Safety problems and deficiencies in all components of the hull: now it is certain, the Titan was not safe at all. And according to some eyewitnesses, already 2 years ago, a battery failure would have stopped its descent towards the Titanic and the depths of the ocean. And the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, at the time had found a solution for passengers who were waiting for the electrical failure to return: sleep at more than 3,000 meters deep, while the Titan did not show any signs of life. It sounds like an amazing joke, but it’s not. A step back: it was 2022, the BBC’s “The Travel Show” was on stage, and explorer and producer Jaden Pan – one of OceanGate’s first customers – recounts his misadventure during his first and only expedition to Titan in 2021. the sinking of the ocean liner, a few meters from the Titanic, stops suddenly; the reason? The battery literally “collapsed” and after more than 2 hours of descent, Rush warned his guests that they should return to the surface. “At first I thought he was joking, because more than 2 hours had passed and we were so close to the bottom of the ocean” – recalled Pan – but then Rush said that “one of the batteries had run out, that we were having problems with the ballast be cleared and therefore it would have been difficult to immediately return to the support vessel”. Electrical system out of order, impossibility of continuing the mission and returning to the surface: what could the adventurers do aboard the Titan? According to the eyewitness, Rush would have suggested to the crew that, as it was “getting late”, they could “spend a few hours sleeping while the bathyscaphe descended to the bottom of the ocean”.
It’s certainly not the best advice in a dramatic situation like this. A suggestion that naturally triggered the passengers’ protest, not least because the dimensions of the submarine’s cabin allowed for maximum seating and down there, in those depths, it was impossible to understand the alternation of light and darkness. But this time, luckily for the eyewitness and the rest of the crew, the tragedy was just played and Rush managed to release the ballast allowing the bathyscaphe to rise to the surface.
Source: IL Tempo
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
