![]() However last night an experienced diver who has travelled far into the depths of the ocean to view the Titanic wreckage fears the submersible may have simply ‘imploded’.Īn implosion would mean any hope is long gone. Its deep-sea underwater robot, Victor 6000, operates from an umbilical cord that can extend five miles and is able to work in deep seas up to 18,000ft. The French vessel Atalante, which was on a mission for the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, should arrive in the area today at around 6pm UK time. In Titan’s case, it could require what one expert called a ‘serious tin opener’ to break through the armour plating without harming the occupants. When British engineers Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman were rescued from their submersible Pisces III in 1973, they had an estimated 12 minutes of air left when the hatch was finally jemmied open. Winching it to the surface – even if a three-mile sturdy chain was readily available – would be fraught with peril.īack at the surface, the sub would then urgently need to be opened – no easy task for a craft designed to withstand 6,000lbs of pressure and which might be damaged. In full working order, it takes Titan two hours to make a safe ascent. But even if an ROV could find the missing sub, pulling it free and bringing it to the surface would be an immense and unprecedented challenge. Triton, an American manufacturer of deep-sea submersibles, has a two-person deep-sea model.Ī British-based firm, Magellan Limited, also has a vehicle that could dive that deep, but it says the US government had allegedly blocked them from joining the mission. It is unclear where CURV-21 is, but in any case the kinds of ships that transport it normally move no faster than about 20mph. CURV-21, a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) can reach depths of 20,000 feet – almost twice the depth of the Titanic – and was used by the US Navy last year to salvage a crashed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in the South China Sea. Ultimately there may be only two underwater vessels on Earth with a chance of completing the deepest undersea rescue mission ever. In contrast however, France has dispatched a research vessel equipped with a deep-sea robot whose umbilical cord can extend five miles, which is expected to arrive this morning. No human can dive so deep, and even nuclear submarines cannot safely go there, with both the US and British navies saying the depths ‘greatly exceed’ their operating capabilities. Tonight Deep Energy, a pipe-laying ship, arrived above the Titanic site and launched its underwater drone, which is equipped with a camera, towards the sub’s last known position.īut the US admiral leading the search said the craft might have become entangled in the Titanic’s wreckage, meaning it would have to be cut free by force. A fleet of Canadian ships – the Skandi Vinland, Atlantic Merlin and Kopit Hopson, an 83 metre-long icebreaker equipped with a helicopter – steamed to the rescue area, along with tugboats, cutters, and commercial vessels. The sealed vessel descended with 96 hours of air, meaning it is due to run out at 10am tomorrow UK time.įinding a 22ft-long craft on the surface of the ocean is hard enough, let alone underwater, but a massive search is under way. ![]() OceanGate Expeditions charges wealthy tourists £195,000-a-head for the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ chance to see the 1912 shipwreck up close.The last haunting photo of Titan shows it being towed along by mothership Polar Prince in grey choppy seas shortly before submerging, 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It was reported to the US Coastguard at 5.40pm (10.40pm UK time), and Canada’s coastguard was alerted even later, at 9.13pm (2am on Monday UK time). It is supposed to send a sonar ‘ping’ (radar and GPS not functioning under water) to mothership Polar Prince every 15 minutes, but the last one was at 9.45am EST (2.45pm UK time) on Sunday – an hour and 45 minutes into the dive as it was floating right above the Titanic.įor some reason, OceanGate Expeditions, the company that runs the tours of the Titanic, took eight hours to call the coastguard on Sunday. The basic problem is that the submersible, Titan, has stopped transmitting signals, making it almost impossible to locate. It is a sunless, cold environment and high pressure.’ Oceanographer and Titanic expert David Gallo said: ‘Where is it? Is it on the bottom, is it floating, is it mid-water? That is something that has not been determined yet. ![]() If the mini-sub has lost power, with no working propellers, lights or heating, its five passengers will be in total darkness in temperatures of around 3C (37F) as the doomed craft rolls along the seabed. ![]()
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