Daughter of ‘Mr Titanic’ who died on doomed Titan sub reveals she hasn’t heard from OceanGate in the year since the disaster

The grieving daughter of the French explorer who died on the doomed Titan submarine says she hasn’t heard from OceanGate in the year after the disaster.

Sidonie Nargeolet’s 77-year-old father Paul-Henri Nergeolet – known as ‘Mr Titanic’ – was one of five people killed when a submarine catastrophically imploded during its ill-fated journey to the wreck of the Titanic.

Ahead of the first anniversary tomorrow, Sidonie, 40, said the company bosses behind the ill-fated expedition haven’t even bothered to contact her to express their condolences or even apologize.

The privately held American company ceased operations in July 2023, weeks after the tragedy that killed 61-year-old millionaire CEO Stockton Rush.

British billionaire Shahzada, 48, and his Rubik’s Cube fanatic son Suleman Dawood, 19, and British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding were the other three to die on board the submarine.

Speak with 60 minutes AustraliaSidonie, wearing a blue T-shirt with a picture of a deep-sea diver on the front, said: ‘[I’ve heard] nothing from them [OceanGate]. No condolences, no “we’re sorry.” Nothing.’

She agreed it was “extraordinary” not to have heard from the Washington-based company under fire.

An emotional Sidonie broke down in tears as she recalled how her hopes of finding her beloved father alive were ended when, after four days of searching, news broke that the submarine had suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’.

She wiped away a tear and said, “In a way I had hope, very small, but that he was still alive. In a way it’s harder because it’s just hope for four days [I thought] he was still alive.’

She told me Sunday Times her father died doing his favorite activity and died “healthy with his mind intact.”

When she last spoke to him when he arrived on the Polar Prince – the ship from which the submarine departed – he was “happy.”

But at 6am the next morning, she was told the Titan was missing and said she “cried for ten minutes.”

The world held its breath as the search and rescue mission began for the submarine, which had only 96 hours of oxygen left.

And on June 22, the US Coast Guard found debris on the Atlantic seabed, indicating that Titan had imploded on the same day it dived.

Mr Nargeolet came along as a deep sea guide and it was his 38th trip to the wreck of the Titanic.

In the 1990s, he left his job in the Navy to research and retrieve relics. He managed to retrieve the first items from the site, some of which he returned to their owners.

He took a total of 5,500 with him and was criticized by other explorers, but he was ‘obsessed’ and retrieved the objects to honor the memory of those who died.

Mrs Nargeolet told the Sunday Times she had gone sailing with her father in the Mediterranean before he sank it.

‘My family laughed at him. They said it looked a bit like the Titanic. I didn’t think it was funny at the time, but now…’ she told the newspaper.

His daughter slammed the company behind the submarine, saying it stopped communicating with the families after the accident.

She said, ‘That’s not normal. The least they can do is express their condolences.”

The tragedy is still under ‘active’ investigation and it later emerged that experts at the OceanGate firm had raised concerns about the submarine.

Ms Nargeolet said it is “better” that the company’s boss, Mr Rush, is gone as it would have been “hell for him to live” after the disaster involving OceanGate Expeditions, which offered the trips for $250,000.

In a disturbing interview a month before the disaster, Mr. Nargeolet said the risks to the experimental submarine did not worry him because “under that pressure you would be dead before you knew there was a problem.”

His former naval colleagues organized a ceremony for him in Toulon and a naval diving school building was named after him.

His daughter told the Sunday Times that she has cried every day for the past year, but said: ‘I think what he did was beautiful. I think it’s brave.’

The missing Titan submarine had suffered at least six previous technical problems and accidents before disappearing, it was later reported.

The Titan project’s former maritime operations director, David Lochridge, was fired from the company in 2018 after raising concerns about its safety.

Company bosses disagreed with his demands for stricter safety checks on the submarine, including “testing to prove integrity”.

The company also opted not to have the vessel ‘classified’, an industry-wide practice in which independent inspectors ensure ships meet accepted technical standards.

OceanGate suggested the search for classification could take years and would be “anathema to rapid innovation.”

Lochridge, whose role included overseeing the safety of the Titan project, had urged OceanGate to apply for classification several years ago before he was fired over a disagreement over safety controls on the vessel.

He also wanted the company to conduct a scan of Titan’s hull to “detect potential flaws” instead of “relying on acoustic monitoring” – which would only detect a problem “milliseconds before an implosion.”

In a court document filed in 2018, lawyers for the company said Lochridge’s employment was terminated because he “could not accept” their investigation and plans, including safety protocols.

OceanGate also alleged that Lochridge “wanted to get fired,” shared confidential information with others and wiped the company’s hard drive. The company said he “refused to accept the veracity of the information” about the safety of Titan’s chief engineer.

In his report he said: ‘With Cyclops 2 (Titan) being transferred from Engineering to Operations in the coming weeks, now is the time to properly address issues that could pose a safety risk to personnel.

‘Verbal communication on the main topics I have covered in my attached document has been rejected on several occasions, so I feel I must now make this report so that there is an official record.’