News JVTech “I risked my life”: The waters around the Titanic are extremely dangerous, and we’ve known that for a long time
Published on 06/28/2023 at 17:05
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While the affair of the American company OceanGate’s titanium submarine is experiencing a sad and tragic epilogue, opinions about the expeditions proposed so far by the company are softening. And nobody seemed to ignore how dangerous it was to approach the Titanic.
The story of the OceanGate submarine Titan has been going around the world for the last two weeks. Experienced this tiny submersible that went down with five people on board to explore the wreckage of the Titanic a catastrophic failure that led to its implosion. All passengers died instantly.
Since the beginning of this case The reliability of the submarine is strongly questioned. Whatever the case, the lessons learned today will not bring back the victims of the tragedy. However, this is indicated by the statements of some passengers who have taken part in the expedition in recent yearsNone of them were aware of the risks involved in a stormy descent.
“I thought this might be the end”
Mike Reiss, American writer and producer, is one of the “tourists” who have participated in descents aboard Titan. This former Simpsons screenwriter had somehow resigned himself to his fate. “You sign a lengthy waiver that sort of says you could die on the journey. So when I got on the sub, I thought this could be the end. No one is caught off guard in this situation,” he told the BBC.
The most ironic part of the story is this Mike Reiss has taken part in a total of three expeditions. And during the three dives, communication between the submarine and the ship responsible for guiding it broke each time.. “It’s not necessarily a bad sign. They try out new technologies and learn along the way. »
The Mexican Youtuber Alan Estrada also felt this feeling that anything could happen. He boarded the Titan last year. “I was aware that I was risking my life, I knew what could happen,” he told El Pais. He adds that a typical expedition would likely take eight hours, consisting of two hours of descent, four hours of exploration and two hours of ascent. And According to him, everyone knew that the situation could go wrong at any time “We knew it was an experimental submersible,” he summarizes. In addition, his first reconnaissance attempt a year earlier had been canceled at the last minute due to a technical problem.
Titanic illustration by Midjourney
Exploring the Titanic is always a dangerous experience
The 3800 meter deep wreck of the Titanic fascinates for many reasons. And undoubtedly the difficult access conditions are also part of it. Reaching the wreck already requires advanced equipment, however Once there, the dive boat lies in complete darkness : Sunlight does not sink below 1000 meters under the sea, creating the so-called “midnight zone”.
Also known as the Bathypelagic Zone, diving in this space is a constant challenge for an experienced pilot. A dive lasting more than two hours in the dark inevitably leads to disorientation. Mike Reiss agrees: “We had to get to the bottom of the ocean even though we knew the Titanic was out there somewhere. But it was so dark that something that big was only about 450 meters away and we spent 90 minutes looking for it.”
Add to that the pressure of the water, which is 390 times the surface pressure at 12,000 feet, and the deep-sea currents, and it makes exploration even more difficult. In the end, one sadly concludes that previous Titan passengers were lucky to make it to the surface alive, since there are so many risky variables involved in such an expedition. A very sad conclusion, reminding how dangerous the area where the Titanic sank is.