In an attempt to demonstrate that the sector is safer in the wake of the tragic OceanGate ship that imploded last year, an Ohio tycoon plans to send a deep-sea submersible down to Titanic levels.
In a two-person submersible, real estate investor Larry Connor of Dayton and co-founder Patrick Lahey of Triton Submarines will descend more than 12,400 feet (2.3 miles) to the shipwreck site.
“I want to show people everywhere that, even though the ocean is incredibly powerful, if you go about it the right way, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing,” Connor stated to the Wall Street Journal.
Connor will go with Patrick Lahey, the co-founder of Triton Submarines, who constructed a $20 million ship known as the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer. Six
Connor will go with Patrick Lahey, the co-founder of Triton Submarines, who constructed a $20 million ship known as the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer.
According to Connor, Lahey has created a $20 million ship called the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer that is capable of making the journey repeatedly.
“Patrick has spent more than ten years planning and developing this. However, we lacked the resources and technology,” Connor remarked. “This sub could not have been built five years ago.”
Despite the June implosion of the Titan submarine, which claimed the lives of all five personnel on board, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, the pair stated that they aim to demonstrate that the journey can be completed without incident.
On June 18, the Titan had an unexpected “catastrophic implosion” while en route to the Titanic site.
Connor called Lahey a few days after the accident and pushed him to improve the sub.
“He mentioned, ‘You know, what we have to do is construct a submarine that can consistently dive to [Titanic-level depths] in a safe manner and show the world that you guys can accomplish that, and that Titan was a device,'” Lahey told the newspaper.
Connor did not specify the date of the expedition.
June saw the implosion of the OceanGate sub, killing all five occupants.
June saw the implosion of the OceanGate sub, killing all five occupants.
The OceanGate was criticized for having dubious safety standards. O
Lahey was one of the deep-sea adventure industry critics who referred to OceanGate’s safety standards as questionable and branded Rush’s strategy as “quite predatory.”
How do you feel? Leave a remark.
Concerns over the safety of the vessel had already been raised by industry experts and a whistleblowing employee, partly due to OceanGate’s decision to forego having it certified by reputable safety organizations like the American Bureau of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas in Europe.
When the Titan disintegrated under the weight of the Atlantic Ocean, Rush, wealthy adventurer Hamish Harding, French Titanic specialist Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman, all perished instantly.
