Staff Reports
Have you ever wanted to see the wreckage of the Titanic? Well, for the oh-so-wealthy price tag of $250,000 per seat, you could have–that is, until now. OceanGate Expeditions, a private company that usually charters trips to explore the wreckage with research teams, made a catastrophic blunder when they lost contact with one of their 21-foot submersibles. This submersible and its five-person team were from the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince and started their dive early Sunday morning. Regrettably, they lost contact with the vessel after an hour and 45 minutes.
Missing Tourist Submersible Might Be Caught in Titanic Wreckage https://t.co/CsWsUmKPJf
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 20, 2023
Though there is no confirmation of whether any tourism passengers were on board the deceased submersible, it’s pretty obvious this was a luxury item aimed towards the well-off. Unfortunately, the private company’s stock plummeted after a few too many bad investments, and now they can’t even get their submersibles back up from the depths of the ocean. What a shame!
Speaking of the depths, turns out life can be challenging down there. This high-priced hoity-toity luxury experience comes with some hidden and pretty serious problems. First off, each full dive to the wreck takes around eight hours, which is just way too long for a simple adventure. Not only that, but there’s no way to communicate with the vessel once it goes too deep. Oh sure, short text messages can be sent back and forth when the support ship is directly over the sub, but they’re basically just sent out to the void.
David Pogue, a CBS reporter who travelled in the Titan submersible last year, spoke up about the situation, showing his empathy for the situation. He brings up a great point, “there’s no way” to communicate with the sub, because neither GPS nor radio “work under water.” The passengers are uncomfortably sealed inside the vessel by bolts that can only be applied from the outside. That means there really is no way to make it out without other people on the outside letting you out. Yikes!
So remember, even if you’re one of the elites that can afford to pay a quarter of a million bucks for some deep-sea diving treat, it might not be worth it in the end. Not only is it a lengthy and impractical undertaking, but, when things go pear-shaped, there’s no real escape plan. Ultimately, this catastrophe shows that there’s just no safe way to act on those reckless bucket-list desires, no matter how many dollars you’ve got.
