The final messages between the doomed Titan submersible and its support ship, the Polar Prince have been revealed, piecing together the final moments for the OceanGate vessel's five passengers who died last June when the expedition went awry, killing everyone aboard. The messages were made public as part of what is expected to be a two-week hearing into the incident that started on Monday.
The evidence, presented by U.S. Coast Guard officials, detailed how the Titan and Polar Prince were in routine communication for approximately 40 minutes after the craft began its decent to the ocean floor to tour the wreckage of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada around 9:20 a.m. on June 18, 2023. However, just before 10 a.m. an issue arose, and communication temporarily dropped off.
According to People , the Polar Prince had repeatedly asked the Titan whether the ship could be seen on its display. When it initially received no answer, the messages became more urgent until the Titan finally responded 15 minutes later, acknowledging that it had communication.
The Polar Prince sent a message back stating "I need better comms from you," to which the Titan responded "yes" and that it had "lost system oand [sic] chat settings." After being asked for its status and, for a second time, whether the support ship could be seen on the display, the Titan responded "yes" and "all good here" at 10:15 a.m.
Nine minutes later, the Titan seemed to indicate to the Polar Prince that it was "east south east" of the bow of the undersea wreckage. After the Polar Prince asked for a third time whether the Titan could see the ship on its display, the Titan asked if the Polar Prince was also at the bow. The Polar Prince responded that it was "making our way there … your position jumps significantly each ping."
The Coast Guard said that the final message from the Titan was sent at 10:47 a.m., at a depth of about 3,350 meters and a pressure of 4,900 pounds per square inch, when the vessel said that it had "dropped two [weights]," and then contact was almost immediately lost.
The messages were believed to have been sent by French deep sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, whose family has since filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against OceanGate. In addition to Nargeolet, 77, the other victims included OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush , British adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman Dawood.
Four days after communication was lost, a debris field was discovered on the ocean floor less than 2,000 feet away from the wreckage of the Titanic, concluding a search and rescue operation that gripped the world. Just weeks later, OceanGate said that it was ceasing all exploration and commercial operations .
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