One former passenger said they "signed waivers that would curl your toes," while another thought to himself after stepping into the Titan, "Welp, this could be the end."
As search teams continue to look for the missing submersible traveling to the Titanic wreckage, a number of former passengers are speaking out about their own experiences aboard OceanGate’s Titan vessel.
Contact to the OceanGate Expeditions sub was lost about an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged on Sunday morning; the vessel reportedly had 96 hours of oxygen when it departed, meaning search efforts are racing against the clock. Those onboard include OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, adventurer and billionaire Hamish Harding, Titanic enthusiast and diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Speaking with NPR about his trip aboard the Titan back in November while on assignment for CBS Sunday Morning, correspondent David Pogue called the vessel a “minivan without seats.”
Last Text Message from Billionaire Aboard Missing Titanic Submersible Revealed
“There’s not much you can do if something goes wrong,” he said. He also noted there are multiple ways for the Titan to return to the surface, which will all work “even if the power is out and even if everyone on board is passed out.”
“My trip was not smooth. We made it 37 feet down and then they ran into a mechanical problem and we had to abort the dive,” he recalled. “I was devastated, and crushed, and did not see it coming. But I have since learned that these dives rarely go to plan.”
He also said he had to sign waivers “that would curl your toes,” calling them “basically a list of eight paragraphs describing ways that you could be permanently disabled or killed.” Pogue added that OceanGate is “not a tourist company,” but for “rich adrenaline junkie adventurers who thrive on the risk” — concluding, “But for them, you know, the risk is the life.”
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Another former passenger is The Simpsons writer Mike Reiss, who also took a trip on the Titan to see the Titanic with his wife last year. Speaking with KIRO 7, he said seeing the sunken ship was something he “wasn’t overwhelmed or underwhelmed by” because it was “a real struggle” for them to get down to the wreckage.
“Our time was very, very short because on top of the danger of being two and a half miles down, there was a hurricane coming in at sea level, about to hit our boat. We really had this tight window,” he shared.
“You sort of land at the bottom of the ocean and then go ‘All right, where’s the Titanic? We know it’s around here somewhere.’ … it felt a little touristy.”
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“I am sure that the world is very worried and that kind of thing, but something to know having gone through it is that you know going in how very dangerous this is … we’re all part of this ongoing experiment. They’re doing research and inventing the technology as they go,” he said, before also pointing out the waiver signed by all passengers.
“So, before you even go on you sign this long, long waiver that mentions possible death three times on the first page. So … you know what you’re getting into,” he continued. “In fact, when I stepped onto the sub, part of my mind was going, ‘Welp, this could be the end.'”
He also told the outlet that it was a “very, very scary thought” to think that the five aboard the Titan right now are still alive, slowly running out of oxygen.
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Aaron Newman, an OceanGate investor and former passenger in 2021, also spoke with with TODAY on Wednesday about his experience.
Calling the vessel’s passengers “people that have lived on the edge for a long time,” he went on to call the journey “amazing,” comparing it to “basically going to another planet at the bottom of the ocean.” He said the Titan was “comfortable but not spacious,” before recalling how sunlight “very quickly” disappears as it descends to the floor of the ocean.
“Within 5-10 minutes you’re in pitch dark, complete dark. You have lights from the submersible that you can see outside and internally. Without those, your light is gone at any depth below 100 meters,” he said, adding that passengers would be “complete darkness” without power, while sitting in below freezing temperatures.
“It was cold when we were at the bottom, we had layered up, we had wool hats on,” he said, before explaining that he “felt safe the whole” trip.
“They were a professional crew, they did a lot of training around safety and the backup systems around dropping weights, so I felt very safe. But … this is not a Disney ride, right?” he concluded. “We’re going places that very few people have been, and this is inventing things. So there are risks, right? And we know that, but all these people accepted that.”
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