The submersible vessel that went missing on a dive to the Titanic shipwreck could have suffered from one of the so-called “trinity of disasters” that all such expeditions try to avoid: a hull breach, a fire, or an entanglement.
The first of those scenarios, according to Joe MacInnis, a renowned Canadian explorer, and surgeon who has visited the Titanic site four times and is a close friend of one of the passengers onboard the missing Titan, is not survivable.
“A hull failure is catastrophic,” MacInnis, 86, said in an interview Tuesday. “There is this kind of implosion, and it’s terrible.”
The second and third disasters, on the other hand, are manageable. Crews train for fire crises, and while it is difficult, all decent submarines have firefighting capabilities. And, more than 30 years ago, MacInnis experienced what it was like to be imprisoned by the deadly passenger ship – and to get free.
“It was my second dive to the Titanic,” he said. He was inside a Russian Mir submersible when it landed on the floor of the Titanic’s pilot house and became entangled in wires. “When it came time to go up, we couldn’t. It was a thick adrenaline moment.”
Fortunately, the expedition was able to send a second sub down to investigate the issue and assist the chief pilot in navigating the necessary navigation to wiggle free.
According to MacInnis, the ability to self-rescue – whether with a second sub or a remotely operated vehicle that can be flown rapidly to the spot – is critical on these types of excursions. France has despatched the Atalante, a research vessel outfitted with an underwater robot, to locate the missing craft.
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The submersible is believed to be carrying five passengers: adventurer Hamish Harding, founder of investment firm Action Aviation; Stockton Rush, founder of OceanGate Expeditions, which is leading the expedition; Engro Corp’s vice chairman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman; and French maritime expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet.
Three of that crew are likely newcomers to deep-sea diving, he said. “They would have been on adrenaline before the dive. And in a high-stress moment they will be red-lined,” MacInnis said. But one of them, Nargeolet, is a close personal friend of MacInnis.
“PH is the best person you could be in a sub with,” he said. “He is very, very calm under extreme stress. If they’re still alive, he will be a terrific calming influence on the others.”
MacInnis, whose work on the 1992 IMAX film Titanica helped inspire friend James Cameron to create the Hollywood blockbuster, said if the submersible had merely lost radio contact, the standard protocol would be to immediately surface.
He says he was “stricken” when he learned the Titan was missing.
“Getting lost in the depths is a primal fear,” he said. “My heart goes out to the guys in the subs 0 and the team on the surface trying to solve the problem.”
