There was a variety of fodder for today’s post (I recently went on a trip with my friends, I am having some foot issues, and so on), but I thought I would just briefly address the recent sinking of the Titan submersible.

As some of you probably already know, the Titanic, which was hailed as an unsinkable ship, was named after the Titans of Greek mythology. However, the novella Futility, which was written by Morgan Robertson before the Titanic was created, involved a ship called the Titan that was also hailed as being unsinkable. Both the Titan in the book and the real-life Titanic ocean liner sank.

Recently, a submersible named Titan went to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. Despite concerns about safety being expressed to OceanGate (the tourism company that operated the Titan), the submersible went forth on its journey. When it failed to return to the surface as scheduled, a search began that lasted almost 80 hours. Finally, a debris field was found. The submersible had imploded, tragically killing all five people inside. One of those killed was Stockton Rush, the chief executive and co-founder of OceanGate. Another of the fatalities was only 19 years old.

The cost for one person to undertake such a journey was $250,000. Interestingly, some people who declined invitations to pay for a seat include MrBeast (famous YouTuber) and Jay Bloom (major Las Vegas investor), among others.

Because the Titan operated in international waters, it was not restricted by safety regulations, though OceanGate had its own systems in place. It was steered using a modified videogame controller.

James Cameron, the director of the famous 1997 Titanic movie, is an experienced underwater explorer who has visited the wreckage of the Titanic more than 30 times. He was critical of the choice of carbon-fiber composite for constructing the Titan, claiming that the pressures of such a great depth would be too much for such material. Supposedly, the material was purchased from Boeing because it was too old for them to use in airplanes. However, Boeing has disputed the sale, saying that they have no records of it.

Space may not be the only frontier worth exploring, but there is something sobering about how even in this day and age, the ocean is just as deadly as it is majestic.

Resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Titan_submersible_incident
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Titan:_Or,_Futility