In 2007, millionaire and swashbuckling adventurer Steve Fossett’s private jet went missing over the Nevada range, followed by the longest and most expensive rescue operation in America’s history. Titan’s tragic ending has brought back the horror of Fossett’s unexplained disappearance.
These incidents involving the wealthy adventurers have raised a few burning questions:
- Are these really accidents or there is ‘HAND’ behind the mysterious ending?
- Who will pay the bill for robust and expensive search and rescue operations?
James Cameroon’s Prophecy
Titanic director James Cameroon has dropped a truth bomb by saying that he knew about the submarine’s implosion by Monday. Amidst the news of massive hunt for the submarine pouring in, Cameroon was confident that all these would go into vain as the passengers of the submersible had already been dead. More search and research are likely to be conducted to find out the remains of the submersible and how it happened but the truth is it will invite heavy costs and still, nothing will come out.
A mystery buried forever in the deep ocean!
The Tragic Story of Titan
In recent past, common people are becoming familiar with the daredevil side of many billionaires. From exploring the bottom of the deep ocean to climbing the peaks to blasting off for space, the wealthy travellers are leaving no stone unturned to satisfy their adrenalin rush.
Titan, a submarine owned by OceanGate, an American travel and adventure business organization carried five passengers on an excursion to see the remains of Titanic. The luxurious ship sank in the Atlantic on 15 April, 1912 after colliding with an iceberg on its debut voyage. The deep-sea expedition started off the coast of Newfoundland but unfortunately, lost the communication within 1 hour and 45 minutes and never resurfaced as planned.
The US Coast Guard along with deep sea water experts from the UK, Canada and France started an international rescue effort. However, the US Coast Guard confirmed on 28June that no traveller had survived after the catastrophic implosion of the submarine deep in the North Atlantic. The incident happened 690km (370 nautical miles) off the coast of Newfoundland.
The heart-rending and chilling incident stirred controversies all over the world and also evoked emotions while raising some questions about safety of the passengers taking part in such deep-sea excursions.
List of Passengers
Paul-Henri Nargeolet: He worked in the French Navy for 22 years and was promoted to the rank of commander. He was popularly called “Mr. Titanic” for his immense knowledge of the ship.
Stockton Rush: He was the British entrepreneur and adventure enthusiast. Rush was the founder and CEO of the OceanGate since its inception in 2009.
Hamish Harding: Harding served as the chairman of Action Aviation, an aviation sales and consultancy firm.
Shahzada Dawood: The industrialist of Pakistani descent was the vice chairman of Engro, a Pakistani energy investment company and Dawood Hercules Corp, the investment and holding company.
Suleman Dawood: The son of Shahzada Dawood was only 19 years old and a college student.
What Went Wrong?
According to experts, Titan sunk due to a massive explosion. Such kind of explosion occurs when a huge pressure is built on the interior, so much so, that it sustains heavy damage and eventually stops functioning.
Paul White, an expert in acoustics and underwater pressure at the University of Southampton in England, claims that the deep-sea forces are responsible for the tragedy. At a depth of approximately 12, 500 feet, the submarine had to withstand a total of 6, 000 pressure on every inch of its exterior surface (where the water pressure is about 400 times more at the ocean’s surface) before giving away finally.
Stefan Williams, a professor of marine robotics at the University of Sydney, claims that a defect in the submarine’s hull may have caused the implosion as the ship failed to resist the intense pressure.
Extreme Oceanic Pressure Poses a Challenge
The extreme pressure is one of the biggest risks for deep-sea expeditions. If the balance between the inside pressure and outside pressure gets lost, which happened in case of Titan, it causes explosion. Deep down in the ocean, a submarine has to withstand an increasing pressure of water and if a point reaches where the exterior pressure is more than the interior one, the vessel explodes.
All of us have seen how an empty soda can is easy to crush. It can explain the sudden and tragic ending of Titan. A severe imbalance of pressure difference may cause havoc and Titan was just a trailer of what might go wrong if simple technicalities are not addressed.
Some people have a question why Titanic did not implode while sinking. The answer lies in its design. The ship had air compartments. When it gradually descended, the air compartments got filled with water. Gradual pressure change always maintained a balance between inside and outside pressure and thus, prevented rapid implosion.
Titan was a sealed vessel and so went down rapidly. Given the high speed of the descent, it was a tough challenge to increase the inside pressure of the vessel at the same rate as the outside pressure, failing which caused the inside pressure to build up and exceed the structural limit of Titan.
Was There Any Security Concern before Titan Expedition?
David Lochridge served as the director of OceanGate. In 2018, he presented a quality control report to CEO Stockton Rush who has lost his life in Titan implosion. Lochridge minced no words pointing out the technical problems of the submersible and claiming that these could pose a severe danger to passengers.
Lochridge claimed to have conveyed his concerns via conversations but it fell on deaf years and finally, he decided to come up with a report so that there would be an official record of the details that needed to be addressed.
He talked about the “visible flaws” in the carbon fibre, which, Lochrige was sure, would cause large tears during “pressure cycling”. It was inevitable for the submersible to experience huge pressure changes after going down and from the deep ocean floor. Carbon fibre, being lighter than steel, helps with buoyancy but is not good enough at withstanding pressure 2 miles under the sea.
He even went out to claim about “prevalent flaws” in a previously tested scale model of the hull. He recommended meticulous testing of the hull but the company was not willing and instead, asserted that Titan’s fancy acoustic system could recognize the small tears in the hull and therefore, passengers will have time to resurface. The authority made light of his findings and even terminated his job.
