Ohio billionaire Larry Connor and Triton Submarines co-founder Patrick Lahey plan to dive over 12,400 feet to the Titanic’s wreck in a two-person submersible to demonstrate the safety of deep-sea exploration.
What Happened: This initiative follows the tragic implosion of the OceanGate vessel last year, which resulted in the deaths of all five aboard. Connor aims to show that with the right approach, deep-sea exploration can be safe and enriching.
Connor expressed his intention in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, saying, “I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way.”
Lahey designed the vessel, named the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer and valued at $20 million, to withstand multiple voyages to extreme deep-sea depths.
Why it matters: The motivation for this new voyage intensified after the Titan submersible’s catastrophic failure during a trip to the same site in June 2023. Just days after the disaster, Connor urged Lahey to create a superior submersible. Lahey recalled Connor’s words, suggesting the need for a sub that could safely make repeated dives to Titanic-level depths to prove the viability of such ventures and distinguish it from the ill-fated Titan.
Critics, including Lahey, had previously criticized OceanGate for its safety standards, describing CEO Stockton Rush‘s approach as “quite predatory.” Concerns about the Titan were heightened by its lack of certification from recognized safety organizations like the American Bureau of Shipping or Det Norske Veritas in Europe.
Connor has not yet announced when the planned dive will occur. The Titan tragedy claimed the lives of Rush, billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his son Sulaiman when it imploded under Atlantic Ocean pressure.
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