Titan's depth capabilities were downgraded short of the Titanic
The hull of the Titan vessel "showed signs of cyclic fatigue," according to a January 2020 interview with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who is aboard the missing vessel. Rush told GeekWire that due to that stress, the hull rating was downgraded to a depth of 3,000 meters, 800 meters short of the Titanic's depth.
In a December 2019 slideshow that appears to have been presented to the Deep Submergence Science Committee of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, OceanGate listed the depth capability of the Titan as 3,000 meters.
At the time, the CEO was announcing a new round of funding for the company, which he said would go toward funding new vessels that could go deeper than the Titan.
But in 2021, OceanGate announced that Titan, not another vessel, had completed a trip to the Titanic.
There had been no public update about Titan's depth rating since it was downgraded.
On the company’s current webpage, it says the ship is designed for a 4,000-meter depth, despite previous statements made about the vessel's capabilities.
Titan's tiny space includes some bathroom privacy
Despite the Titan's close quarters, passengers do have access to semiprivate bathroom privileges.
"But because our sub is carbon fiber and we have so much space, we actually have a bathroom that is bigger than most private jets’ (bathrooms)," OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush told German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle in 2019.
"You can put up a little curtain and you have some privacy. Most of our clients and I think even the researchers say that’s a huge thing, because nobody really looks forward to the idea of sitting next to two strangers, shoulder to shoulder, while you go to the bathroom."
Rescue operation faces extreme environment in search for missing sub
Rescuers trying to find a submersible that disappeared on a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic are not only racing the clock as the sub’s oxygen supplies dwindle — they are also battling a harsh and unforgiving environment more akin to outer space than most places on Earth.
“It’s pitch black down there. It’s freezing cold. The seabed is mud, and it’s undulating. You can’t see your hand in front of your face,” historian and Titanic expert Tim Maltin said in an interview with NBC News Now. “It’s really a bit like being an astronaut going into space.”
The deep-diving 22-foot submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, vanished Sunday with five passengers on board, setting off a frantic rescue mission over a stretch of the North Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
But unlike space, humanity’s presence deep in the world’s oceans is minimal, and the technology for search-and-recovery missions is limited.
OceanGate CEO called Titan's 2018 christening 'one of the great moments of submersibles'
When it was launched five years ago, the submersible Titan was hailed as a technological wonder of its time.
"This will be one of the great moments of submersibles in that this technology is what we need to explore the ocean depth," OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush said at Titan's 2018 christening in Everett, Washington.
Rush insisted that day that private industry would be the great driving force of ocean exploration with little help from government agencies.
"The days of government funding are gone," he said. "It really needs to be a private enterprise, just as exploration was at the turn of the last century where people with means make the exploration possible."
Promotional documents illustrate tight quarters
Promotional documents for the Titan craft found on OceanGate’s website reveal the tight quarters that the five passengers are currently in.
In a diagram of the manned ship, which is 22 feet by 9.2 feet by 8.3 feet according to the documents, only one of the passengers is able to fully extend their legs. The diagram calls the arrangement the "Typical seating configuration."
In a photograph published on a separate document, a similar configuration was depicted, with a caption saying, "Mission Specialists onboard Titan."
Visibility conditions have improved today for aerial search
Visibility conditions have significantly improved today for aircraft scouring the surface of the Atlantic Ocean for signs of the missing OceanGate submersible, the Coast Guard said.
“Visibility was very foggy yesterday with very little to no visibility, but was increasing today and they were expecting much better conditions from an aerial search perspective,” Chief Petty Officer Robert Simpson, with the 1st Coast Guard District Public Affairs Office, said Tuesday.
He said the weather at the scene today included 5- to 6-foot waves and 15-knot winds.
In addition to assets from the Coast Guard, Navy and Canadian partners already deployed, civilian research vessels are also volunteering to aid in the search.
OceanGate's CEO is aboard missing submersible
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, is aboard the missing submersible, the company confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
He is on board as a member of the crew, the company said.
So far search has yielded 'no results'
The extensive search for the missing tourist submersible near the Titanic wreck has yielded "no results," Capt. Jamie Frederick with the 1st Coast Guard District said in a briefing Tuesday.
He said so far the search has been on the surface and under the water using sonar buoys over an area the size of the state of Connecticut.
The search is ongoing with additional assets on the way to rescue the five people on board the Titan. There’s 41 hours of oxygen supply left on the vessel, "about 40 hours of breathable air," Frederick said.
France sends ship and robot to aid search for missing submersible
France is sending a ship called the Atalante to aid in the search for the missing OceanGate submersible, the French maritime ministry said Tuesday.
The ship was sent out in response to a request from American authorities Monday evening, the ministry said.
The ship, managed by the Ifremer research institute, was on a mission in the area, about a 48-hour drive from the Titanic wreckage. It'll arrive at the search site by 8 p.m. local time Wednesday.
A team from Ifremer will also arrive in Newfoundland on Wednesday morning to operate an exploration robot aboard the ship called Victor6000 that can dive to a depth of 4,000 meters.
Titan got ‘lost’ underwater last summer, CBS correspondent says
David Pogue, a CBS News correspondent, said that last year the submersible got “lost on the sea floor for a few hours,” when he was on an OceanGate expedition to visit the Titanic’s resting place.
“On my expedition last summer, they did indeed get lost for about 5 hours,” Pogue tweeted Monday. A segment on the trip aired in November.
Pogue wasn’t in the submersible, but was in a control room on a ship at the surface at the time.
He noted the submersible never lost communication with its mother ship. He said the Titan didn’t have a beacon similar to an aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter, but “such a beacon was discussed.”
“They could still send short texts to the sub, but did not know where it was. It was quiet and very tense, and they shut off the ship’s internet to prevent us from tweeting,” he said Monday. The company claimed it was to keep all channels open in case of a serious emergency, Pogue said.