Every once in a while, some catastrophic event captures the world's imagination. 24/7 News takes hold. And we all speculate, fret, hope, fear, pray that the folks in peril are saved.
Sometimes they are. Baby Jessica made it out of the well. The Chilean miners made it out of the Chilean mine.
But sometimes there are no happy endings, and the catastrophe turns out to be catastrophic for those involved.
With such a catastrophic failure - an implosion - the folks on board - OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19 year-old son Suleman, and adventurer/explorers Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet - were blown to nothingness. Death would have been instant. If they suffered, it was for a split nanosecond.
All things considered, this is the best possible outcome of this sad and hideous situation.
When there was speculation that the Titan might still be intact but incommunicado, the worry was that those on board would be sitting there on the ocean floor, dark, crowded, cramped, cold, hungry, thirsty, and running out of air. Or, there was some thought, the vessel might be floating around on the surface, which would be a little lighter, but those onboard would still be crowded, cramped, cold, hungry, thirsty, and running out of air. And there was no way to open the hatch - it was bolted shut from the outside - and get a gulp of air.
I cannot imagine the terror those men (and the boy) would have experienced.
Three of the five - Rush, Harding, and Nargeolet - were adventurers, explorers, brave, courageous, and bold men who presumably understood the risks. Maybe they - or one or two of them - wouldn't have panicked. Maybe they - or one or two of them - would have stayed calm. Maybe they - or one or two of them - would have tried to keep everyone onboard calm. Especially the Dawoods, father and son. From an incredibly rich Pakistani family. Tourists.
Sure, brave. Even if I had $250K to burn, I wouldn't have gone on this particular adventure. (I almost wrote I wouldn't be caught dead...) I don't mind gawking at the remnants of the Titanic. It's fascinating. But I'm happy to do my gawking from the comfort of my den. I don't need to be up close and personal. Not the Dawoods. Brave, sure. But tourists.
If the submersible hadn't imploded, imagine what would have gone on in that father's mind, thinking he had brought his beloved son along on a death trip. What would have flashed through his mind? My wife will kill me. How would he have tried to keep his son calm? Would they have held hands? Would he have cradled his son's head?
Just as well that the Titan exploded, so those five souls - with especial sympathy for the Dawoods - didn't have to spend the final hours of their lives in fear.
Meanwhile, there's a lot of noise being made about the safety of the Titan.
There's this:
Leaders in the submersible craft industry were so worried about what they called the “experimental” approach of OceanGate, the company whose craft has gone missing, that they wrote a letter in 2018 warning of possible “catastrophic” problems with the submersible’s development and its planned mission to tour the Titanic wreckage.
The letter, obtained by The New York Times, was sent to OceanGate’s CEO, Stockton Rush, by the Manned Underwater Vehicles committee of the Marine Technology Society, a 60-year-old trade group that aims to promote ocean technology and educate the public about it.
The signatories — more than three dozen people, including oceanographers, submersible company executives and deep-sea explorers — warned that they had “unanimous concern” about OceanGate’s development of the Titan submersible, the same craft that is now missing in the North Atlantic with five people on board. (Source: Boston Globe)
The response from OceanGate's CEO, the late Stockton Rush, "industry regulations were stifling innovation." The company refused to get certified, saying that their vessel was so innovative that it would take too long to get any certification entity up to speed on it.
It has also emerged that an OceanGate employee, "David Lochridge, a submersible pilot, had substantial concerns about the safety of the sub."
The concerns Lochridge voiced came to light as part of a breach of contract case related to Lochridge refusing to greenlight manned tests of the early models of the submersible over safety concerns. Lochridge was fired, and then OceanGate sued him for disclosing confidential information about the Titan submersible.
In response, Lochridge filed a compulsory counterclaim where he alleged wrongful termination over being a whistleblower about the quality and safety of the submersible. (Source: New Republic)
I imagine there are some lawsuits lurking out there. And that OceanGate may well be out of the tourist business.
But for now, what we know is that five souls have perished on the sea.
And, all things considered, death by implosion was the best possible outcome.
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Odd fact: Wendy Rush, the widow of Stockton Rush, is the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Strauss. The Strauss family was fabulously wealthy. They owned Macy's.
Survivors of the disaster recalled seeing Isidor Straus refuse a seat on a lifeboat when women and children were still waiting to flee the sinking liner. Ida Straus, his wife of four decades, declared that she would not leave her husband, and the two were seen standing arm in arm on the Titanic’s deck as the ship went down. (Source: NY Times)
Wendy Rush also worked for OceanGate, and had gone of a couple of Titanic explorations in the Titan. What must she be thinking?
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