According to one report, the US Navy heard the likely sound of the tourist submersible Titanic imploding shortly after it was reported missing – and yet a massive rescue operation was launched and families remained nervous.
Shortly after the Titan submarine was reported missing, the Navy began wiretapping the area where the Titan submarine last made contact with the mother ship.
Contact was lost at 9:45 a.m. Sunday – an hour and 45 minutes after the start of the descent.
“The U.S. Navy was conducting an analysis of the acoustic data and discovered an anomaly attributable to an implosion or explosion near the Titan sub’s deployment site when communications were lost,” said a senior U.S. Navy official to the Wall Street Journal in a statement.
“While this information is not definitive, it was immediately shared with the operations commander to assist in the ongoing search and rescue mission.”
The noise was noted Thursday in an area where the submarine’s wreckage was located.
The Titan submersible is seen being towed into the sea on Saturday before making its final descent on Sunday morning
The submersible Titon is pictured descending. It is the only five-person submarine capable of reaching the Titanic
The US Navy did not want to reveal the name of the secret monitoring system, citing national security concerns.
Earlier Thursday, Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said it was too early to say if the implosion occurred at the time of last communication.
But it wasn’t detected by sonar buoys used by search parties, he said, suggesting it happened before they arrived – and was indeed heard by the US Navy.
“We had listening devices in the water the entire time and couldn’t hear any sign of a catastrophic failure from them,” Mauger said.
“The implosion would have produced a distinct, broadband noise that the sonar buoys would have picked up.”
It is not known why the US Navy did not disclose the information about the probable implosion. It is also not known if they informed the families of their analysis.
One reason could be that they wanted to start a search and rescue mission, hoping their information was wrong and didn’t want to give a reason why they should be put off from the search.
As of Wednesday morning, in addition to the mother ship, the Polar Prince, three vessels were at the scene: Canadian Coast Guard vessel John Cabot, a vessel with sonar capabilities; and two merchant ships – Skandi Vinland and Atlantic Merlin.
A Coast Guard C-130 crew continued the aerial search.
On Wednesday evening, the Coast Guard said at least five other vessels were en route to the search zone: Canadian CGS Ann Harvey, Canadian CGS Terry Fox, motor vessel Horizon Arctic and French research vessel L’Atalante, as well as a Canadian vessel Glace Bay, the has a mobile decompression chamber and medical staff.
They should also receive an ROV (Remotely Operating Vehicle) from the British deep-sea company Magellan.
And as the fleet raced to the search zone, the US Navy knew the five passengers were in all likelihood killed instantly at 9:45 a.m. Sunday.
The victims are OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61; Paul-Henri (PH) Nargeolet, French Navy veteran, 77; British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58; Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 41; and his son Suleman, who was just 19 years old.
It would have been instant death for the men, some of whom had paid $250,000 each to see the famous shipwreck.
It’s a heavy blow to their families, experts say, and there’s little prospect of their remains being recovered.
“It’s an incredibly harsh environment down there.” “The debris suggests a catastrophic implosion of the ship,” said Paul Hankin, a deep-sea expert involved in the search.
“We’ll continue to work and search the area down there – but I don’t have an answer as to who might be interested at this time.”
Five people were on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is in the submarine with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of OceanGate Expedition
In a heartbreaking tribute, Richard Garriott, president of the Explorers Club, to which both Harding and Nargeolet belonged, said the men were drawn to research “in the name of meaningful science for the good of mankind.”
“Our hearts are broken. “I am so sorry to share this tragic news,” Garriott said.
He said the club is “grateful to all of our members and the scientific and research community around the world who have mobilized personnel and resources to support search and rescue.”
Garriott described Harding as a “dear friend” to himself and the club.
“He holds multiple world records and has continued to push dragons off the map, both personally and through his support of expeditions and charities,” he wrote.
“We are heartbroken for the families, friends and colleagues of the deceased.” “Their memories will be a blessing and continue to inspire us on behalf of science and research,” said Garriott.
The wreckage was discovered yesterday by the Odysseus 6K, the Horizon Arctic’s remote-controlled submarine. The ROV can dive to depths of 20,000 feet
Titanic director James Cameron went on air shortly after the Coast Guard announced the news and said he was “dismayed” by the similarities between the disaster and the ocean liner’s sinking in 1912.
“I am struck by the resemblance to the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned of the ice ahead of his ship and yet he crashed into the ice field at full speed on a moonless night and many people died as a result,” Cameron said to ABC News.
“I’ve been down there many times. I know the wreck site very well. “I understand the technical issues involved in building this type of vehicle and all the safety protocols,” he added.
“This is a mature art and many people in the community were concerned about the sub.”
He added, “It’s absolutely critical that people really take a message home from that.”
Cameron’s pointed message comes after it was revealed that OceanGate boss Rush had been warned years earlier that his “experimental approach” could lead to disaster – and in another interview he spoke of “breaking the rules” to save the U – boat to build.
In addition to the ship’s landing frame and rear cover, which were the first pieces of debris to be discovered, the ROV submarine also found fragments of the pressure hull – the main body of the submersible.
In its own statement, OceanGate said, “These men were true explorers who shared a strong spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.”
“Our hearts go out to these five souls and each member of their families at this tragic time. We mourn the loss of life and the joy they brought to all who knew them.”
The company added, “This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and deeply saddened by this loss.”
“The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful to the countless men and women from numerous organizations in the international community who have contributed extensive resources and worked so hard on this mission.”
“We appreciate their dedication to finding these five explorers and their tireless work day and night to support our crew and their families.”
“This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community and for all family members of those who died at sea.”
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger announced the men’s deaths at a news conference in Boston on Thursday. “The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the hyperbaric chamber.” Upon making this determination, we immediately notified the families. “On behalf of the Coast Guard and all of Combined Command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.”
In this U.S. Coast Guard handout, a Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. Hercules aircraft HC-130 overflies the French research vessel L’Atalante about 900 miles east of Cape during the search for the 21-foot submersible Titan Cod, June 21, 2023 over the Atlantic Ocean
Flotilla of Hope: Ten ships from the US, Canada and France rushed to the Titanic wreck earlier this week to help with the search
“We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected at this extremely painful time.”
Earlier, David Mearns, who was a friend of two of the men on board, said the “only saving grace” for the men was how quickly their deaths would have occurred.
The world had been praying for a “miracle” after rescuers estimated vital oxygen supplies would end at 7.08am EST (12.08pm UK time, 9.09pm Sydney) on Thursday.
Officials said the field was found by Odysseus 6k, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by Canadian ship Horizon Arctic, which can dive 20,000 feet underwater.
A glimmer of hope came yesterday when the Coast Guard confirmed P-3 aircraft had consistently picked up “popping” noises, but search teams were unable to locate the source of the noise or confirm that they were SOS signals acted that the world had hoped for.
The families of the five men on board the submarine have not yet publicly responded to news of the wreckage being found.
Experts have been warning for days of the possibility that Titan leaked and imploded under pressures 400 times those at sea level.
“They would be dead before they even knew anything had happened,” L. David Marquet, a retired Navy nuclear submarine commander, said earlier this week.
The submersible’s oxygen should theoretically have run out by 8 a.m. EST (1 p.m. BST) Thursday, according to the 96-hour limit listed in OceanGate’s vessel specifications.
The Titan submerged at 8:00 a.m. (1:00 p.m. BST) and lost communications at 9:45 (2:45 p.m.) but was not reported missing to the US Coast Guard until 5:40 p.m. (10:40 p.m.).
The submarine was scheduled to return to Polar Prince at 3:00 p.m. EST (8:00 p.m. BST) on Sunday.
Since Sunday evening, there has been a desperate international effort to find it and rescue the men on board.
This is how Titan could have been rescued by the French ship if found tactfully. Experts now believe it likely imploded long before help arrived
Royal Air Force A400M Atlas aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth prepares to take off