In St. John’s, the Newfoundland coastal town where the Titan Five’s journey began, residents and tourists alike have woken up to a new grim reality, with hopes that the crew will return alive.
Craig Tiernan, 23, took puffs on a cigarette Thursday morning as he gazed at the harbor, where the explorers departed Friday aboard the ship Polar Prince.
“I woke up thinking about the crew and wondering if they are still alive,” Tiernan, who works at a local supermarket in the county seat, told DailyMail.com.
“It is a very sad morning for the people on board and for their families. I feel like I’m grieving with all of them.
“I was quite hopeful yesterday when I heard that noises might be coming from the submarine. I’d like to be hopeful now, but I don’t think there’s any hope left.
“It’s hard to face reality. They’re not coming back.’
St. John’s local Craig Tiernan tells DailyMail.com he woke up Thursday morning thinking of the missing Titan crew with little hope that they will return alive
French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet (left) and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush are among those trapped on the submarine
Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman are also on board, along with British billionaire Hamish Harding
“It’s scary to think about it,” Tiernan continued. “They could barely move while all this was happening. I’m sure as soon as they lost a signal they said ‘oh my god.’
‘That’s torture. You are 4,000 feet below sea level and out of air. It’s like something you experience in nightmares.’
Tiernan added that the situation is particularly tragic given that the submarine has made several successful expeditions in the past.
“I feel sorry for them all,” Tiernan said. ‘This was not the intention. Last year and the year before, OceanGate had already successfully descended to the Titanic.
“They were confident, they paid a lot of money, a quarter of a million dollars to go down. If I had the money, I’d love to go and see the Titanic in real life. That is amazing.
Brian Smith, 66, of Saskatchewan, spoke to DailyMail.com on Thursday as he visited the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist to pray for the missing crew
“I never thought this would happen,” he said. “I’m not sure I would do it now.”
Brian Smith, 66, who visited St. John’s from Saskatchewan with his wife Sharon, stopped by St. John the Baptist’s Anglican Cathedral on Thursday morning.
“I have offered a silent prayer for the crew and I pray for peace for their families,” he told DailyMail.com. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in that submarine.
“It’s a bit like Apollo 13,” he said. “But on Apollo 13, they tried to do something. Here it was all tourists, so it’s different.’
“If they’re not found, you almost wish they caused a leak or something, because then they say it’s instant death,” he said. “It’s a horror to think about.”
John Mercer, 63, gazed out at the ocean from a park bench.
“It’s a sad situation, especially sad for the families,” Mercer told DailyMail.com. ‘I think it’s a shame. I don’t think they should have been there. You only go down a bit.
“And you could just turn on a documentary on the Discovery Channel to see it. Being here doesn’t make it any different. It’s not worth the chance to put your life in danger.”
Earlier this week, St. John’s was the scene of a frantic effort to get underwater vehicles and heavy equipment to the search area.
Three U.S. Air Force C-17 planes landed at the airport on Tuesday and unloaded equipment onto waiting flatbed trucks, which were transported through the city with a police escort.
The missing OceanGate submarine, the Titan, lost contact with the mother ship on its descent to the shipwreck on Sunday morning
Ten ships are on their way to the wreckage of the Titanic to try and find the missing submarine as the oxygen supply dwindles to just 20 hours
This image shared by the US Coast Guard is the first from the search site, some 900 miles off the US coast. It depicts Deep Energy, a rescue ship that has deployed remote-controlled submarines to search for the Titan underwater
It was taken to the waiting Horizon Atlantic ship, which is owned by the same company that owns the Polar Prince, the ship that took out the Titan and its crew.
The equipment included at least one ROV, or remote-controlled vehicle, capable of going down 19,000 feet, deep enough to reach the Titanic’s wreckage.
There was also a giant cable reel, two heavy generators and a twin winch with a combined weight of 12,000 kg, enough to raise the Titan.
The Horizon Atlantic left St. John’s at 5 a.m. Wednesday, followed a few hours later by the Terry Fox, a Canadian Coast Guard ship also loaded with supplies and equipment.
The journey to the Titanic wreckage, which is 900 miles off Cape Cod, would take an estimated 15 hours, meaning they would only have a few hours left before the Titan ran out of oxygen.
Earlier on Thursday, DailyMail.com revealed that the crew of the missing submarine stopped into a local café just before their fateful adventure.
After waiting days for the weather to break, they seemed thrilled that the fog had lifted Friday morning. They entered the Terre Café around 8 a.m. Friday, staff there told DailyMail.com exclusively.
“Before they left on their last expedition, some of the crew came in here and ordered a bunch of coffee before they left,” barista James Law, 27, said Wednesday from the same café where he served them fresh-ground coffee.
“They said they were looking forward to a good expedition. And a few of them seemed to be in a hurry. They were a little behind schedule. That was the first day that there was a lull in the fog for a while. They were in a hurry to go. They were excited to go,” Law said.
The submarine Titan began its dive to the wreckage of the Titanic, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, on Sunday morning.
John Mercer said he thinks the crew should never have gone on an expedition because it’s “not worth putting your life in danger”
“They said they were looking forward to a good expedition. And a few of them seemed to be in a hurry,” said barista James Law, 27. ‘They were excited to go’
The crew of the missing Titan submarine stopped by their hotel cafe just before their fateful adventure
Hours later, the main ship lost contact with the crew of five. The news came out Sunday evening after they were reported missing and oxygen supplies were running low.
A flotilla of international rescue ships is now steaming towards the Titanic rescue site to try and locate the missing submarine.
Boats from France, Canada and the US Navy race to the site with the only specialized equipment in the world capable of making the 12,500 foot dive to try and find the missing ship.
The submarine lost communication with its operator, OceanGate Expeditions, less than two hours after its dive to the famed shipwreck.
A glimmer of hope lit up the bleak search yesterday when the Coast Guard announced that “thumping” noises had been detected underwater.
It remains unclear whether the thump came from the submarine, but it has now become the ‘focus’ of the mission.
Some experts say the fact that the sounds were even detected could suggest the submarine is closer to the surface than initially feared.
The US Coast Guard insisted on Thursday that they still hope to find the five adventurers alive despite the forecast running out of oxygen – as the co-founder of the company that organized the trip insisted rescuers “have longer than we think.”
The world is now praying for a ‘miracle’ after rescuers estimated that the vital oxygen supply would end at 07:08 EST (12:08 GMT and 21:08 Sydney).