Thursday, June 22, 2023

Public Reacts with Sadness, Anger, and Questions to Titanic Submersible Disaster

Creative Commons. IsabelJohnson25
As most of you know, who even modestly follow the news, a submersible craft carrying a wealthy billionaire and other well-heeled passengers into the deep to see the Titanic imploded, killing all aboard. Like the story of the Titanic, this story has many facets, including a few that bear resemblance to the original tragedy.

The craft that imploded, apparently on Father's Day, was a Titan submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions. the five-person submersible was purportedly designed to dive to depths of up to 12,500 feet. The submersible had a titanium hull and a acrylic viewport that provided an unobstructed view of the underwater environment, a deep sea version of the glass bottom boats at Silver Springs in Florida.

The five passengers who lost their lives were: --Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions --Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani energy and tech mogul --Suleman Dawood, his 19-year-old son --Hamish Harding, a British billionaire explorer --Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver and Titanic expert

Shortly after communication lost a search and rescue was undertaken. News stories indicated that they would be searching an area twice the size of Connecticut, which is a fairly large swath of ocean real estate. U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards were launched, generating much news coverage. Once debris had been beed discovered near the Titanic wreckage, the search was called off.

A representative of the Coast Guard explained that the five passengers in the bathyscaphe were "squeezed like a jar" by the water pressure, 487 meters from the Titanic.

The widespread media coverage left many people mourning, though there were other kinds of emotions expressed on the Twittersphere. Anger, dismay, and even a conspiracy angle. Here are few of these responses:

--The accident of the Ocean Gate Titan like that of the RMS Titanic could have been avoided. This will be a key lesson going forward. --Perhaps, after 111 years, we should all agree that it is time to let the Titanic rest in the deep sea without disturbing the souls of those who perished in the awful incident in 1912.

--It's shocking how unprepared the Coast Guard was to handle something that should never have happened, has never happened, and happened about 900 miles from the U.S. Coast

--‘The Simpsons’ writer and producer Mike Reiss revealed he went on three trips with OceanGate, including one to see the Titanic wreckage last summer on the submersible. He details that passengers were required to sign a waiver that mentioned death three times on the first page.

--It is sad the CEO of Oceangate ignored repeated warnings about safety in pursuit of adventure. It is sad that a 19 year old whose life was just beginning was onboard. 5 lives ended.  People laughing at this are despicable 
I am glad to learn they did not suffer.

--Cameron: Here’s a case where we didn't remember the lesson of Titanic, these guys at Ocean Gate didn't, because the arrogance and the hubris that sent that ship to its doom is exactly the same thing that sent those people in that sub to their fate.

--I'm most angry that OceanGate already suspected submersible failure, hid that information, and let multiple governments endanger their sailors and specialists when we would have found the debris quicker if they had been honest. This in no way means the efforts were not heroic.

--It’s quite interesting that the wife of OceanGate CEO is directly related to Isa & Ida Strauss, founders of Macy’s that perished on the Titanic in 1912.
What’s even MORE interesting, is that the Strauss’s were on their way to a meeting in the US to attempt a STOP to the creation of the Federal Reserve bank. They OPPOSED the idea, likewise other richest titans of the time, John Jacob Astor & Benjamin Guggenheim. Then, the Titanic sank. The dots, oh how they CONNECT!

--The Biden administration knew the Titan submarine imploded Sunday. But waited until today to make it public. Convenient smokescreen for today’s House Ways & Means release of IRS whistleblower testimony of DOJ sabotage of the Hunter Biden investigation.

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Related Links

Titanic Reflections
Titanic: A Metaphor for Our Times?
Tempest Takes You There

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