Titan Submarine Passengers’ Last Texts Before Implosion During Dive to the Titanic Wreckage Revealed

The last texts sent from the Titan submarine before the deadly implosion killed all five people aboard have been released. Things aboard appeared to be going “good” before the accident on the way to the wreckage of the Titanic.

The messages from the submersible to its surface support ship, Polar Prince, were shared on Monday, September 16, as the US Coast Guard began a multiday hearing on the tragedy, which occurred on June 18, 2023. A visual re-creation of the journey showed the sub’s final moments deep in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Titan began its dive at approximately 9:20 a.m. local time. After 40 minutes of seemingly routine communications with who was believed to be deep sea explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, the ship asked the submersible if they could see the Titanic. No message was returned for 15 minutes, whenthe Titan acknowledged it had received the communications.

Someone aboard the Polar Prince told Nargeolet, “I need better comms from you,” to which he responded, “yes” and said they had “lost system oand [sic] chat settings.”

When asked by the crew on the surface if they saw the Polar Prince on their display, the Titan replied, “yes” and, “all good here.”

Nearly 10 minutes later, the Titan passengers said they were “east south east [of] the nbow,” which Coast Guard investigators believe referred to the Titanic’s wreckage. When asked again by the Polar Prince if the sub could see them on their display, the Titan replied, “making our way there … your position jumps significantly each ping.”

The Titan had its last contact with the Polar Prince at a depth of just over two miles. Nargeolet said they had “dropped two wts,” referring to their weights, at 10:47 a.m. Thirty-two seconds later, all contact was lost with the sub, an hour and 45 minutes into its dive.

Nargeolet and four passengers perished on the expedition run by the company OceanGate. Debris was recovered from the ocean floor on June 22, 2023, approximately 500 meters from the wreckage of the Titanic. The Coast Guard confirmed on June 29, 2023, that “presumed human remains” were found “within the wreckage.” OceanGate suspended all further operations on July 6, 2023.

The others aboard the submersible included OceanGate cofounder Stockton Rush, British businessman Hamish Hardin, Pakistani businessman and philanthropist Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleiman. The passengers paid $250,000 each for the experience of diving to the Titanic.

The Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation, or MBI, is holding the public hearing.

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“Over the past 15 months, our team has worked continuously in close coordination with multiple federal agencies, international partners and industry experts to uncover the facts surrounding this incident,” Jason Neubauer, the chair of the MBI, said in a news conference Sunday, September 15.

“The upcoming hearings will allow us to present our findings and hear directly from key witnesses and subject matter experts in a transparent forum,” he continued, adding the proceedings “are a critical step in our mission to understand the contributing factors that led to the incident and, even more importantly, the actions needed to prevent a similar occurrence.”