Descendants of Titanic victims say adventurers should stop new visits to wrecks
Relatives of passengers and crew who were on the Titanic have said the wreck should be left “in peace” following news yesterday that the five submarine passengers were killed when their vessel imploded.
More than 1,500 passengers and crew lost their lives in April 1912 after the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.
Helen Richardson, 40, of Norfolk, is the great-great-granddaughter of Christopher Arthur Shulver, a firefighter on the Titanic who survived the sinking before dying in an explosion on the RMS Adriatic, another White Star Liner, in 1922.
Speaking to MailOnline, Ms Richardson said: ‘It should be left alone. It’s a place where all those poor people lost their lives, and a tragic place even for those who survived.’
It was announced yesterday that the five wealthy passengers aboard the Titan – which was made by US company OceanGate and was on its way to see the wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean – all perished when the craft imploded.
The victims included British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet, and wealthy Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
The news came after debris from Titan was found near the Titanic’s wreckage by a remote submarine, confirming that the five men had lost their lives.
Relatives of people who died on the Titanic have said the wreck should be ‘left alone’ following news yesterday that the five submarine passengers were killed when their vessel imploded. Above: A 3D scan of the wreckage revealed by experts last month
Helen Richardson (left), 40, of Norfolk, is the great-great-granddaughter of Christopher Arthur Shulver (right), a firefighter on the Titanic who survived the sinking before being killed in an explosion on the RMS Adriatic, another White Star Liner, in 1922
OceanGate offered wealthy tourists the chance to see the Titanic for $250,000 per person.
Englishman Percy Thomas Ward, a bedroom steward on the luxury ‘unsinkable’ ship, was among those who lost their lives
A previous passenger on the same submarine that imploded said he signed a waiver that stated “three ways to die on page one.”
The deaths of the five passengers this month have raised questions about whether or not expeditions will go ahead.
Englishman Percy Thomas Ward, a bedroom steward on the luxury ‘unsinkable’ ship, was among those who lost their lives in the 1912 sinking.
His great-granddaughter Anna Roberts wrote on a Facebook group for families of victims: ‘I regret that the Titanic has become a tourist attraction. It is a graveyard and should be left with peace and respect.’
A relative of another victim urged divers to “give those poor souls eternal rest.”
Ms Richardson, who said Shulver looked ‘exactly’ like her own father, added: ‘We now have those great scans and recovered artifacts, so now we just have to be respectful. Here they were laid to rest.
‘It’s not a spectacle to go and see where people lost their lives.’
Shulver testified during the investigation into the sinking of the Titanic that he spent the entire voyage before the disaster putting out a fire in the coal bunker in one of the ship’s boiler rooms.
Anna Roberts, the great-great-granddaughter of Titanic bedroom steward Percy Ward, said: ‘I regret that the Titanic has become a tourist attraction. It is a graveyard and should be left with peace and respect’
Brett Gladstone, whose great-great-grandmother was killed on the Titanic, told Inside edition: ‘I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the exploitation of the down there.
More than a thousand people died. My great-great-grandmother’s body was never found, it’s at the bottom.
“Her soul and the souls of a thousand people remain in a kind of graveyard.”
John Locascio, whose uncles died on the Titanic, told CNN: “I compare it to looking into a grave. I mean, people died there tragically, very tragically.
“Why make it a place for people to go?
‘Why, why do you have to do that? Let the people rest.’
Shelly Binder, whose great-grandmother Leah Aks and great-uncle F. Philip Aks survived the 1912 disaster, told The sun: ‘For those who have lost relatives, they still see it as a burial place and they find it tasteless and unpleasant to go there.’
She added: “It’s horrific. And you can see the wreck without having to physically go there yourself.
“Would they really get to see much by looking out those windows?”
It comes after OceanGate’s co-founder said the rules around visits to the Titanic wreck are “tricky to navigate.”
Guillermo Sohnlein said there are rules around submersibles but they are “scarce” and “outdated” as he defended the company against critics including Titanic film director James Cameron.
‘Why, why do you have to do that? Let the people rest,’ John Locascio and his wife Angelica Harris. Locascio’s uncles, who were brothers, died in the disaster of 1912
Shelly Binder, whose great-grandmother Leah Aks and great-uncle F. Philip Aks survived the 1912 disaster, said it was “gruesome” to visit the wreck
Mr Cameron, who is himself a submarine expert and has done scuba diving, told the BBC: ‘We now have another wreck which unfortunately is based on the same principles: disregard for warnings.’
But Mr Sohnlein defended the submarine’s safety, saying he and co-founder Stockton Rush, who was aboard Titan, are committed to safety on expeditions.
He told Times Radio: ‘He was extremely committed to safety. He was also extremely diligent in managing risk and was well aware of the dangers of operating in a deep-sea environment.
“So that’s one of the main reasons I agreed to go with him in 2009.”
Mr. Sohnlein, who no longer works for the company, continues, “I know from first-hand experience that we were very committed to safety and security and risk mitigation was an important part of the company culture.”
He explained the rules for visiting the Titanic wreck and said: ‘The rules are quite brief. And many of them are outdated, or they are designed for specific cases.
“So it’s kind of tricky to navigate those regulatory schedules.”