Titan sub is like a 'kit car built from
Amazon parts': Observers say 'flimsy'
vessel uses camping shop lights, 'off
the shelf' cameras, salvaged metal pipes
for ballast and a Playstation controller
- with a comms team in a ship previously
traded on eBay
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Rory Tingle
&
Vivek Chaudhary
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
6/20/2023 2:05:48 PM
A submersible that is missing deep under the Atlantic with five people on board after diving for the wreck of the Titanic resembles a 'kit car' built from 'parts you can get from Amazon', a former Royal Navy admiral said today.
Chris Parry described the small craft, named Titan, as 'very flimsy and fragile' - as a journalist who once sat inside claimed it features lights from a camping shop, off the shelf CCTV cameras and salvaged metal pipes for ballast.
The sub - which consists of a five-inch thick carbon fibre tube about the size of a minivan with a 22-inch Plexiglas window at one end -
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Banjo Willy 6/20/2023 2:12:06 PM (No. 1496051)
Getting out ahead of it.
Tactical
11 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
plomke 6/20/2023 2:16:04 PM (No. 1496054)
Lawyers: "How can we blame Trump and Climate Change for this"...
32 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 6/20/2023 3:04:51 PM (No. 1496074)
Gee, sounds like a really sad suicide mission.
19 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/20/2023 3:07:26 PM (No. 1496077)
The very best detailed article on this craft, its history, the people who put it together and those promoting these trips.
One interesting thing: 17 bolts put in place from the outside seal the passengers inside. That’s a coffin.
29 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/20/2023 3:09:11 PM (No. 1496080)
Don’t even think about lawsuits. They all had to sign waivers re every possible eventuality including death.
17 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
red1066 6/20/2023 3:13:02 PM (No. 1496084)
Just think. It only cost these people $250,000 to make the trip. I wonder if they had travel insurance?
9 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Hazymac 6/20/2023 3:15:11 PM (No. 1496087)
They'll never be found, forever lost at the bottom of the ocean. Their chances of survival? Zero. Why did they go? What did Mallory say in 1924 about why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest? "Because it is there." I just cannot imagine going two miles deep in any submersible. After a mile of depth, there is no light penetrating the water, just darkness and temperatures round about freezing. And crushing pressures. Not the place to be. There's an ecosystem down there deep, but we aren't a part of it.
32 people like this.
No Specs or Standands in use. Who approved its use, testing etc.
Wow pretty sketchy for 250 thousand.
12 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Kate318 6/20/2023 3:18:31 PM (No. 1496090)
What a horrible way to die.
17 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
franq 6/20/2023 3:18:37 PM (No. 1496091)
What I find amazing is the craft has no homing beacon. Does the deep water make that impossible? I mean, how far could they drift?
14 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
john56 6/20/2023 3:20:37 PM (No. 1496092)
And a couple of rich guys paid $250K for the ride?
Sorry, but if I'm gonna pay $250K for a ride in a boat, there'd better be a cute girl serving free drinks.
15 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Catherine 6/20/2023 3:21:14 PM (No. 1496094)
Unbelievable anyone would want to get in something so dangerous, go so deep in the ocean, not be able to free yourself even if you wanted to with limited amount of oxygen. Almost sounds like if some wealthy people wanted to purposely 'disappear' - here's their chance.
8 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
formerNYer 6/20/2023 3:36:31 PM (No. 1496107)
There is a reason that the underwater experts use ROVs for exploration of deep sea wrecks, mountains and disturbances. It's very dangerous to dive that deep in any submersible. The Titanic is over 2 miles down. Prayers for the people and families.
Personally, I would only go that deep is an American sub.
8 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 6/20/2023 3:44:37 PM (No. 1496111)
I built an aircraft, and have flown it for about 1,000 flight hours, going to both coasts several times, and many/most of the rest of the country over years of flying it.
But....All the parts in that aircraft were either hand made by ME to the highest standards of that I could muster or standard aircraft parts like the engine, a Lycoming from a Cessna which was destroyed in a hangar collapse or brakes, and all the bolts, nuts, etc were aircraft grade hardware, 100% and built to FAA certified aircraft build standards. My father and brother are certified aircraft mechanics and inspectors, and I have worked on certified aircraft with them for forty years. A few items like the alternator to charge the battery were automotive parts which I repurposed and modified. I have flown in and with other folks who built their own aircraft...but I have seen homebuilt aircraft that I wouldn't go up in.
This sounds like a homebuilt sub that I wouldn't go down in.
14 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 6/20/2023 3:45:37 PM (No. 1496112)
Re #9, it very possibly only took an instant if there was a structural collapse.
9 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Harlowe 6/20/2023 3:50:04 PM (No. 1496115)
Considering the tremendous tragedy of the Titanic with terror for passengers and crew, it doesn’t seem respectful to treat the remains around and within the liner as a tourist destination. The terror of that night for everyone should be held with compassion and permit whatever remains there may be to be at peace and not like a Barnum and Bailey circus sideshow attraction.
23 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/20/2023 3:59:37 PM (No. 1496119)
Re #15, cold comfort. (pun intended)
As for the person who said he would only go that deep in a US sub, a Naval officer has told us today that or subs go nowhere near that deep due to pressure issues.
12 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Skinnydip 6/20/2023 3:59:38 PM (No. 1496120)
American (or any nation’s) submarines don’t go anywhere near that depth, #13.
11 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 6/20/2023 4:02:29 PM (No. 1496125)
One undersea "expert" thinks that there is a good chance that the sub got entangled with a piece of the wreckage, or possibly an old fishing net in the immediate area.
If so, the 96 hour survival claim might possibly let them survive this. However, if it is a structural or water intrusion type of failure....it'll be too late.
I'm hoping that they are just entangled and waiting for help, still OK. Prayers for their survival.
8 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 6/20/2023 4:30:30 PM (No. 1496141)
That seagoing jalopy will never be found. Neither will the people inside it. They never knew what hit them.
9 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/20/2023 4:35:59 PM (No. 1496147)
If they are alive, they have had two+days in hell, knowing they were lost.
That is my idea of a terrible way to go.
13 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
jalo1951 6/20/2023 4:42:45 PM (No. 1496154)
They paid $250,000 each? You could not have paid me $250,000 to get into that death trap. I am sorry for them and their families and the people who loved and cared about them. If they are found, dead or alive, it will be a miracle. While I do believe in miracles I also believe miracles are few and far between.
8 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Mizz Fixxit 6/20/2023 5:05:19 PM (No. 1496162)
As Poster 5 said, they signed waivers. There should have also been a requirement for passengers to pay for search and rescue in the event of mission failure. Instead, taxpayers are stuck with the costly search/recovery effort made on behalf of wealthy passengers who signed up for this very risky form of recreation.
9 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
tisHimself 6/20/2023 5:07:10 PM (No. 1496164)
XII
That's an excellent start for a book or a movie.
4 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
snapper451 6/20/2023 5:20:05 PM (No. 1496170)
And they paid $250K/head? Money does not give you brains, obviously. First of all, if I could do this, I wouldn’t. No disrespect to Musk but I wouldn’t go up in his record, and plenty of disrespect intended for Bezos where I would say never in a million years in his rust bucket rocket. Experiences are great, but not final ones.
6 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 6/20/2023 5:31:38 PM (No. 1496178)
My sympathies are with their families who don't know what has happened to their loved ones. They may have a long wait if they ever find out. I don't understand what makes people take those kinds of risks.
11 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/20/2023 6:04:46 PM (No. 1496193)
#23 makes a good point. They paid a total of US $1,250,000 to the company that built this death trap and marketed a risk-free (to that company) adventure. Sounds as though that $1,250,000 needs to go toward the search effort/expense.
5 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
kono 6/20/2023 7:30:06 PM (No. 1496227)
Frail and hopelessly lost.. sounds kind of like our puppet President to me. But the whole situation is something fit more for a bad episode of the Simpsons, than for real life. Lord, have mercy.
7 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
Strike3 6/20/2023 10:31:25 PM (No. 1496311)
The lights and cameras are not important. My concern would be, can the shell of the sub withstand the pressure two miles below the surface? The Titanic rests at a depth of 3800 meters. Water pressures increase one atmosphere every 10 meters, so 380 atmospheres at 14.7 psi per atmosphere for salt water is 5586 psi (that's pounds per square inch). That would turn your body into strawberry jelly in an instant. The average scuba diver begins to feel uncomfortable after spending about ten minutes at 40 meters. No thanks, looking at pictures taken by a robot sub is good enough for me.
4 people like this.
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