Titanic historian whose relatives survived disaster calls for an end to tourist trips

A Titanic historian whose great-grandmother and great-uncle survived the disaster more than 100 years ago has called for an end to the “tasteless and unpleasant” journeys to visit the doomed ship.

Shelley Binder condemned deep-sea tourism trips to the Titanic’s ‘grave site’ after five men died instantly last week when an OceanGate submarine suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ en route to the 1912 shipwreck.

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.

Ms Binder, whose great-grandmother Leah Aks and great-uncle F. Phillip Aks were among the 700 or so survivors of the Titanic disaster, said it was a ‘miracle’ she was here today, but the bodies of some families were never recovered and it is their ‘final resting place’.

“For those families… they find it tasteless and unpleasant to go there,” she said The American sun.

Ms. Binder is certain that her great-grandmother and great-uncle would not have approved the $250,000 per head trip to visit the shipwreck – a view shared by many other relatives of Titanic passengers.

She said, “My gut feeling is [that my great-grandmother] wouldn’t be in favor of it. She died in 1967, so she probably couldn’t comprehend such an idea.

“But would she approve? No. Her experience on the Titanic greatly influenced her for the rest of her life. She was completely devastated by this [and] tormented by this.

“And I know my great-uncle wasn’t in favor of it. When they found the Titanic in 1985, he said to me, “I wish they would just leave the ship alone.”

Her great-uncle was only 10 months old when he was separated from his mother in the early morning hours of April 15 when the ocean liner collided with an iceberg and began to sink.

Somehow, the pair ended up on the same lifeboat – the Carpathia – and were reunited in the ship’s hospital wing.

Ms Binder added that those who lost loved ones on the Titanic see the wreck as a mass cemetery rather than a tourist attraction.

She described the disaster as a “horrific” incident in which men, women and children died “in the most painful way.” She added that you can see the wreckage without having to physically go 12,500 feet deep into the Atlantic Ocean.

The retired professor continued, “Would they really get to see much by looking out those windows?” Why don’t you just put a huge pit in your backyard and burn $250,000 and watch the 8k footage of the wreck they recently put online?’

Relatives of both survivors and fatalities who were passengers on the doomed ocean liner have joined forces to tell MailOnline that they share the same view that those who died in 1912 should be left alone.

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 last week, 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.’

Meanwhile, Meme Bell, whose relative Sam Williams was a stoker firefighter who died on the Titanic, told this paper: “It should be left alone now… It’s not a tourist attraction, it’s a graveyard… Let them rest in peace. ‘

Born in Southampton in 1884, Mr Williams was unmarried and left behind a pregnant friend who named her son Sam in his honour.

Marilyn Furze, whose great-uncle was a ship’s steward, added: ‘This is the resting place of my great-uncle Alfred John Harding of Southampton. I think it should be left alone.’

He was the son of Alfred John Harding and Mabel Alice Stainer, both of whom were from Hampshire.

And Ellie Bryant said, “My husband’s great-grandfather rests with the ship at the bottom of the sea. First Class Passenger John Bradley Cummings. Let him.’

Born in Boston in 1872, Mr Cummings was married to Florence Briggs Thayer – who was also on the Titanic when it began to sink. They were both part of the group of first class passengers who were taken to Lifeboat 4. Mr Cummings told his wife he would follow in a later boat, but he did not survive.

It comes as the US Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the submarine implosion of the submarine Titan, which disappeared last Sunday, and has not ruled out human remains being found – while also suggesting the probe could lead to criminal charges.

Captain Jason Neubauer, who is leading the US Coast Guard’s investigation into the ship’s implosion, said they are in contact with the families of the five people who died and that investigators “are taking all precautions at the scene if we encounter a human being.” remains.’

The US Coast Guard said last Thursday that all five people aboard the submarine had died after the ship suffered a “catastrophic implosion.”

Vice Admiral John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District, confirmed that the Coast Guard has established a Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) into “the loss of the submarine and the five people on board.”

He added: “The MBI is also responsible for the accountability aspects of the incident and may make recommendations to the appropriate authorities to impose civil or criminal sanctions if necessary.”

After the devastating incident, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush has come under fire for chasing a wealthy client to support his expedition as he struggled to make a profit.

Insiders say Rush, who died on board, used his powers of persuasion to avoid customers being turned away for safety reasons by respected figures in the investigative community, The Times reports.

Patrick Lahey, president of Triton submarines, told the newspaper, “He could even convince someone who knew and understood the risks…it was really quite predatory.”

A confident innovator, Rush has never sought certification or classification for his craft. He insisted regulators couldn’t keep up with his technology.

His combination of a carbon fiber cylindrical hull with titanium end caps was considered a dangerous design flaw by industry experts and suggested as the likely cause of the Titan’s implosion.

Mr Lahey, who has worked in the field for 43 years and whose Triton submarines were featured in the BBC’s Blue Planet, added: ‘At the time this monstrosity was made I was building the most capable submarines of our time .’

Dozens of industry leaders and explorers also warned Rush in 2018 that the company’s “experimental” approach could be “catastrophic.”

That year, he fought back, saying he was “tired of industry players trying to use a security argument to stop innovation.” He seemed outraged by the “obscenely safe” rules he saw as an obstacle to development.

Tragically, it now appears that ignoring those concerns – including warnings about Titan’s “flawed” carbon fiber hull – has proved fatal.