My Legal Insurrection colleague James R. Nault wrote an outstanding analysis of what may have led to the OceanGate submersible implosion that killed the five aboard, who were en route to visit the wreckage of the famous R.M.S. Titanic that sank in 1912 after being struck by the iceberg.
The US Coast Guard announced they recovered human remains as the retrieval operations continue in the Atlantic Ocean.
Several identifiable parts of the ship were lifted ashore on Wednesday afternoon, including the sub’s nose and a large panel which appears to be from its tail end.Amid those recovered pieces, Coast Guard officials said they discovered human remains, which will now be transported aboard a ship to a port in the United States where they will undergo testing and analysis.The discoveries surprised experts who suspected Titan was destroyed when it suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ with five people on board during a journey to the wreckage of the Titanic….Officials said Wednesday the remains were ‘carefully removed within the wreckage’ that was recovered earlier in the day.’I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths,’ Marine Board of Investigation Capt. Jason Neubauer said in a statement.’The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy,’ he added.
Additionally, several large sections of the submersible were hauled ashore from the recovery ship after it docked in Canada.
Despite attempts to keep it covered, photos appeared to show mangled electronics — as well as the nose cone with its distinctive circular window, Canada Press said.The debris was recovered by US-based Pelagic Research Services, which said its crew on the Horizon Arctic has been “working around the clock now for ten days” through “physical and mental challenges.”They used specialized remote-controlled vehicles to find the shattered sub about 12,500 feet underwater and several hundred feet away from the Titanic wreckage that it was on its way to explore.“Bravo, and welcome back, team! You have made all of us extremely proud of the job you performed flawlessly,” the company said.The debris will be examined as part of US and Canadian investigations into the tragedy.
In the wake of some truly tasteless comments about the victims, Professor Glenn Reynolds offered a reminder that high tech innovations often start out as “rich man’s toys“:
Most cutting edge technology starts out as a rich man’s toy. Automobiles, passenger airplanes, VCRs, etc. all started out that way. Letting rich people buy the tech drives the technology and pushes prices down over time so that ordinary people can afford it.I don’t think ordinary people will ever be interested in doing miles-deep dives, but improved subsea technology is a very big deal. We often hear about how unexplored the deep ocean depths are, and there’s a reason for that – we aren’t very good at it yet. We get better at it by doing it. We can do it more if people are willing and able to pay for it.The same is true with the various space tourism efforts. Sure, it’s mostly rich people buying a thrill. But by doing so they open up the technology for the rest of us. Unlike the test pilots, they aren’t doing it for a living; they’re doing it out of love, and even paying for the privilege. That seems commendable to me.
As China is now racing to develop deep-sea technology in a likely move to exploit the natural resources of that untapped environment, lets hope important lessons are learned from the catastrophic implosion of the Titan.
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