The journey to the bottom of the ocean to visit the wreck of the Titanic is unforgettable but terrifying, says one of the few people who has visited the remains of what was once the largest ship in the world.
Tom Zaller, chief executive of the company that organizes the Titanic exhibit, said the trip to the wreck in a small submersible, like the one that disappeared Sunday in the North Atlantic, is progressively cold and dark.
“As you go lower and lower, it gets darker,” he told AFP while describing his journey 23 years ago.
“When you start coming down from the surface, it’s warm inside. But as you go down, it gets colder.”
Zalle, whose exhibit reopens to the public in Los Angeles on June 30, said he desperately hoped the missing vessel would be found before it ran out of oxygen, which is expected to be Thursday.
The 6.5-meter-long submersible, which was carrying five people, including tourists and crew, stopped communicating with its mother ship less than two hours after beginning its descent.
On board the submersible, named Titan, are British billionaire Hamish Harding and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and her son Suleman, who also have British citizenship, and who paid $250,000 for each position on the voyage.
Stockton Rush, chief executive of OceanGate, the company that operates the submersible, and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, nicknamed “Mr. Titanic” for his several forays into the wreck, are also inside the small ship.
The Captain’s Bath
More than two decades ago, Zaller traveled to the site, 400 miles from the nearest shoreline, as part of a research voyage aboard a Russian vessel that had two submersibles.
Organized by Zaller’s company, “Titanic: The Exhibit” reproduces some interiors of the famous ship that sank on its maiden voyage, and is an immersive experience filled with history and artifacts.
“The submersible is a two-meter-wide pressurized sphere,” he said of the vehicle in which he lowered himself to the seabed. “There is a pilot’s seat in the center, and two benches on each side with three holes.”
“At the top is the main entrance, and when you enter the sub you lock it from the inside. There’s another lock from the outside, so once you’re in, there’s no going back. It’s a compromise.”
The submersible falls into the water from the ship’s deck and falls into the blue sea that quickly turns black as it begins to sink.
For two and a half hours there is virtually nothing to see as the little ship conserves its electricity for use on the seabed.
Upon reaching the bottom, the submersible moves the mud.
“When you look out the window, it looks a little cloudy. And then as you start to ride, when you’re floating, you start to sail forward, it’s like you’re going through these clouds.”
“And you stay in this perfectly calm environment at the bottom of the ocean, you know, about 12,000 feet below the surface, and there you see wreckage, a giant piece of the Titanic.”
“And there you see a cup or a teapot, and then you see where the side of the ship moved and you see Captain Smith’s bathtub full of water.”
“Scared”
Zaller, who had no experience in this type of expedition, said he was nervous during his trip to the seabed, despite the obvious professionalism and dedication of the crew in charge of the trip.
“But you’re sending a tiny submersible almost 4 kilometers deep, which is incredibly complicated and technical,” he said.
“It’s a sphere that doesn’t look very sophisticated.”
“I brought a video camera and recorded a video of myself. Watching him afterwards, I saw that he was completely terrified.”
Zaller has known diver Nargeolet for decades, and was in contact with Rush just before he embarked on the recent voyage.
Keeping an eye on the news, he says he maintains hope that everything will turn out well.
“I was in that submersible for twelve hours with everything going according to plan,” he said. “They’ve been there for almost four days, I can’t even imagine.”
“I hope and pray that they are okay and that they are found.”