Explorers Club president says life-saving drones to search for Titanic submarines bogged down in red tape

The president of the New York Explorers Club has accused the US government of delaying the delivery of essential equipment for the search for the missing Titanic tourist submarine.

Richard Garriott told National Geographic that he had complained to top officials about the bureaucracy that hindered the race against time.

Two of the five on board – British billionaire Hamish Harding and French Titanic expert PH Nargeolet – are members of the Explorers Club.

Other members have been working to enable deep-sea company Magellan, based in Guernsey in the British Isles, to ship its monitoring equipment to the site: Magellan has Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) that surveyed the Titanic site last year.

Still, Magellan has not obtained the necessary permits to go to the site, Garriott said.

He wrote Wednesday afternoon to Vice Admiral William Galanis, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command; U.S. Coast Guard Admiral John W. Mauger, who leads the recovery mission; Congressman Lloyd Doggett; and Representative Eric Swalwell, who urged them to allow Magellan to the site.

“Magellan has received mixed signals, first hearing from the US government to prepare, waiting for plans — then being told to step down,” Garriott wrote.

The U.S. Coast Guard did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

Garriott told National Geographic that even with only 24 hours of air left, it was vital to keep fighting to find the missing submarine.

“Whatever is the right thing to do, we still have to do it, even if it is now on the verge of death,” he said.

The Magellan Argus-class ROVs can deploy to 6,000 meters (19,700 feet) and are equipped with external arms that can retrieve and lift Titan.

They could be delivered to the site within 16 hours.

Instead of Magellan’s ROVs, the US Navy has sent its Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System, which was used in March to retrieve an F-35 from 12,400 feet of water.

But Garriott said there are fears that Navy equipment will crush the capsule.

“The concern is that the big scooper will crush the hull, because it would be nearly impossible to get into the mud underneath without putting pressure on the hull itself,” Garriott said.

Instead, a 6,000-foot working-class ROV has the option of connecting directly to the point on the top of the submarine.

“It’s a traditional method and people like Magellan have done it time and time again. It’s the way it’s designed to happen.”

Garriott’s concerns about the bureaucratic hurdles echo those from Monday OceanGate consultant David Concannon.

‘We have to move. We don’t have minutes or hours. We have to move now,’ he said.

‘This equipment has been on the asphalt for hours.

“When I communicate with the US government, I get ‘out of office’ replies – not from everyone, but from key people who approve.”

He told NewsNation, “That’s unacceptable.”

Concannon, who has previously led an expedition and made multiple dives to the Titanic site, was said to be the expert on OceanGate’s trip to the wreck on Sunday — but a customer emergency kept him ashore.

He said every minute counted in the race to find and retrieve the submarine.

“If we fly the resources overnight from the Channel Islands of Guernsey, we can have them mobilized on the ship in a day and we can get there within the window.

“Now it’s at the end of the window, but we can get inside the window where there’s still oxygen in the submarine, and that’s what we want to do.”