Titanic Wreckage Set To Receive Billionaire Visitor After Titan Submersible Tragedy

After the icy depths of the Atlantic claimed five lives last year, a fearless billionaire is preparing for his own high-stakes dive to the Titanic wreckage. Will he become the first to unravel the mysteries of the deep, or will history repeat itself? Only time will tell.

In the wake of last year's tragic implosion of a tourist submersible near the Titanic, real-estate investor Larry Connor is gearing up for a high-stakes dive to the historic wreckage.

Unafraid of the deep ocean after diving to the Mariana Trench, Connor reached out to Patrick Lahey, co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines, with a bold request.

Recalling their conversation, Lahey shared, "He called me up and said, 'You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption.'"

Connor's mission goes beyond personal adventure; he aims to demonstrate the wonders of deep-sea exploration.

"I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way," the Ohio native told the Wall Street Journal.

Connor and Lahey plan to use the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer for their upcoming dive. This state-of-the-art submersible is built with new materials and technology that were previously unavailable, ensuring a safer and more reliable exploration experience.

"Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn't have the materials and technology. You couldn't have built this sub five years ago," Connor explained.

Following last year's tragic implosion, many people's interest in deep-sea diving waned. While acknowledging the tragedy's impact on public perception, Lahey admitted that "It reignited old myths that only a crazy person would dive in one of these things."

Despite these renewed fears, Lahey emphasized the significant difference in quality between Triton's certified submarines and OceanGate's experimental designs.

To demonstrate, he developed the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, which is listed on the company's website for $20 million. 

The two-person vessel is specifically designed for repeated deep-ocean trips to depths of about 4,000 meters, surpassing the Titanic's resting depth of 3,800 meters.

While Connor and Lahey strive to renew curiosity about the ocean's depths, it is important to remember the tragic aftermath of OceanGate's Titan submersible disaster. 

Shortly after the incident, The Blast shared that Christine Dawood opened up about the heart-wrenching decision that led to her son Suleman taking her place on the doomed expedition.

The grieving mother recalled that after the COVID-19 pandemic altered her plans to join her husband, Shahzada Dawood, she "stepped back" for Suleman.

Mrs. Dawood shared that the 19-year-old, who mirrored his father's adventurous spirit, had intended to solve a Rubik's cube on the voyage. 

In her first interview after the incident, Mrs Dawood l recounted the day before the submersible descended into the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, on Father's Day. 

The 49-year-old and her daughter boarded the sub's support vessel, to accompany Suleman and Shahzada to the launch point. 

The family shared a cheery goodbye, full of hugs and jokes, before the submersible was sealed. "I was really happy for them because both of them, they really wanted to do that for a very long time," she recalled.

Stockton Rush, the company's CEO, was among the five passengers who died in the June 2023 disaster. 

Other lives that were lost included British billionaire Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Following critical comments by "Titanic" director James Cameron about the submersible tragedy, Söhnlein spoke out in defense of the late Rush.

Per The Blast, the businessman argued that the media's portrayal of the expedition's risks was influenced by a limited number of critics.

The critics named were David Lockridge, Will Kohnen from the Marine Technology Society, Cameron himself, and Karl Stanley.

"The media's whole spin on how unsafe [the expedition] was is based on David Lockridge, Will Kohnen from Marine Technology Society, Jim Cameron, who knows nothing about this stuff … and Karl Stanley. Four people," Söhnlein said.

While acknowledging Cameron's extensive experience as an ocean explorer and submersible operator, Söhnlein noted that he lacked specific knowledge about OceanGate's operations and technology.