'SOME RISK': Missing watercraft on trip to Titanic uses off-the-shelf parts
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A watercraft used by an expedition company to view the Titanic would induce anxiety in most people.
The Titan, a small, five-person submersible which lost contact with its Canadian research vessel Polar Prince on Sunday, can reach the shipwreck’s depth of 3.8 kilometres below sea level.
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'SOME RISK': Missing watercraft on trip to Titanic uses off-the-shelf parts Back to video
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OceanGate Expeditions and its CEO Stockton Rush were featured in a CBS News Sunday Morning story in November 2022 that has since gone viral. Correspondent David Pogue raised safety concerns after getting a first-hand look inside the carbon-fibre sub.
“You know, there’s a limit,” Rush said. “You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything.
“At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.”
In the video, Pogue reads and signs the paperwork before he boards the sub.
“This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death.”
A sarcastic Pogue asks: “Where do I sign?”
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Inside the vessel, Rush points out there is only one button.
“That’s it,” Rush said. “It should be like an elevator, you know? It shouldn’t take a lot of skill.”
Rush then reveals a video game controller is the only equipment that pilots the vessel, a jug for a toilet, and another improvised part that he bought from Camping World.
In an interview Monday on CBS, Pogue gave his take on the vessel.
“This is going to sound very janky to a lot of people, but a lot of this submersible is made of off-the-shelf, improvised parts,” according to Huffington Post.
“For example, you control it with an Xbox game controller. Some of the ballasts are these abandoned lead pipes from construction sites, and the way you ditch them is everybody gets to one side of the sub and they roll off a shelf.”
Despite the thrown-together interior, the capsule was co-designed with NASA and the University of Washington to keep it airtight and safe.
“The part that keeps you alive is rock solid,” Pogue said.
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