Tourists who pay $250,000 to descend nearly 13,000 feet below sea level to view the Titanic’s wreckage must sign a waiver accepting that the submarine has not been approved by any regulatory body.
OceanGate Expeditions was founded in 2009 to take wealthy explorers to the ship, which hit an iceberg in 1912 and sank. The wreck was not located until 1985 when it was found 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Tourists have been visiting it for decades, often in immensely strong but internally rudimentary submersibles.
But those boarding the submarine will be required to sign a waiver stating, “This experimental craft has not been approved or certified by any regulatory agency and may result in bodily harm, emotional trauma or death.”
The OceanGate submarine was designed by the company to travel nearly 4,000 feet below sea level to the wreckage of the Titanic — but “is not approved or certified by any regulatory body and could result in physical harm, emotional trauma or death.”
David Pogue, a CBS journalist, can be seen in the submarine. He descended last year to see the Titanic
The submarine’s controller comes from a video game handset
David Pogue, CBS News Sunday correspondent, took part in an OceanGate expedition last year and spoke about his experience in November.
“I was struck by how many parts of this submarine seemed improvised, with ready-made components,” he said.
“Controlling the craft is done with a video game controller.”
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — who is believed to be one of five people aboard the missing submarine — told Pogue the ship was designed with help from NASA, Boeing and a team from the University of Washington.
It was last heard from on Sunday morning, an hour and 45 minutes after its mission.
Reaching the wreck usually takes two and a half hours.
As of Monday afternoon, the submarine had 96 hours of air left, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
But fears are growing that the submarine may have imploded or sank to the sea floor and became trapped. No Coast Guard vessel can reach the seabed at those depths.
This is the latest sighting of the submarine Titan, which launched on Sunday. It can be seen in a photo shared by Hamish Harding’s company. He and the four others on board remain missing
The submarine is seen before starting its expedition
The Boston Coast Guard is now searching for the missing ship. The wreck of the iconic ship lies 12,500 feet underwater, about 370 miles from Newfoundland, Canada
OceanGate Expeditions is one of the few companies that offers the tours. Tickets cost up to $250,000.
The crew dived to the ocean floor to investigate the Titanic’s wreckage
Pogue said Monday he was told there were seven ballasts the submarine could jettison to float to the top.
“Or they’re floating on the surface and have no power,” he told Chris Cuomo on NewsNation.
“Or something happened that wiped out all seven of those ballasts.
“Or the really awful possibility is that the capsule developed a leak and they’ll be dead in a fraction of a second.”
Pogue said the expeditions were incredibly risky.
The submersible is made of carbon fiber and titanium, built to withstand the intense pressure under the sea – about 6,000 lbs per inch. It is equipped to communicate with the mothership via SMS.
When Pogue was aboard the mothership, the submarine below him lost orientation on the sea floor and was unable to locate the wreck – despite the mothership sending down messages telling the submarine to turn left or right or straight ahead.
The mother ship, MV Polar Prince, departed Newfoundland on Saturday for the site above the Titanic wreckage, 370 miles away
Pogue said the submarines were amazingly simple inside.
“These submarines are a one-off,” he told Cuomo.
“They are jerry rigged sometimes. The lamps he bought at camperworld.
com, something like that.
“They’re all like that—James Cameron’s, all of them.”
For the 1997 film “Titanic,” Cameron made 12 dives to the shipwreck, developing deep-sea filmmaking and exploration technology. He has made a total of 33 dives to the site.
Pogue said any attempt to reach the site was incredibly dangerous.
“This company does several expeditions a year, parked over the Titanic for five days each,” Pogue told Cuomo.
‘Usually they come to the site once or not at all.
“Sometimes twice a week, but never five times, because the conditions are never right.”
The mother ship, MV Polar Prince, departed Newfoundland on Saturday for the site above the Titanic wreckage, 370 miles away.
The submarine launched in the early hours of Sunday.
On board were British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, 58; French Navy Veteran PH Nargeolet; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. The other two occupants have not been named.
In an interview last year, Rush said CBS news that he was “a very unusual company.”
He added, “It’s its own category. It’s a new kind of travel.’
He said their customers were a range of people.
“We have customers who are Titanic enthusiasts, who we call Titaniacs.
“We’ve had people take out a mortgage on their house to come and make the trip. And we have people who don’t think long about a trip of this cost. We had a gentleman who won the lottery.’
The submarine – it is not a submarine, because it is not independent and depends on a mother ship – lost contact with the mother ship an hour and 45 minutes after its descent.
Analysts think it could have lost power, or sunk and perhaps got stuck on the wreck. Some initially suggested it may have surfaced and floated without power, but that seems increasingly distant.