The last messages sent by the Titan submersible before it imploded last year during a doomed voyage to the wreck of the Titanic have now been revealed, showing how the five passengers experienced communications problems but nonetheless felt things were “all good here” before losing contact with the surface.
The animated video details how the Titan began diving down from the Polar Prince off the coast of Canada around 9:20 a.m. local time on June 18, 2023.
While the submersible and the ship trade a series of routine messages for the next 40 minutes, an issue arises just before 10 a.m. when the Polar Prince repeatedly asks the Titan if the submersible can see the ship on its display — to no answer — leading to more urgent messages.
JOEL SAGET,HANDOUT/Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat/AFP via Getty Images
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
After about 15 minutes, the Titan responds, acknowledging that it has communication and the Polar Prince says, “I need better comms from you,” to which the Titan responds “yes” and says they “lost system oand [sic] chat settings.”
Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a noted explorer aboard the submersible at the time, is believed to have been sending these messages, according to the Coast Guard.
The Polar Prince asks again, “status? do you see polar prince on your display?” And soon after, the Titan responds “yes” and “all good here” at 10:15 a.m.
Nine minutes after that, the Titan notifies the Polar Prince that they are “east south east [of] the nbow,” which officials think means the vessel was close to the Titanic wreckage.
Minutes later, Polar Prince asks again if Titan sees them on their display.
Xinhua/Shutterstock
Titan then asks the Polar Prince if they are also at the bow, and Polar Prince says “making our way there … your position jumps significantly each ping” — which the ship repeats to the Titan at 10:36, only 11 minutes before losing contact with the submersible.
At 10:47, at a depth of about 3,350 meters and a pressure of 4,900 pounds per square inch, the Titan messages that they “dropped two wts,” referring to their weights — and contact is then lost almost immediately, at 10:47:32 a.m., according to the Coast Guard.
Four days later, some of the wreck of the Titan was found about 500 meters from the Titanic.
All five passengers died in the implosion: Nargeolet and another adventurer, Hamish Hardin; father and son Shahzada and Suleiman Dawood; and Stockton Rush, who co-founded OceanGate, the company operating the Titan.
OceanGate has since suspended its operations amid the ongoing investigation into what happened. According to the Associated Press, the company says it has cooperated fully with the government probes.
The Last Moments
The final moments of the Titan passengers have been the subject of much discussion.
Nargeolet’s family has claimed in a lawsuit that they experienced "terror and mental anguish" and were aware they were in danger before the implosion, though some outside experts have pushed back on this.
“The way a sub operates is that you load it up with weight at the top … so that on the surface it's heavy and that drags it down through the water column down to the bottom,” one expert tells PEOPLE.
But “as you are nearing the bottom, you want to slow down,” says this expert, who asked not to be quoted by name given the sensitivity of the investigation and legal issues surrounding it. “And so you release weight so that you are not as heavy, more neutrally buoyant, and that enables you to swim around the bottom using the minimum of energy.”
“People read that — oh, we dropping weight, they must be in trouble,” the expert says. “It's actually, no, they're just approaching the Titanic.”
Titan's Problems
The hearing also revealed that the Titan had a history of problems before the fatal dive. The Coast Guard presented evidence that Titan experienced 118 equipment issues over the course of 13 dives to the Titanic in 2021 and 2022. These issues included the front dome falling off when it was brought out of the sea, its thrusters failing at 3,500m down and, on one dive, its batteries dying and leaving passengers stuck inside for 27 hours.
A Company in Crisis
OceanGate, the manufacturer of the Titan, has faced scrutiny over its design choices, safety record, and adherence to regulations. Tony Nissen, the company's former engineering director, testified that he had voiced concerns about the integrity of the Titan's carbon fiber hull but was overruled by Stockton Rush, OceanGate's late CEO. Nissen said that Rush was difficult to work with and had the final word on most engineering decisions. "Stockton would fight for what he wanted and, even if it changed from day to day, he wouldn't give an inch," he said.
What's Next?
The Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation is expected to hear from as many as 10 former OceanGate employees, including co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein, and experts in marine safety and undersea exploration. The board has the authority to recommend civil penalties or make referrals for criminal prosecution to the US Department of Justice. The investigation is expected to take several months, but the hearing will provide a crucial glimpse into what happened in the final moments of the Titan and what can be done to prevent such tragedies in the future.
