate put out in 2021 identified Boeing as a partner in "Design and engineering support."

But in a statement, Boeing said it "was not a partner on the Titan and did not design or build it."

And a spokesperson for NASA told USA TODAY the Marshall Space Flight Center had a "Space Act Agreement" with OceanGate and "consulted on materials and manufacturing processes for the submersible."

"NASA did not conduct testing and manufacturing via its workforce or facilities, which were done elsewhere by OceanGate," Lance Davis, Marshall Space Flight Center acting news chief said.

The University of Washington told USA TODAY it had a $5 million contract with OceanGate but that the two "parted ways" after only a fraction of the contracted work was completed, and that work was on a different OceanGate submersible called Cyclops 1, which went to much shallower depths than Titan.

The university's Applied Physics Laboratory "was not involved in the design, engineering or testing of the TITAN submersible used in the RMS TITANIC expedition," University of Washington spokesperson Victor Balta said.

Balta said OceanGate also used the university's testing tanks several times between 2018 and 2021, but the university's employees and researchers weren't involved.

What happened when the Titan submersible imploded?

The final moments of the Titan would have been swift – and unleashed amid a force difficult to comprehend, experts in physics and submarines told USA TODAY. Pressure at the depth of the Titanic – 12,500 feet down – is nearly 380 times greater than at the surface, said Luc Wille, a professor and chair of physics at Florida Atlantic University.

Even high-grade military submarines don’t wander around the ocean at full depth because it's just too dangerous, said Eric Fusil, a submarine expert and associate professor at the University of Adelaide’s School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. It would take about "20 milliseconds to crush a hull" at those depths, Fusil said.

Although the Titan’s composite hull is built to withstand intense deep-sea pressures, any defect in its shape or build would compromise its integrity and increase the risk of implosion, said Professor Stefan Williams ,  a marine robotics and underwater vessel expert at the University of Sydney.

– Dinah Voyles Pulver

Where the missing sub was found: Debris field confirmed to be missing Titanic submarine.

Family members remember victims

Loved ones of the men killed when the submersible imploded are remembering them as adventure-loving. OceanGate, the company that owned the Titan, said they had "a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans."

Hamish Harding, a British explorer and dealer of private jets, "was one of a kind and we adored him," his family said in a statement. "What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it’s that we lost him doing what he loved."

Another explorer on board, noted Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, was "the ultimate prankster and had the BEST sense of humor," his stepson John Paschall tweeted Friday.

Paschall said Nargeolet's name will "live on in the oceanographic world forever."

"What makes me feel so fortunate is that I got to have him as a stepdad. He immediately welcomed me as family and our connection only grew stronger through the years," Paschall said.

"I can’t think of anything that I’m aware of that he would enjoy doing more than traveling around and sharing information and his experiences with people," longtime friend and former colleague Matthew Tulloch said of Nargeolet.

Remote-operated vehicle launched on mission to map debris field

The ROV that first discovered the debris from the Titan's implosion continued its mission Friday to return to the seafloor as part of recovery efforts, the company that owns it said.

"The mission is for continued mapping and documentation of the area and assisting in any direct recovery of debris," Pelagic Research Services spokesperson Jeff Mahoney said in a statement.

The ROV, Odysseus 6K, is the only ROV that has been to the debris site as of Friday, Mahoney said. It launched from the Horizon Arctic vessel in the Northern Atlantic.

Pakistani teen was 'terrified' of dive, aunt says

A family member of the two Pakistani passengers killed in the dive says her 19-year-old nephew was hesitant to accompany his father on the voyage.

Azmeh Dawood, the older sister of Shahzada Dawood, told NBC News that her nephew, Suleman Dawood, informed a relative that he "wasn't very up for it" and felt "terrified" about the trip.

She told the outlet that Suleman ended up going on the trip because it fell over Father's Day weekend and he was eager to please his dad, who was passionate about the Titanic. "I feel disbelief," Azmeh told NBC. "It's an unreal situation."

Suleman Dawood was a student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, the university confirmed. He just completed his first year in the business school there.

The other three people believed to have perished are Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, British adventurer Hamish Harding and French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

"Tragic news that those on the Titan submersible, including three British citizens, have been lost following an international search operation," U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote on Twitter on Thursday. "The UK government is closely supporting the families affected and expresses our deepest condolences."

Lawsuit still possible despite waivers being signed

OceanGate, the privately-owned company that led the voyage to the wreckage of The Titanic, could face legal action, according to a legal expert.

The families of the passengers who died on The Titan could sue the company even though the men signed waivers warning them of injury or death before boarding the sub, a trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor  Neama Rahmani  told People.

"You can waive known risks, but you can’t waive something more than that," Rahmani told the news outlet.

– Kayla Jimenez

Who pays for the search?

U.S. Coast Guard officials said remote-operated vehicles will continue working on the seafloor where searchers identified the debris field of the imploded capsule, even as the mission turned from search and rescue to recovery.

Authorities have already spent several days combing the surface and depths of the ocean in a massive search that likely cost taxpayers millions , according to Chris Boyer, the executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue.

Boyer said the Coast Guard doesn’t charge people for search and rescue. “That’s their job,” he said, noting fear of costs could deter people from seeking lifesaving help.

While some adventure expeditions require patrons to take out insurance policies, few would come close to covering likely the costs of the current rescue mission, he said. 

-Chris Kenning, USA TODAY

Who designed the Titan submersible?

Submersible company OceanGate designed, owned and operated the Titan vessel, according to the company's website. OceanGate Expeditions, based in the Bahamas, operates the U.S.-based OceanGate Inc., headquartered in Everett, Washington.

The Titan submersible was about 8 feet high, 9 feet wide and 22 feet long, according to the OceanGate website. It was designed to reach about 13,000 feet deep and travel at 3 knots, the company says. The vessel had a five-inch-thick carbon fiber and titanium hull and four 10-horsepower electric thrusters, according to court filings.

Missing Titanic sub: How does the Titan submersible work? Here's a look inside

How many times did OceanGate go to the Titanic?

At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate's submersible to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Virginia.

"On the first dive to the Titanic, the submersible encountered a battery issue and had to be manually attached to its lifting platform," one filing says. "In the high sea state, the submersible sustained modest damage to its external components and OceanGate decided to cancel the second mission for repairs and operational enhancements."

Was the Titan submersible regulated?

When the Titan submersible made its fateful dive into the North Atlantic on Sunday, it also plunged into the murkily regulated waters of deep-sea exploration. It's a space on the high seas where laws and conventions can be sidestepped by risk-taking entrepreneurs and wealthy tourists who help fund their dreams. At least for now.

"We’re at a point in submersible operations in deep water that's kind of akin to where aviation was in the early 20th century," said Salvatore Mercogliano, a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina who focuses on maritime history and policy.

Mercogliano said such operations are scrutinized less than the companies that launch people into space. In Titan's case, that's, in part, because it operated in international waters, far from the reach of many laws of the U.S. or other nations.

The Titan wasn’t registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety, Mercogliano said. Nor was it classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.

– The Associated Press

Missing Titanic submersible: Maps, graphics show last location, depth and design

James Cameron says passengers may have had 'warning' before implosion

Filmmaker and ocean explorer James Cameron, who directed the blockbuster movie "Titanic," reflected on the eerie parallel between the Titan submersible and the wreck of the Titanic in interviews with multiple news outlets this week.

"The (Titanic) captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many people died as a result," Cameron told ABC News. "For a very similar tragedy, where warnings went unheeded, to take place at the same exact site with all the diving that’s going on all around the world, I think it’s just astonishing."

Cameron has embarked on 33 deep-sea dives to visit the Titanic's wreck site and co-designed a submersible that went to the deepest part of the ocean. He has been vocally critical of the engineering behind the Titan and said he was always concerned it could be too experimental to take passengers to the Titanic wreckage.

He told ABC the five people on the Titan may have had a warning that something was going wrong before the sub imploded. "They probably had warning that their hull was starting to delaminate," Cameron told the outlet. He said the submersible had sensors on the inside of the hull, "to give them a warning when it was starting to crack."

Warning system may have given crew little time to react, lawsuit suggests

The Titan sub's warning system might have given the crew very little time to react, according to court filings by an ex-employee who was sued by OceanGate in 2018.

David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations, was sued over an engineering report he wrote saying the craft under development needed more testing and that passengers might be endangered when it reached "extreme depths." He claimed he expressed concern that the company was relying on an acoustic monitoring system to "detect the start of a hull breakdown when the submersible was about to fail."

"(T)his type of acoustic analysis would only show when a component is about to fail – often milliseconds before an implosion – and would not detect any existing flaws prior to putting pressure onto the hull," Lochridge contended in a countersuit.

Prior submersible passengers express concerns

Science writer and CBS correspondent David Pogue, who boarded the submersible for a report that aired in November, told USA TODAY he was concerned about the vessel's safety .

"There were parts of it that seemed to me to be less sophisticated than I was guessing. You drive it with a PlayStation video controller … some of the ballasts are old, rusty construction pipes," Pogue said. "There were certain things that looked like cut corners."

Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman from Germany, took a dive to the site two years ago. "Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can't stand. You can't kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other," Loibl told the Associated Press. "You can't be claustrophobic."

During the 2.5-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick. The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10.5 hours, he said.

Titanic sub lost at sea documentary receives criticism

A news special on the Titan submersible sparked backlash this week while crews were in the midst of searching for the vessel at sea. ITN's "Titanic Sub: Lost at Sea" was scheduled to air on Britain's Channel 5 on Thursday at 2 p.m. EDT. Members of the public slammed the program because of its timing.

Where is the Titanic wreck on a map?

Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz, Dinah Voyles Pulver, Morgan Hines and Edward Segarra, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

What is submersible tourism? The Titanic expedition, explained.

How common are deep-sea expeditions like the titan’s where else do submersibles go.

titanic underwater trip

Seeing the wreck of the Titanic firsthand is a journey.

One must board a submersible vessel about the size of a minivan built to withstand the pressure of descending nearly two and a half miles into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean . It takes about two hours to reach the sunken ship and another two to get back to the surface, plus time for exploration.

And even with a price tag of a quarter of a million dollars, there has been no shortage of people with interest for such an adventure. Philippe Brown, founder of the luxury travel company Brown and Hudso , said there’s a long wait list for the OceanGate Expeditions submersible experience at the center of the world’s attention. The vessel, called the Titan, vanished Sunday in the North Atlantic with five onboard , triggering a wide-reaching search mission that ended Thursday, when the Coast Guard said a remotely operated vehicle discovered debris from the vessel on the ocean floor. Pieces of the submersible indicated it had imploded in a “catastrophic event," Coast Guard officials said. A spokesperson for OceanGate said the pilot and passengers “have sadly been lost."

For the world’s richest and most intrepid travelers, a submersible trip is not so far-fetched, says Roman Chiporukha, co-founder of Roman & Erica, a travel company for ultrawealthy clients with annual membership dues starting at $100,000.

“These are the people who’ve scaled the seven peaks, they’ve crossed the Atlantic on their own boat,” Chiporukha said. The typical vacation of the ultrawealthy, like a beach getaway on the Italian Riviera or St. Barts, “really doesn’t do it for them,” he added.

That description fits tycoon Hamish Harding , who was among the five people on Titan. An avid adventurer who’s thoroughly explored the South Pole and the Mariana Trench, Harding was also on the fifth spaceflight of Blue Origin , the private space company founded by Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Capt. Hamish Harding (@actionaviationchairman)

Harding and the Titan journey represent the extreme end of the submersible tourism industry, which has been growing in popularity since the 1980s. Ofer Ketter , a longtime submersibles pilot and co-founder of SubMerge , a firm that provides consulting and operations of private submersibles, says such deep-sea journeys are rare in comparison to those in more tropical locations. For example, the luxury tour operator Kensington Tours offers a $700,000, 10-day yacht trip that includes a 600-plus-foot dive in a submersible in the Bahamas to explore the Exumas ocean floor.

Here’s what else to know about the industry.

Deep water, high pressure: Why the Titanic sub search is so complex

Missing Titanic submersible

The latest: After an extensive search, the Coast Guard found debris fields that have been indentified as the Titan submersible. OceanGate, the tour company, has said all 5 passengers are believed dead.

The Titan: The voyage to see the Titanic wreckage is eight days long, costs $250,000 and is open to passengers age 17 and older. The Titan is 22 feet long, weighs 23,000 pounds and “has about as much room as a minivan,” according to CBS correspondent David Pogue. Here’s what we know about the missing submersible .

The search: The daunting mission covers the ocean’s surface and the vast depths beneath. The search poses unique challenges that are further complicated by the depths involved. This map shows the scale of the search near the Titanic wreckage .

The passengers: Hamish Harding , an aviation businessman, aircraft pilot and seasoned adventurer, posted on Instagram that he was joining the expedition and said retired French navy commander Paul-Henri Nargeolet was also onboard. British Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman, 19, were also on the expedition, their family confirmed. The CEO of OceanGate , the submersible expedition company, was also on the vessel. Here’s what we know about the five missing passengers.

titanic underwater trip

Titanic tour company offered up-close experience for $250,000

The Titan Submersible.

Modern in-person tourism at the Titanic is still in its infancy. 

The submersible that disappeared Sunday near the Titanic wreckage was on only its third trip since the company OceanGate Expeditions began offering them in 2021. 

OceanGate had been promoting the third dive for months on its website and in Facebook posts, offering the chance to “follow in Jacques Cousteau’s footsteps and become an underwater explorer” — for the price of $250,000. 

“ Become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes,” the tour company said on its website. The ticket comes with a title: “mission specialist.” 

Participants have included a chef, an actor, a videographer and someone who worked in banking, the company said on Facebook. 

One of the customers said on Instagram last year that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that lived up to her expectations. 

“My lifelong dream of seeing the Titanic has come true!” Chelsea Kellogg, a chef, wrote. “I am still trying to process the whole experience. I’m still crying. Still overwhelmed by all the emotions.” 

Kellogg, who did not respond to an interview request Monday, said she saw the ship’s bow, crow’s-nest and grand staircase. 

OceanGate seems to be the only company offering dive tours to the Titanic wreckage, underscoring the practical difficulty of reaching the site 12,500 feet down in the cold North Atlantic where the ship sank in 1912. About 1,500 people died. 

The resting place of the Titanic was unknown for decades, eluding several groups of researchers racing to find it, until a team led by the explorer Robert Ballard succeeded in 1985. Visits — some of them by artifact hunters — continued off and on for two decades.

Don Lynch, the Titanic Historical Society’s historian, said there was some tourism in the 1990s and early this century, when there were both artifacts to find and Russian-made submersibles capable of reaching the site’s depth. A Los Angeles artist went down in 2000 and produced watercolors from the experience .

Lynch, who went down in 2001, said that eventually, the visits trickled off as Russian-made submersibles were retired and fewer artifacts remained.

“There was a lot of salvage going on prior to that, and I think it reached the point where they weren’t bringing up anything that was increasing the museum visits,” he said. 

Until now, no submersible at the Titanic site had ever gone missing, he said.

Beginning in 2005, there was a 14-year dry spell with no human visits. Then, in 2019, another group visited the wreckage site and reported its rapid deterioration. The pace of visits has picked up since. 

RMS Titanic Inc., the company that owns the ship’s salvage rights, once tried to stop tourist visits, hoping to use pictures and tourism operations of its own to raise money for salvage operations, but in 1999 a federal appeals court ruled that tourists could visit , The Washington Post reported. 

Lynch said he thinks the site should have been treated as an archaeological site with careful documentation of all artifacts. He said he has no objection, though, to tourist visits, especially if they help to pay for research.

“Go down. Take a look. That’s great. It doesn’t damage the ship,” he said. 

Past participants praise the experience in a video OceanGate posted on YouTube in October. The video does not give their names. 

“This is a remarkable event in my life,” one person in the video says. 

“Not many people have done it, and that’s part of the appeal, too, right?” another says. 

Customers travel to the Titanic area from St. John’s, Newfoundland, aboard a ship — this year, the research vessel Polar Prince. 

On dive days, five people can fit into the submersible, named Titan, and the descent takes a couple of hours , OceanGate’s website says . 

“You may assist the pilot with coms and tracking, take notes for the science team about what you see outside of the viewport, watch a movie or eat lunch,” it says. 

There is a small toilet in Titan’s front dome, the website continues. It “doubles as the best seat in the house. When the toilet is in use, we install a privacy curtain between the dome and the main compartment and turn the music up loud.” 

OceanGate’s website promises “hours of exploring” before a two-hour ascent. 

There is required safety training for everyone on the research vessel, the website says. Beyond that, training depends on how much customers want to do, such as assisting with navigation. 

Stockton Rush, the founder of OceanGate, told the travel website Frommer’s in 2020 that about half of his customer pool were Titanic obsessives, while the other half were big-spending travelers also drawn to space tourism and other big-budget ideas. The original price back then was $125,000, or half this year’s price. 

“You couldn’t write a better story,” Rush told the website. “You have the rich and the poor. You have opulence. You have hubris. You have tragedy. You have death.”

The company initially planned to have six expeditions in 2021, Frommer’s reported, but it ended up running one that year and one last year. 

Before then, getting a close-up view of the Titanic’s wreckage meant visiting one of several museums where there are artifacts — including one at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas — or perhaps visiting one of the replicas in Pigeon Forge , Tennessee, or Branson , Missouri. 

OceanGate’s website laid out various details of this year’s expedition, including a minimum age of 18. The price included training, gear and meals on the ship but not airfare, hotels before departure or insurance. 

Lynch, the historian, said the tours demonstrate the lasting curiosity about the Titanic.

“The movie really brought it to a younger audience and created a lot of new Titanic enthusiasts,” he said, referring to director James Cameron’s 1997 film. “Every couple decades, something happens that puts it back in the public eye.” 

David Ingram covers tech for NBC News.

Here’s How You Can Visit the Wreck of the Titanic—for $125,000

A series of expeditions will take tourists down to the ill-fated ship in 2021

titanic underwater trip

Courtesy of NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island (NOAA/IFE/URI)

You’re probably familiar with the RMS Titanic: in 1912, the world’s largest ocean liner of the day embarked on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, during which she struck an iceberg, sank, and ultimately took more than 1,500 lives. The Titanic’s final resting place remained a mystery until 1985, when American marine geologist Robert Ballard and French oceanographer Jean-Louis Michel discovered the wreck in the crushing depths of the frigid North Atlantic, nearly 2.5 miles beneath the surface of the sea. 

Rather unsurprisingly, visiting the Titanic has become a bucket-list trip for maritime historians, oceanographers, and, well, anyone who has deep enough pockets to go. However, expeditions are rare: only one team has visited the site in-person in the last 15 years. But all that’s about to change.

OceanGate Expeditions , a company that provides well-heeled clients with once-in-a-lifetime underwater experiences, has announced a series of six trips to the Titanic via submersible in 2021. Each has space for nine paying tourists, whose $125,000 tickets will help offset the cost of the expeditions (and put a pretty penny in the pocket of OceanGate owner Stockton Rush).

OceanGate’s expeditions will each run for 10 days out of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. Nine tourists, who are actually dubbed “mission specialists” on this expedition, will join the expedition crew on each sailing, and they’ll be expected to participate in the research efforts—this isn’t just a sightseeing affair. OceanGate’s goal is to extensively document the Titanic wreck before it disintegrates entirely due to a deep-sea bacteria that eats iron, which researchers are concerned might happen within the next few decades. As this is a scientific project, mission specialists will have to meet certain physical criteria to ensure their compatibility with the expedition, not to mention training, which includes a test dive.

On each expedition, each mission specialist will be able to partake in a single six- to eight-hour dive to the Titanic via the private Titan submarine, which includes the 90-minute descent and 90-minute ascent. The sub seats five—a pilot, a scientist or researcher, and three mission specialists—and it does have a small, semi-private bathroom for emergencies, in case you were wondering.

Now, it should be known that this isn’t OceanGate’s first attempt to visit the iconic wreck: two previous expeditions had to be scrubbed. (In 2018, the sub was hit by lightning, and its electrical systems were fried, and in 2019, there were issues with sourcing a ship for the expedition.) But hey, perhaps the third time's the charm!

Several international treaties protect the Titanic—the wreck sits in international waters—but their primary goal is to prevent looters and illegal salvage operations from damaging and disrespecting the wreck. However, in terms of tourism, it’s actually perfectly legal to visit the wreck, so long as the expedition doesn’t intrude upon it (i.e., land on the deck or enter the hull.)

“A review of the International Agreement on Titanic, as well as the 2001 UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, would reveal that non-intrusive visits do not even require a permit or authorization,” said Ole Varmer, a retired legal advisor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who was instrumental in negotiating the legal protection of the wreck. “The scope of the prohibition against commercial exploitation of underwater cultural heritage is to prevent unauthorized salvage and looting; it does not include non-intrusive visits regardless of whether they are for-profit or not.”

In terms of OceanGate Expeditions, the company is working with NOAA, the federal agency in charge of implementing the International Agreement on Titanic for U.S.-based Titanic activities, to ensure it follows all protocols set down by that agreement.

There are two major factors to consider regarding ethically visiting the Titanic. First, it’s a memorial site to the lives lost during the disaster, so the wreck should be treated with respect. But that, of course, is true of all memorial sites around the world.

“Speaking as one who visited Titanic’s wreck twice during RMS Titanic, Inc.'s 1993 and 1996 Research and Recovery expeditions, I see nothing unethical about visiting the wreck, nor about helping to defray the significant expense of bringing a visitor to the wreck,” explained Charles Haas, president of the Titanic International Society. “People around the world learn by seeing and visiting. They pay for access to museums, cathedrals, monuments, exhibitions, and, yes, final resting places.”

But second, it’s a fragile piece of cultural heritage. It should be protected—the expedition organizer must take appropriate steps to ensure that it won’t disturb the wreck.

“In the past, submersibles visiting the site by RMS Titanic, Inc. [the only company legally allowed to salvage the wreck], and others have rested on the deck of the hull portions,” says Varmer. “That practice has likely caused some harm and exacerbated the deterioration of the site.  Hopefully, that will no longer be practiced or permitted.”

Per OceanGate’s description of its expeditions, the company’s submersible won’t disturb the wreck, so if you have $125,000 lying around, fee; free to spring for the bucket-list trip of 2021!

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How Much Does It Cost to See the Titanic in 2024? | The Aftermath of the OceanGate Titan Tragedy

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It’s the adventure of a lifetime: a journey through the chilly depths to the wreck of the RMS Titanic . The Titanic has captivated us since April 14, 1912, when the “unsinkable ship” collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and was lost beneath the chilly waves.

She wasn’t discovered until 1985, and some 36 years later, the OceanGate Titanic Survey Expedition made it possible for you to see the Titanic with your own eyes. Starting in 2021, you could descend to the wreck site in a state-of-the-art submersible and explore the remains of the most famous ship in modern history.

How Much Did It Cost Per Person?

If you wanted to explore the Titanic firsthand, planning ahead is key. You needed to apply to be a Mission Specialist, OceanGate’s term for someone who is part of the submersible team. You also had to pay $125,000 for the entire journey . Although the cost was arguably steep, what OceanGate was offering was an experience that had been impossible before.

Your adventure would start in St. John’s, Newfoundland. You would’ve been trained and coached before and during the entire 10-day journey. As a Mission Specialist, you had multiple opportunities to help crewmembers onboard, dive support ship and the expedition itself as well as the diver operations team, and also be a team member to everyone onboard.

The crew consisted of mission specialists, content experts, a pilot and support crew, a vessel crew, technical experts, a film crew, and a doctor, all totaling about 50 or 60 people on board during the mission.

And then in June 2023, a horrific tragedy happened.

The Titan Submersible Accident

The Titan made 13 voyages to the Titanic in 2021 and 2022 before its tragic implosion on June 18, 2023. The crew members on board the Polar Prince support ship reported it missing when Titan failed to resurface at the planned time. A futile weeklong search followed, involving multiple agencies scouring the North Atlantic for any signs of the Titan. 

However, On June 22, officials from the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that a debris field had been found on the ocean floor close to the Titanic’s bow. According to Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger at a press conference, the discovery suggested a “catastrophic implosion” of the vessel, meaning it had collapsed inward killing all five members of the crew.

What Does 2024 Hold For OceanGate?

OceanGate has taken down its social media, and its website has gone dark with the following notice:

“ OceanGate Expeditions has suspended all exploration and commercial operations. ”

This came in July, a week after OceanGate said it would suspend all operations. Only the old OceanGate Foundation’s website remains active. The only certain thing is that OceanGate is going to be dealing with lawsuits for years to come.

Before their website was shut down, OceanGate was still advertising trips to the Titanic wreckage. They listed two missions to the Titanic in 2024 — June 12-20 and June 21-29 — at a cost of a staggering $250,000 per person . Go figure…

The U.S. government has filed a motion to stop a Titanic expedition planned for 2024, citing a law that protects the shipwreck as a gravesite. RMS Titanic Inc. , the exclusive salvage rights holder, faces legal opposition. In the federal court motion in Virginia, the U.S. contends that RMS Titanic Inc. must obtain authorization from the Secretary of Commerce for any activity altering or disturbing the Titanic wreck or its site.

In a June periodic report, RMS Titanic Inc. disclosed plans for a 2024 expedition, stating no intention to seek a permit, as noted in the U.S. government’s motion. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia refrains from additional comments.

What Is OceanGate?

OceanGate is an American privately owned company founded in 2009 in Everett, Washington, by Stockton Rush and Guillermo Söhnlein. The company provides crewed submersibles for tourism, industry, research, and exploration purposes to depths of more than 10,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Why Did the OceanGate’s Submersible Fail?

Inadequate design, insufficient testing, and the use of carbon fiber as a structural material have all been suggested as contributing factors. The catastrophic loss of OceanGate’s Titan submersible in June 2023 with all hands aboard has triggered widespread speculation regarding the cause of the accident.

Will There Be Future OceanGate Expeditions?

OceranGate’s future is still undecided. The company’s website showing the forthcoming OceanGate expeditions has gone dark following the public outcry after the tragic accident. The next two OceanGate expeditions were supposed to take place on June 12 – June 20, and June 21 – June 29, 2024.

How Many Trips To RMS Titanic Has Oceangate Made?

Prior to the fatal dive, OceanGate’s Titan made 13 successful expeditions to the RMS Titanic to only a handful of people who had the privilege to dive down to the most famous shipwreck in the world. Over the years, Oceangate has conducted more than 200 dives in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico. 

What Do You Get on One Submersible Dive?

With the click of a button, Mission Specialists (those who are part of OceanGate’s submersible team) can switch between a camera and sonar to explore the ocean and the ocean floor. They can also view preloaded images of deep-sea species, and the Titanic as they experience an entirely foreign world.

Image of Elizabeth Lavis

Elizabeth Lavis is a freelance writer who spends the majority of her time traveling the world and seeing exciting and fun new places. She likes physical challenges, such as mountain climbing, and enjoys interacting with interesting people and learning to appreciate new cultures and ways of doing things. Elizabeth is curious about the world around her and is always looking for ways to make it a friendlier and more welcoming place. Read more from Elizabeth on her personal site .

titanic underwater trip

Daughter of Titanic expert killed in Titan sub implosion says dives to see famed shipwreck should continue

T he daughter of the French Titanic expert who died in the Titan submersible implosion last summer slammed the ill-fated sub’s creator for not reaching out to her family following the tragedy — but said trips to the famous shipwreck should continue.

Sidonie Nargeolet, the 40-year-old daughter of the deep-sea explorer known as “Mr. Titanic,” Paul-Henri Nargeolet, says no one at OceanGate offered condolences after her father perished aboard the submersible as it approached the wreckage of the Titanic on June 18, 2023.

“My anger is mostly because no one from OceanGate contacted us to say we are sorry for your loss,” Nargeolet told Pen News. “At least I think they could have contacted us to say we are sorry for your loss.”

Despite her father’s ill fate, Nargeolet said she believes the expeditions 12,500 feet below sea level off the coast of Newfoundland to the famed wreck should continue.

“I think they have to do it,” she said. “We don’t have to make a confusion with a bad sub and a good one, you know?”

She added: “I think it’s good that people go on the sub and it’s good to take artifacts from the Titanic, but just not to play with security, the lives of people.”

Her father perished aboard the doomed sub alongside Pakastani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, British businessman and aviator Hamish Harding; and the pilot and founder of OceanGate, Stockton Rush.

Nargeolet said she had no idea the dive might be dangerous, as her father had been diving her entire life.

“I have always been used to it, so I think it was like normal to me,” she said, later noting that her father told her it was a new kind of sub, but didn’t mention being worried about it.

Even after the sub lost radio contact, Nargeolet said, she remained hopeful that the vessel would be located and her father would return home safely.

“I don’t know if it was because there was really a hope or because it’s my dad and I didn’t want to think he was dead,” she recalled.

“We heard it was all done, but it’s really hard to to realize because we don’t see any body, you know?

So it’s like he’s gone — okay, but we have nothing to say goodbye to.”

Her father was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, which owns salvage rights to the famous ocean liner’s wreckage.

He had previously led 37 successful expeditions to the site, supervised the recovery of thousands of artifacts, and was considered to have spent more time at the wreck than anyone else.

Officials are still investigating the evidence recovered from its missions and the allegations made against OceanGate ahead of an anticipated public hearing on the incident.

Following the tragedy, OceanGate said it would suspend “all exploration and commercial operations,” shutting down its website and social media pages. 

An OceanGate representative also said it contacted the Nargeolet family after the accident.

Daughter of Titanic expert killed in Titan sub implosion says dives to see famed shipwreck should continue

WTVR CBS 6 News Richmond

Why the future of Titanic expeditions is being decided in Virginia

titanic underwater trip

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The U.S. government could end its legal fight against a planned expedition to the Titanic, which has sparked concerns that it would violate a law that treats the wreck as a gravesite.

Kent Porter, an assistant U.S. attorney, told a federal judge in Virginia Wednesday that the U.S. is seeking more information on revised plans for the May expedition, which have been significantly scaled back. Porter said the U.S. has not determined whether the new plans would break the law.

RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia company that owns the salvage rights to the wreck, originally planned to take images inside the ocean liner’s severed hull and to retrieve artifacts from the debris field. RMST also said it would possibly recover free-standing objects inside the Titanic, including the room where the sinking ship had broadcast its distress signals.

The U.S. filed a legal challenge to the expedition in August, citing a 2017 federal law and a pact with Great Britain to treat the site as a memorial. More than 1,500 people died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912.

The U.S. argued last year that entering the Titanic — or physically altering or disturbing the wreck — is regulated by the law and agreement. Among the government’s concerns is the possible disturbance of artifacts and any human remains that may still exist on the North Atlantic seabed.

In October, RMST said it had significantly pared down its dive plans . That’s because its director of underwater research, Paul-Henri Nargeolet , died in the implosion of the Titan submersible near the Titanic shipwreck in June.

The Titan was operated by a separate company , OceanGate, to which Nargeolet was lending expertise. Nargeolet was supposed to lead this year’s expedition by RMST.

RMST stated in a court filing last month that it now plans to send an uncrewed submersible to the wreck site and will only take external images of the ship.

“The company will not come into contact with the wreck,” RMST stated, adding that it “will not attempt any artifact recovery or penetration imaging.”

RMST has recovered and conserved thousands of Titanic artifacts, which millions of people have seen through its exhibits in the U.S. and overseas. The company was granted the salvage rights to the shipwreck in 1994 by the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia.

U. S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith is the maritime jurist who presides over Titanic salvage matters. She said during Wednesday’s hearing that the U.S. government’s case would raise serious legal questions if it continues, while the consequences could be wide-ranging.

Congress is allowed to modify maritime law, Smith said in reference to the U.S. regulating entry into the sunken Titanic. But the judge questioned whether Congress can strip courts of their own admiralty jurisdiction over a shipwreck, something that has centuries of legal precedent.

In 2020, Smith gave RMST permission to retrieve and exhibit the radio that had broadcast the Titanic’s distress calls. The expedition would have involved entering the Titanic and cutting into it.

The U.S. government filed an official legal challenge against that expedition, citing the law and pact with Britain. But the legal battle never played out. RMST indefinitely delayed those plans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Smith noted Wednesday that time may be running out for expeditions inside the Titanic. The ship is rapidly deteriorating .

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Titanic expedition might get green light after company says it will not retrieve artifacts

Updated on: March 14, 2024 / 6:44 AM EDT / CBS/AP

The U.S. government could end its legal fight against a planned expedition to the Titanic , which has sparked concerns that it would violate a law that treats the wreck as a gravesite .

Kent Porter, an assistant U.S. attorney, told a federal judge in Virginia Wednesday that the U.S. is seeking more information on revised plans for the May expedition, which have been significantly scaled back. Porter said the U.S. has not determined whether the new plans would break the law.

RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia company that owns the salvage rights to the wreck, originally planned to take images inside the ocean liner's severed hull and to retrieve artifacts from the debris field. RMST also said it would possibly recover free-standing objects inside the Titanic, including the room where the sinking ship had broadcast its distress signals .

The port bow railing of the Titanic is seen in 12,600 feet of water about 400 miles east of Nova Scotia, Canada, as photographed as part of a joint scientific and recovery expedition sponsored by the Discovery Channel and RMS Titanic.

The U.S. filed a legal challenge to the expedition in August, citing a 2017 federal law and a pact with Great Britain to treat the site as a memorial . More than 1,500 people died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912.

The U.S. argued last year that entering the Titanic - or physically altering or disturbing the wreck - is regulated by the law and agreement. Among the government's concerns is the possible disturbance of artifacts and any human remains that may still exist on the North Atlantic seabed.

In October, RMST said it had significantly pared down its dive plans. That's because its director of underwater research, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, died in the implosion of the Titan submersible near the Titanic shipwreck in June.

The Titan was operated by a separate company, OceanGate , to which Nargeolet was lending expertise. Nargeolet was supposed to lead this year's expedition by RMST.

RMST stated in a court filing last month that it now plans to send an uncrewed submersible to the wreck site and will only take external images of the ship.

"The company will not come into contact with the wreck," RMST stated, adding that it "will not attempt any artifact recovery or penetration imaging."

RMST has recovered and conserved thousands of Titanic artifacts, which millions of people have seen through its exhibits in the U.S. and overseas. The company was granted the salvage rights to the shipwreck in 1994 by the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia.

U. S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith is the maritime jurist who presides over Titanic salvage matters. She said during Wednesday's hearing that the U.S. government's case would raise serious legal questions if it continues, while the consequences could be wide-ranging.

Congress is allowed to modify maritime law, Smith said in reference to the U.S. regulating entry into the sunken Titanic. But the judge questioned whether Congress can strip courts of their own admiralty jurisdiction over a  shipwreck , something that has centuries of legal precedent.

In 2020, Smithgave RMST permission to retrieve and exhibit the radio that had broadcast the Titanic's distress calls. The expedition would have involved entering the Titanic and cutting into it.

The U.S. government filed an official legal challenge against that expedition, citing the law and pact with Britain. But the legal battle never played out. RMST indefinitely delayed those plans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Smith noted Wednesday that time may be running out for expeditions inside the Titanic. The ship is rapidly deteriorating .

"Personal stories down there"

Last year, new images of the Titanic developed using deep sea mapping revealed unprecedented views of the shipwreck.

The scan was carried out in 2022 by Magellan Ltd, a deep-sea mapping company, in partnership with Atlantic Productions, a London-based company that was making a film about the project. 

bow-04.jpg

The scan provides a three-dimensional view of the wreckage in its entirety, enabling the ship once known as  "unsinkable"  to be seen as if the water has been drained away. 

In the debris surrounding the ship, lies miscellaneous items including ornate metalwork from the ship, statues and unopened champagne bottles.

There are also personal possessions, including dozens of shoes.

"I felt there was something much bigger here that we could get from the Titanic," Anthony Geffen, the CEO of Atlantic Production, told CBS News last year. "If we could scan it, if we could capture in all its detail… we could find out how it sank and how the different parts of the boat fell apart and we can find a lot of personal stories down there as well."

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Emmet Lyons contributed to this report.

  • RMS Titanic

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IMAGES

  1. Rare Titanic Underwater Expedition Images Released: 100 Years On, Ship

    titanic underwater trip

  2. Blue Marble Dive The Titanic Luxury Vacation Package

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  3. An Incredible Dive Tour Of The Titanic Wreckage Is On Its Way

    titanic underwater trip

  4. Titanic video: Video of the sunken Titanic

    titanic underwater trip

  5. Rare Titanic Underwater Expedition Images Released: 100 Years On, Ship

    titanic underwater trip

  6. Visit Titanic for $40k on the RMS Titanic Dive Expedition

    titanic underwater trip

VIDEO

  1. Titanic underwater view

  2. A remarkable new view of the Titanic shipwreck is here, thanks to deep-sea mappers

  3. Titanic heading to sea

COMMENTS

  1. What it was like inside the lost Titanic-touring submersible

    Titan typically spent about 10 to 11 hours during each trip to the Titanic wreck, while submarines can stay underwater for months. ... who took a trip on Titan down to the Titanic wreck last year.

  2. Titan submersible implosion

    On 18 June 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by the American tourism and expeditions company OceanGate, imploded during an expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.Aboard the submersible were: Stockton Rush, the American chief executive officer of OceanGate; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep-sea explorer and Titanic ...

  3. OceanGate's Titan timeline: Lost submersible went to the Titanic

    8:00 a.m. - Titan begins a descent from the Canadian research vessel the Polar Prince to the Titanic wreck, a trip expected to take two hours to reach the ocean floor, according to the U.S ...

  4. Missing Titanic Submersible

    Missing Titanic Submersible 'Catastrophic Implosion' Likely Killed 5 Aboard Submersible. Pieces of the missing Titan vessel were found on the ocean floor, about 1,600 feet from the bow of the ...

  5. What we know about the Titanic tourist vessel missing in the Atlantic

    The underwater trip is operated by a company called OceanGate Expeditions, which confirmed one of its vessels, the Titan, was missing. There are five people on board, according U.S. coast guard ...

  6. More presumed human remains recovered from imploded Titan submersible

    The OceanGate underwater vessel disappeared June 18 during a trip to survey the tomb of the Titanic with five people on board, triggering an international panic to find them.

  7. Missing Submersible: Vessel Disappears During Dive to the Titanic Wreck

    Before the first successful trip to the Titanic in 2021, the Titan was "rebuilt," according to GeekWire, ... Mr. Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc., an ...

  8. Search Day 4: Titanic submersible debris found, all onboard presumed dead

    The debris was found off the bow of the sunken Titanic, officials said. The search for the Titan, which went missing Sunday after it e mbark ed on a mission to survey the wreckage of the Titanic ...

  9. Titan submersible updates: Rescuers race to find the Titan before air

    The Titan, a minivan-size submersible, was carrying five people to the Titanic's watery grave when it lost contact. The vessel has enough oxygen to keep its passengers alive for about 40 more hours.

  10. Titanic sub live updates: Who built sub lost in underwater 'implosion'

    The U.S. Navy analyzed its acoustic data and found an anomaly consistent with an implosion near where the submersible was operating when communications were lost June 18, Coast Guard spokesperson ...

  11. Missing Submersible: Rescuers Detect 'Underwater Noise' in Search Area

    For the past three years, he has charged up to $250,000 per person for a chance to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in 1912 on its inaugural trip from England to New York.

  12. What is submersible tourism? The Titanic expedition, explained

    The Titan: The voyage to see the Titanic wreckage is eight days long, costs $250,000 and is open to passengers age 17 and older. The Titan is 22 feet long, weighs 23,000 pounds and "has about as ...

  13. Titanic tour company offered up-close experience for $250,000

    The submersible that disappeared Sunday near the Titanic wreckage was on only its third trip since the company ... footsteps and become an underwater explorer" — for the price of $250,000 ...

  14. Here's How You Can Visit the Wreck of the Titanic—for $125,000

    OceanGate Expeditions, a company that provides well-heeled clients with once-in-a-lifetime underwater experiences, has announced a series of six trips to the Titanic via submersible in 2021. Each has space for nine paying tourists, whose $125,000 tickets will help offset the cost of the expeditions (and put a pretty penny in the pocket of ...

  15. How Much It'll Cost To Visit The Titanic In 2021

    The Titanic has captivated us since April 14, 1912, when the "unsinkable ship" collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and was lost beneath the chilly waves. She wasn't discovered until 1985, and some 36 years later, the OceanGate Titanic Survey Expedition made it possible for you to see the Titanic with your own eyes. Starting in ...

  16. The unsettling days after the Titanic submersible's demise

    At the site of the Titanic wreck, roughly 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the submersible began its two-hour-long descent of 12,500 feet below sea level.

  17. Daughter of Titanic expert killed in Titan sub implosion says ...

    Her father was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, which owns salvage rights to the famous ocean liner's wreckage. He had previously led 37 successful expeditions to the site ...

  18. Why the future of Titanic expeditions is being decided in Virginia

    More than 1,500 people died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912. The U.S. argued last year that entering the Titanic — or physically altering or disturbing the wreck — is ...

  19. Titanic expedition might get green light after company says it will not

    The U.S. government could end its legal fight against a planned expedition to the Titanic, which has sparked concerns that it would violate a law that treats the wreck as a gravesite. Kent Porter ...