this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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The sub went missing while carrying five people to the wreckage of the Titanic.

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[–] riktor@kbin.social 29 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I’m surprised by the amount of people who thought they would die from running out of oxygen in 96 hours or whatever it was. At that depth the tiniest structural failure and that sardine can is going to blow into pieces, including the occupants.

They were dead days ago when they first went missing.
A few innocent people are the victims of one conman’s dream of selling titanic tours.

[–] 1bluepixel@kbin.social 19 points 2 years ago

At that depth the tiniest structural failure and that sardine can is going to blow into pieces

The opposite of blowing up, actually.

[–] econpol@kbin.social 18 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Not sure I'd call him a con man, if he believed in it himself. He was on the ship, if I heard right.

[–] insomniac_lemon@kbin.social 20 points 2 years ago

So he conned himself. A common thing for grifters when their schemes aren't actually that smart.

(but at least he got that jawbreaker)

[–] dball37@kbin.social 13 points 2 years ago

He was conning himself too. He was too excited to be doing something that he didn't care to listen to warnings or heed regulations. He wanted to be a trailblazer, but his eyes were bigger than his plate, if you will.

[–] riktor@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes, there has been successful trips that he's taken tourists down to the titanic and back. However, his track record isn't rock solid. His original design wasn't rated for the depths he was going. It wasn't until a whistleblower came out (which he retaliated against by firing btw) that the submersible porthole was redesigned. Who knows if the "redesign" was actually rated for the depths he was travelling. All we know is that he "replaced" it.

This is the same person that said safety regulations stifle innovation. Yeah, regulations might slow down innovation but you know... they're intended to keep people alive. The Titan wasn't certified by any governing body to travel to the depths it was going.

He didn't fully disclose to his travelers what they were getting themselves into. People say they had to sign a waiver. There's a waiver I got to sign to a eat spicy chicken sandwich at a local restaurant joint. I got to sign a waiver to park my car in a parking lot. You think 100% of people actually read them? It's just like software terms and conditions. Scroll to the bottom and accept.

[–] detectivemittens 1 points 2 years ago

Not meaning to be callous when I say this - but these people paid $250k to do this trip. If you have that kind of money, you certainly have the means to do your due diligence on figuring out if a trip like this is safe.

[–] Suedeltica@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The possibility that was haunting me was that the Titan might have surfaced but couldn’t communicate its location, so the passengers were just bobbing along, trapped and running out of oxygen, while searchers simply didn’t find them in time.

I guess the other nightmare would’ve been if the Titan got caught on something deep underwater and couldn’t surface or communicate even though the submersible was intact.

As it was, I assume/hope they didn’t know what was about to happen and didn’t suffer.

[–] riktor@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

It is definitely some nightmare fuel for sure!