Titanic tourist submersible gone missing

jellyroll

BigBearKris said:

This is interesting. Very haunting as well...

When they seal them into the sub at around 22 minutes... I feel sick with claustrophobia just watching.

usedtobe

You couldn’t pay me enough to go down in a proper submarine, never mind something like that..

mrkb

jellyroll said:

BigBearKris said:

This is interesting. Very haunting as well...

When they seal them into the sub at around 22 minutes... I feel sick with claustrophobia just watching.

I crawled inside a torpedo tube once (was an apprentice in a submarine shipyard) - that was awful and that was with the door open, on a level drydock on dry land. That thing looks awful - it is pointing downways to dive and you hold on to stop sliding to the dome end!

ICBM

DuploLicks said:

seeing the operation of the sub & the number of problems it boggles my mind that this was something that Stockton thought was acceptable.

It almost makes Wallace and Gromit’s rocket in A Grand Day Out look like a properly designed vehicle and a professional operation.

I’m astonished it even survived one dive.

sinbaadi

Absolutely nuts.  

Such arrogance and ego at play there.  

darthed1981

mrkb said:

jellyroll said:

BigBearKris said:

This is interesting. Very haunting as well...

When they seal them into the sub at around 22 minutes... I feel sick with claustrophobia just watching.

I crawled inside a torpedo tube once (was an apprentice in a submarine shipyard) - that was awful and that was with the door open, on a level drydock on dry land. That thing looks awful - it is pointing downways to dive and you hold on to stop sliding to the dome end!

A spearfish tube?  21" !!!!

Rather you than me mate!!  I couldn't do that - what was in there you needed to get at?

Timcito

Much higher-brow tourism is conducted in anticipation of some profound positive experience. We might haul ourselves all the way to Egypt to marvel at the wonderous size and age of the pyramids, make the long journey out to Peru to wallow in the eerie presence of another civilization at Machu Picchu amidst the early morning mountain-top clouds, or travel to southern Spain to enjoy the intricate and delicate beauty of the pleasure palace that was the Moorish Alhambra.

I am at a loss to come up with the soul-enrichment anticipated by tunneling down to the ocean floor in a cigar case to get up close to a dilapidated wreck where hundreds of people died a hundred years ago. Very odd. Were they interested in meditating on the futility of all human endeavour, I wonder? 

Haych

Timcito said:

I am at a loss to come up with the soul-enrichment anticipated by tunneling down to the ocean floor in a cigar case to get up close to a dilapidated wreck where hundreds of people died a hundred years ago. Very odd. Were they interested in meditating on the futility of all human endeavour, I wonder? 

I cannot think of any other reason than bragging rights.

Stockton Rush gets to show off his toy submarine to rich ticket paying folk and rub shoulders with the uber wealthy, pretty much in the same way as that mate who just bought a new BMW comes round to show it off and wants to know if you'd like to go for a ride.

Those who get to go on the sub then get to brag about it to all their chums at well to do dinner parties.

I don't suppose there is any actual merit of personally going down that deep to see the wreck first hand.  You're not going to see very much and it's not like they're breaking new ground or discovering anything that hasn't been seen before.

I bet anyone with a decent TV has seen better images of the wreck than what you'd be able to see through a tiny porthole window from a claustrophobic tin can on the sea bed.

The whole venture was driven by vanity for the benefit and validation of the vain.

It's amazing how quickly reports are coming out about how corners were cut, advice was ignored and construction was flawed etc.  Despite any amount of waivers and disclaimers of "experimental vessel" Ocean Gate are culpable for the disaster.

boogieman

Timcito said:

Much higher-brow tourism is conducted in anticipation of some profound positive experience. We might haul ourselves all the way to Egypt to marvel at the wonderous size and age of the pyramids, make the long journey out to Peru to wallow in the eerie presence of another civilization at Machu Picchu amidst the early morning mountain-top clouds, or travel to southern Spain to enjoy the intricate and delicate beauty of the pleasure palace that was the Moorish Alhambra.

I am at a loss to come up with the soul-enrichment anticipated by tunneling down to the ocean floor in a cigar case to get up close to a dilapidated wreck where hundreds of people died a hundred years ago. Very odd. Were they interested in meditating on the futility of all human endeavour, I wonder? 

There is some sort of perverted glamour attached to the Titanic, so I kind of get the appeal. I also suspect a lot of people can push aside the fact there are a lot of dead people onboard it too…but that’s probably only while you’re watching it remotely on a tv screen instead of being right next to the actual wreck. One of the most moving things I’ve seen is the wreck of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbour. You can walk out on a boardwalk so you’re right above it and can see the superstructure through the water. It’s a very eerie and profound experience when you realise how many bodies were deliberately left onboard. There’s still oil leaking from the tanks onboard that comes to the surface, the Navy personnel refer to it as “black tears”. 

With the Titanic I think it ultimately just comes down to bragging rights… “I saw the actual Titanic, it was awesome dude!!”  Maybe having the sort of money available to spunk on a pointless trip to a famous shipwreck insulates you from having feelings about the people who died too. 

Sassafras

I'm torn between a trip down to the Titanic and an appointment with Dignitas.

LastMantra

Timcito said:

Much higher-brow tourism is conducted in anticipation of some profound positive experience. We might haul ourselves all the way to Egypt to marvel at the wonderous size and age of the pyramids, make the long journey out to Peru to wallow in the eerie presence of another civilization at Machu Picchu amidst the early morning mountain-top clouds, or travel to southern Spain to enjoy the intricate and delicate beauty of the pleasure palace that was the Moorish Alhambra.

I am at a loss to come up with the soul-enrichment anticipated by tunneling down to the ocean floor in a cigar case to get up close to a dilapidated wreck where hundreds of people died a hundred years ago. Very odd. Were they interested in meditating on the futility of all human endeavour, I wonder? 

Air travel is only destroying the planet to go see the tombs of death cult mass murderers and extinct child sacrificing savages. 



  

jellyroll

Haych said:

I cannot think of any other reason than bragging rights.

Stockton Rush gets to show off his toy submarine to rich ticket paying folk and rub shoulders with the uber wealthy, pretty much in the same way as that mate who just bought a new BMW comes round to show it off and wants to know if you'd like to go for a ride.

Those who get to go on the sub then get to brag about it to all their chums at well to do dinner parties.

I don't entirely disagree with you but we don't actually know their motives and it is easy to attach bragging motives to lots of human activity. "That Edmund Hilary? He just wanted to brag about it" .... etc.

And let's not forget that one of them was a diver who had been down to the Titanic 37 times and one of them was (virtually) a schoolboy. 

Personally, I wouldn't have got in that thing if they had paid me the $250k.

Stratavarious

There is a vast difference between the Edmund Hillarys and Donald Campbells, and this total conman.

ROOG

It does seem strange that such a thing can be put into 'commercial service' seemingly with out regulation.

sinbaadi

ROOG said:

It does seem strange that such a thing can be put into 'commercial service' seemingly with out regulation.

Totally agree.  When you think of the things that, should they go wrong, we would want to know why it wasn't checked, serviced, regulated etc, from tour boats to fairgrounds and a million other things, the fact that this guy could basically be the Colin Furze of oceanic exploration and actually operate in this way is astonishing.  

Danny1969

sinbaadi said:

ROOG said:

It does seem strange that such a thing can be put into 'commercial service' seemingly with out regulation.

Totally agree.  When you think of the things that, should they go wrong, we would want to know why it wasn't checked, serviced, regulated etc, from tour boats to fairgrounds and a million other things, the fact that this guy could basically be the Colin Furze of oceanic exploration and actually operate in this way is astonishing.  

Always be careful when flying domestic flights abroad. There are quite a few operators of planes that aren't allowed to fly over here due to lack of proper scheduled maintenance records. 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-air-safety-list

Timcito

LastMantra said:

Air travel is only destroying the planet to go see the tombs of death cult mass murderers and extinct child sacrificing savages. 



  

The problem with this kind of cancel culture -  trashing ancient civilizations because they did not share our (ahem!) pristine worldview - is something of a dead-end because eventually someone in the future could just as easily trash ours for reasons we may not even be able to imagine right now. Perhaps future generations will look angrily back on us for murdering animals and eating them - who knows? At the times when the Incas and the Egyptians performed the horrors you refer to, I'd guess the perpetrators felt as guiltless as people today who tuck into a juicy steak at Roadhouse Grill.

And anyway, 'extinct child-sacrificing savages' is no way to talk about the Rolling Stones!   

tone1

I think there’s a pretty strong link between very successful people (whether that be in business or sports, and being a psychopath. A Psychopathic trait is usually a single minded/highly driven person with very little regard to anyone or anything, and they tend to act in an impulsive & risky manner….that’s what gets them to the top and makes them billionaires etc…..and then they usually crash & burn and take everyone with them…..Maxwell, Epstein, Weinstein, Stockton Rush, Trump etc.etc….

stickyfiddle

tone1 said:

I think there’s a pretty strong link between very successful people (whether that be in business or sports, and being a psychopath. A Psychopathic trait is usually a single minded/highly driven person with very little regard to anyone or anything, and they tend to act in an impulsive & risky manner….that’s what gets them to the top and makes them billionaires etc…..and then they usually crash & burn and take everyone with them…..Maxwell, Epstein, Weinstein, Stockton Rush, Trump etc.etc….

Yup. It's basically to impossible to become a multi-billionaire without being a psycho, because any rational person gets 1/10/50% there and goes "I've got enough, I'm gonna stop and do something fun (and hopefully beneficial for the world) with the time I've got left"

Yorkie

So, they’ve managed to recover quite a chunk of debris. I am quite surprised to find that it doesn’t look that terrible? Not that I have ever seen imploded gear before though…