On Monday Sept. 16, the United States Coast Guard began a two-week investigatory hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina to further investigate how and why the deadly Titan submersible implosion happened.
As part of the hearing, the Coast Guard put together an animated and detailed video recreating the tragedy, including the text messages exchanged between the Titan and its support ship, the Polar Prince.
The messages, which were believed to be sent by Titan passenger Paul-Henry Nargeolet, show that the crew had no idea they were in any sort of danger – all the way up to the moment the tragedy occurred.
At one point, the Titan sub confirmed that they were “all good here” as they continued to approach the Titanic wreckage. The final message was sent roughly 30 minutes later, seconds before the implosion.
What we learned from the Coast Guard’s recreation
According to the Coast Guard’s animated recreation, the Titan sub’s dive began at around 9:20 a.m. local time on June 18, 2023 in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland in Canada.
The next 40 minutes went as planned, but something went wrong at around 10 a.m. when the sub wasn’t responding to several messages by the Polar Prince asking them to confirm the ship was on the display.
The submersible finally responds 15 minutes later and confirmed that they “lost system oand [sic] chat settings,” but agreed that better communications were needed from the Titan submersible to its support ship.
At about 10:15 a.m., the Titan again confirms that they can see the Polar Prince on their display and that’s when they write that they’re “all good here.” They contact the ship again 10 minutes later to confirm that they’re “east south east [of] the nbow.”
More messages are exchanged around 10:36 a.m. when the Titan asked the Prince if they’re at the bow, as well. The Prince sent back, “making our way there … your position jumps significantly each ping.”
Then, at 10:47 a.m., the Titan confirmed that they had just “dropped two [weights],” meaning they were closing in on the wreckage. Seconds later, at 10:47:32 a.m, the Prince lost all contact with the Titan.
At the time of the communication failure, the submersible was at a depth of about 3,350 meters and a pressure of 4,900 pounds per square inch.
Titan submersible hearing will continue for two more weeks
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the hearing, which will continue for another two weeks, “will review testimony from technical experts, crew members, and other relevant parties.”
They will also “examine evidence related to the submersible’s design, operation, and safety protocols.”
Their goal is to learn more about how and why the Titan sub vessel imploded to provide necessary safety recommendations for federal and international agencies to consider in the future.
A number of engineers and executives at OceanGate, as well as the company’s co-founder, are among the scheduled witnesses to testify before the Marine Board of Investigation during the hearing.
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As the investigation continues, OceanGate has “suspended all exploration and commercial operations,” according to its official website and will be cooperating fully with any government probes.
Among those who died on the submersible were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British tycoon Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his teenage son, Suleman.