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Boston Coast Guard joins search for submersible that takes rich tourists down to the Titanic
By adamg on Mon, 06/19/2023 - 1:11pm
The BBC reports "a major search and rescue operation" is underway for the missing five people in a submersible vessel that a tour company uses to take tourists down for a look at the Titanic - at $250,000 a person. WBZ reports crews from the Coast Guard station in the North End are at the scene, roughly 900 miles east of here.
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Comments
I'm no expert...
I'm no expert on the Titanic exactly (or its precise whereabouts), but I feel like you probably mean 800 miles east of here...
Teach the controversy
Some say the Titanic sank in the ocean, some say somewhere in Indiana - who is to say what truth is in this world bombarded with misinformation and people with agendas?
Indiana?
I think you mean Branson, Missouri.
Maybe it's the Titanic of Lake Michigan
Which is about 800 miles West of here. Often confused with the Atlantic Ocean
Rule number 1 of any trip I'm on
Never ask me for directions!
Fixed.
Also fixed the distance
The site is 900 miles from here, not 800, per the Coast Guard, so I've fixed that as well
What could've possibly gone wrong?
From the CBS news article (from Nov 2022):
If all went well, I would be spending about 12 hours sealed inside on a dive to the Titanic. Not gonna lie; I was a little nervous, especially given the paperwork, which read, "This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death." Where do I sign?
This is not your grandfather's submersible; inside, the sub has about as much room as a minivan. It has one button. "That's it," said Rush. "It should be like an elevator, you know? It shouldn't take a lot of skill."
The Titan is the only five-person sub in the world that can reach Titanic's depth, 2.4 miles below the sea. It's also the only one with a toilet (sort of).
And yet, I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components. Piloting the craft is run with a video game controller.
Pogue said, "It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness. I mean, you're putting construction pipes as ballast."
"I don't know if I'd use that description of it," Rush said. "But, there are certain things that you want to be buttoned down. The pressure vessel is not MacGyver at all, because that's where we worked with Boeing and NASA and the University of Washington.Everything else can fail, your thrusters can go, your lights can go. You're still going to be safe."
Off the shelf components?
That's usually a good thing - standardization generally means greater reliability.
I'd be more worried if critical components were designed and built specifically for the job as a one-off deal.
Their one example is pretty funny too
Video game controllers have millions of dollars of research into them by big companies to be as easy and comfortable to use as possible, and they're made to work with a wide range of computers and systems so they're really easy to adapt to another use. They also have the benefit that pretty much everyone these days has some experience using them so its much easier to train someone than using some proprietary control stick.
Not built for high-humidity environment tho
You may have identified the cause. Things short out because of corrosion and humidity. No way to control the thing, other things short out, you are doomed.
The US Navy actually uses Xbox controllers for some things
so I assume that there's some amount of testing that's been done there. (see here)
And unlike proprietary instruments, it's pretty easy and cheap to keep another $50 controller around as a spare if you need one (although, whether they did that here is another question).
Titanic
No way. If I wanted to go on a submarine, I'd join the Navy. I hope for a positive outcome here.
"...who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep, it's own appointed limits keep."
As Jack & Rose Once Sang
In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed on to the sun
'Til we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine
adding this to my list of Big Nopes
1. riding in tiny submarines going 2 1/2 miles deep into the ocean
2. Summiting Everest
3. Flying on a Space Shuttle
4. Any Wal-Mart on Black Friday
There is a Wal-Mart on Everest
That’s why the lines to get up there are so long.
Lotta
trash up there too. So there's that.
More money than good sense
Just because you pay that kind of money for your adventure does not guarantee that you will be safe in doing so.
Every dead body on Mt. Everest ...
Isn’t that part of the thrill?
Everything has a risk vs reward including riding in a submarine 2.5 miles below the surface. Some people want/need that thrill. Quality vs quantity, which I’m a huge believer in.
What?
What, going on an "adventure" that you're unqualified for, expecting a paid guide to get you out of every bad situation that might come up, getting into trouble, and requiring a rescue that endangers the lives of others? There was way too much of that in the "adventure travel" industry in the '90s, and not a few bodies left behind. It may be "part of the thrill" for the idle bored rich, but it's deeply stupid and irresponsible.
Disaster Tourism will make
Disaster Tourism will make the top 10 dangerous trends of the 2010s in People magazine.
and
america's sexiest way to die. Or something.