The inner ward feeling derived from an enclosed vessel known as the Titan submersible en route to the Titanic ruins on the ocean floor excites many individuals but their particular participation in it is what changes the whole narrative in the minds of many people in the world. Since Africans are the most religious, they highly believe the deep ocean is a sacred ground for souls lost in the most chaotic shipwreck in history hence things down there should be left as it is and not frequently visited. We all are very much aware of how the Titanic sank after the ship’s sides struck an iceberg a few meters on its journey leading to that unfortunate disaster.
Since the recent OceanGate tragedy which killed 5 people, many have taken onto various platforms to share their opinions about this sad development. The joy ride or exploration event was something that had been going on for years thus the OceanGate issue was just eye-opening for many who lacked the knowledge of how these things worked. This piece however seeks to pinpoint some factual reasons why the idea of this joy ride was not a good idea.
The first point I will make will be about the overly priced rate or fee taken from explorers and tourists. Now before anyone can embark on this journey, an amount of 250k each is taken from participants as a fee for the dive. Too many people felt that amount was just too excessive for just a single dive however what many don’t know is that the same amount was taken from a woman back in 2018 who embarked on this journey successfully. This woman was said to have saved up or used her entire life savings for this dream to be fulfilled and guess who the company was, OceanGate. She descended into the Atlantic Ocean with the CEO by her side and documented the whole process hence she got value from her money. So this huge sum of money was assumed by many of these online netizens to be the first of its kind hence the amount never made sense to any of them in the initial place. It was pricey to say the least
The vast literature about the Titanic available at their disposal is what I will tackle next. Many companies have constructed operational submarines after the Titanic sank, mostly to examine its deep-rooted body parts strewn throughout the water. For this reason, many people thought they could have stayed to experience its enigmatic atmosphere. kids asserted that kids could even devote a whole day to learning about the Titanic’s morals and highly contagious stories. The majority of the viewers of the Oscar-winning Titanic movie questioned the five crew members about why their interpretation of events did not excite them sufficiently, even though Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, two young actors at the time, gave excellent performances. The movie though fictionalized with love had the most delicate moments of what happened on the gigantic ship on that cold night. The best part to them was that it was filmed by high-end cameras making it one of the best films to be made in the 21st century. To me, the billionaires could just binge-watch the movie together and equally have had the same satisfaction.
Also, the pre-contractual agreement signed by the Billionaires with OceanGate was spooky to me. Now as I indicated earlier, this was not a mere firm going for mere dives. The firm had been established back in 2009 and had been having major explorations before this moment so fans hearing about the agreement signed amongst the billionaires that clearly stated or indicated that things could go wrong on the trip that could even lead to death was wild to them. Many spaces were held on Twitter to try and understand the reasons why they embarked on this. Many countered these claims indicating that they were all explorers hence they did this to experience this one-off experience and there was nothing wrong with it. Widespread confusion occurred when one of the Crew members by the name of Paul-Henri Nargeolet was reported to have seen the wreck of the Titanic, a record 37 times already. Many were astonished by his bravery yet again felt he should have taken a break from his obsessions with the possessions of the ocean. With this, they debated that no one knew of the risks than the French explorer himself and that tragedy was not what he signed up for. Many well-known figures, like David Pogue, who successfully descended to the ocean floor to examine the Titanic, have suggested that the design also contributed to the submersible becoming lost and failing to find the ship.
The structure or design of Titan submersible. This was one of the reasons why I found this journey worrisome. Per sources from oceanic firms and even from the Firm OceanGate itself, the Titan was made of carbon fiber and titanium. Though per the firm’s claims in 2023 that the submarine was designed and engineered by experts from NASA, Boeing, and the University of Washington, it did not live up to its utmost expectations. Others hinted in 2022 a production from Atlantic production was swept under the rug when it deemed Rush’s submersible dangerous for the shoot. Many well-known figures, like David Pogue, who successfully descended to the ocean floor to examine the Titanic, have suggested that the design also contributed to the submersible becoming lost and failing to find the ship.
Also, another Billionaire before their tragedy was offered to pay half of the 250 million for him and his son for this same joy ride which he declined over safety concerns. This to me was enough reason for the occupants to avoid the mission to the Titanic this year. Others claimed in the coming days that Rush had told Bloom that his joy ride to the Titanic was safer than crossing the street apparently
The poor weather conditions and high oceanic waves were red flags too. Due to the inconsistent nature of the weather conditions in the Atlantic, they could have rescheduled the trip. They said this based on the weather review of one billionaire named Hamish Harding a day after the tragedy. To them, they had read a Facebook post from the British man indicating that it was the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years. Hardish also claimed that this was the first mission to the Titanic in 2023 hence despite a weather window opening, Hardish should have stopped the whole process of attempting a dive the next day. Most believe the weather played a key part in the eventual disappearance of the submersible because communication between the Titan and the Polar Prince was perfectly held every 15 minutes of the descent after the trip had begun around 04:00 EDT. They narrowed it down that things went bad when the weather began to act funny leading to the break in communication. Another reason has been discussed by experts as another viable cause leading to this tragedy sadly. In the wake of the tragedy, many people or figures have come out to criticize the safety protocols ignored by the CEO and have revealed that they all did their best to avoid this from happening to him and his mission members.
So our hard-felt condolences to the 5 deceased people or crew on the Titan. They were Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman Dawood, Paul-Hernri Nargeolet, and the owner or CEO of OceanGate Inc. Stockton Rush. According to the aunt of Suleman, he wanted to abort the mission but hated the idea of disappointing his father who equally thought it was a great idea to bond with his son. Hopefully, in the future, the right materials will be used for the submersible, and also right safety protocols with accredited certifications will be issued to ocean diving firms like OceanGate. For now, the future of deep-sea exploration hangs in the balance with explorers and lovers of this venture widely shaken by this.