Missing Titanic Submarine

Very sad for the victims and their families.
I hope that this will be the last of these awful journeys. The submarine wasn’t properly built or equipped if what’s said in the news is correct. How irresponsible to send people down like that to face such dangers in an ill equipped piece of equipment.

Marydoll

I just find it all very intrusive and it makes me uneasy, it doesn't mean my view is correct. It's just how I feel.
Now we pick over every aspect of a person's life, want to know every intimate detail and technology makes that possible. You can't compare it with Victorian times.
I feel the families should be allowed to grieve privately.

The comparison with Victorian times was to indicate that people's curiosity, either 'idle' or specific is not a new phenomena.

The only difference now is that we have the technology to update the news on a minute-by-minute basis, but I don't believe that voyeurism is a new human trait.

My daughter was an EMT,you'd be surprised how many people want to ride out a hurricane, blizzard etc.
Then it's there and they're scared and start calling 911,so the rescuers have to go " save" them?

I only wish that they would leave the Titanic alone now. It is a deep and watery grave for so many souls in Davy Jones' locker. However, there will always be dare devil adventurers in the mountains and at sea that will push the limits of human experience. They make their choices.

Apparently the highly classified U.S. Navy long range sonar system picked up "sounds consistent with an implosion" in the area on Sunday, at around the time communication and contact was lost with the submersible. The confidential information was passed to the Coast Guard, but as it was considered "not definitive" it was decided to continue with the search. Now that the debris has been found, it appears that this early detection on sonar was indeed the catastrophic destruction of the submersible. I cannot begin to imagine the pain that the victims' families and friends have suffered over these past few days, while some faint hope still existed. My heart goes out to them.

Worse than a tragic accident, this was a vanity project which could only have occurred where money was no object.
It appears that OceanGate (the company concerned) charges a quarter of a million dollars for a ticket to visit the world’s best-known shipwreck.
Without knowing the technical details, the submersible seems to have raised doubts years ago.
From todays DT
As tensions mounted, it emerged that concerns about Titan’s safety had been raised in 2018. “It hasn’t surprised us,” said Will Kohnen, chairman of the Marine Technology Society’s Submarine Committee. “We’ve been aware of this project for some time and have had concerns. “
Reminds one of Richard Branson’s ambition for space flights and his Virgin Orbit which has announced it will be shutting down. It comes a few months after a space mission ended in disappointment, when a rocket carrying the first satellites launched from the UK failed to reach orbit and was lost.
Or Elon Musk whose prototype of SpaceX Starship was launched on its first orbital test flight, in April of this year, which the company dubbed the Starship Integrated Flight Test. The vehicle exploded without reaching orbit less than four minutes after liftoff from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas
Thank God it was unmanned.
Throughout history has always cost lives but these were commercial exploitations and tragically, money could not buy everything.

I seem to have lost the word “exploration” in my final sentence
I hope “Exploration has always cost lives..” etc makes more sense.

Marydoll Are you old enough to remember the saga of the 'Flying Enterprise' in 1952? A cargo ship broke down in terrible winter storms off the Cornish coast and eventually broke into two and sank, but only after the Captain had fought for a several weeks to save it.

The publicity and reporting given to that disaster was every bit as obsessive as that given to this event. It was top story in every news bulletin and tookover the front page of all the papers.

Aged 8 I was one of millions of people in the USA and UK, and no doubt further afield who were rivetted by the story and foolowed every twist and turn. As i said I was aged 8 and to this day can remember the drama and the details.

If this recent tragedy makes us a nation of voyeurs, then it is nothing new, and many other countries, including the USA are among the voyeur nations.

When it comes to leaving the families to grieve privately, I think we are far better than we were in the past. There are codes of practice now that journalists must follow and it is now considered totally unacceptable to hound the grieving.

In this corrent tragedy, although we have been given brief details of their families, we have had no interviews, papparazzi photos, or photos of family other than the victims themselves..

I am pleased to say, that I'm not quite old enough, Monica.
As I have previously said, developments in technology make it so easy to follow events, unlike in Victorian times and in 1952. We have so much detailed. information and I believe that although, people will, always be curious, that's human nature, it is on a much larger scale nowadays.

Intrusiveness does not sit well with me and I find some of what happens, quite distasteful.
This is only my opinion and in no way a criticism of posters on here.

*MOnica^

If this recent tragedy makes us a nation of voyeurs, then it is nothing new, and many other countries, including the USA are among the voyeur nations.

Quite so.

When you search for news items on the 'net and find this tragedy dominating the headlines I suspect very few people will scroll past it. That doesn't mean that we are 'begging' for details.

I think everyone has a curiosity about what is going on around them and it's probably part of the survival-instinct.

We are not responsible for the manner in which the news is presented. The media play on our natural curiosity - and some of it is more prurient than necessary.

Maybe when people read about shocking tragedies there's an element of 'what can I do to make sure it doesn't happen to me'?

Also, there are positives to rolling news coverage of events like natural disasters - people empathise with victims of earthquakes etc and want to help by donating towards the relief funding.

Regarding this particular accident, I think there will be further news coverage because questions will be asked about the safety of such private enterprises. Questions which were raised previously about the viability of the vessel. And I personally don't think that's a bad thing if, to use a hackneyed phrase, lessons are learned. The late CEO of OceanGate took quite a cavalier attitude towards safety. Although those on board all signed a waiver, maybe questions do need to be asked. Very rich people have as much right to protection as the rest of us.

Marydoll

I just find it all very intrusive and it makes me uneasy, it doesn't mean my view is correct. It's just how I feel.
Now we pick over every aspect of a person's life, want to know every intimate detail and technology makes that possible. You can't compare it with Victorian times.
I feel the families should be allowed to grieve privately.

That’s a very sweeping statement Marydoll I’m sure not everybody is like that….

I just feel so very sad for them all. I don’t care who they were or what they were,it was a tragedy.

^That’s a very sweeping statement Marydoll I’m sure not everybody is like that….^: Where in my post did I say that everyone has become like that, Shinamae?

My original comment was about a journalist, who mentioned that he felt that people were voyeuristic, regarding the tragedy and I said I sort of agreed. My opinion and his, are as valid as anyone else's, whether you agree or not.

The interviewer on Sky News, reacted in the same way as some on here and quickly moved on.

Interesting that a journalist of all people should describe society as being "voyeuristic", when the level of public engagement with any particular story defines how successful he/she is in their job. So in the same breath, were they referring to it as a moral negative, but also as a commercial positive? Mixed message? As regards the public reaction to a news story such as this one, when does an understandable level of natural curiosity and concern actually become an "unhealthy interest"? Perhaps when the apocryphal coffin-chasers out there put undue pressure on the families and the friends of the victims. To be fair, I haven't seen any of that yet, and I believe that journalistic codes of practises these days are generally better than they were in the past.. although there will always be exceptions.

Nowadays, I think most reporting of human tragedies like this is far less intrusive and voyeuristic than it was in the past.

Today I’ve seen or heard it mentioned that families might have been told some time ago, that an implosion - and instantaneous death they wouldn’t even have been aware of - was a distinct possibility, but that the search was of course continuing, in case.

I hope that’s the case, since it might have prevented some of the mental torture of imagining their loved ones trapped for days in claustrophobic increasing cold, just waiting to die.

Witzend

Today I’ve seen or heard it mentioned that families might have been told some time ago, that an implosion - and instantaneous death they wouldn’t even have been aware of - was a distinct possibility, but that the search was of course continuing, in case.

I hope that’s the case, since it might have prevented some of the mental torture of imagining their loved ones trapped for days in claustrophobic increasing cold, just waiting to die.

Completely agree Witzend. As family I would have wanted to know straight away that survival was unlikely. I feel strung out myself tbh after four days of imaginings. No family member should have been put through that. It is not kind.

I read Suleman wasn’t keen on going but went to please his dad as it was Father’s Day.

The good that will hopefully come out of this is that untested uncertified craft will not be allowed. Public authorities have to make sure of all aspects of health and safety. So too should private companies.

I've found it interesting listening to what the film director James Cameron has had to say about the whole Ocean Gate saga. As an expert on underwater exploration, especially to incredible depths, he knows what he's talking about.

I agree with Foxygloves.
Very sad though.

Now I do feel compassion for the young man, who today is reported as being very unsure about the whole venture and wanted to pullout, but because it was Fathers Day weekend he felt he should go for his Dad. Now that is sad, the others I m not so compassionate about. I am sorry that it happened and very sorry for the families left behind, but there should really have been more acknowledgement of the huge dangers by these grown men
It’s not as if they were going on a dangerous mission to find an endangered species or a special seaweed that could be used for cancer or pain relief or something, they were going to satisfy their own senses of …..whatever…..adventure I suppose and they paid the ultimate price and caused everyone a huge amount of money and personal safety trying to ‘save’ and find them

nanna8

I just feel so very sad for them all. I don’t care who they were or what they were,it was a tragedy.

I don’t feel sorry for the man who owned the craft and organised it knowing that he was waiving safety rules. I’m very angry with him.

Very true BlueBelle.

I don’t feel anger about this MayBee. It’s not my tragedy to be angry about. I just feel sorry for them for taking their need for adventure to these lengths and to be unaware enough to sign away their own rights. I feel disgusted with the person who owned the craft and must have known it wasn’t reliable or safe, but ultimately the responsibility for deciding to take this ridiculous trip was down to the people themselves.

I just think what a stupid waste of life especially the 19 year old who had his whole adult life in front of him. Life is precious. Some people have theirs taken away through no fault of their own but these men risked their lives for nothing more than an adventure.

Blondiescot

I've found it interesting listening to what the film director James Cameron has had to say about the whole Ocean Gate saga. As an expert on underwater exploration, especially to incredible depths, he knows what he's talking about.

Yes, Cameron has raised concerns about this company in the past. He said when he heard they had simultaneously lost comms and tracking that it was inevitable the submersible had imploded as he could not think of any other explanation for how that could happen simultaneously. I sincerely hope its some comfort for their families to know they died instantly and did not suffer - the thought of them slowly dying over days whilst running out of oxygen was truly awful. I hope this is the end of Titanic tourism - its clearly very dangerous, as Cameron well knows being an experienced submariner himself.