When five men died on June 18, 2023, in the implosion of the Titanic submersible during a dive at the Titanic's resting place, Paul-Henri Nargeolet was also passed out. It was Nargeolet's 38th dive to the sunken liner. Known as Mr. Titanic, he helped recover thousands of artifacts that have been exhibited in museums and events around the world.
A year later, the company for which he worked as director of underwater research is preparing a July expedition which will employ a couple of robots instead of people in submersibles who will search for more treasures to uncover in the future.
Jessica Sanders, president of the RMS Titanic, which is organizing the expedition, said: “Artifact recovery is an art and a human element that technology can never replace, and it should not.” He said Nargeolet had embodied that kind of experience.
On the other hand, he said that the results of the robotic expedition “will speak for themselves.”
The plans of Nargeolet's former employers show one of the most immediate effects of the Titan disaster: a prioritization of robots to ply the frozen depths instead of humans piloting submersibles. Robots are considered safer.
In parallel, however, players in the world of submersibles are pushing for greater international regulation to avoid another disaster. They want to close the loophole that OceanGate, Titan's maker, exploited to bypass voluntary safety certifications that the industry uses to reduce substantial risks to deep divers.
The many fans of human-piloted submersibles want to ensure that Mr. Nargeolet's legacy leads the way for a new generation of explorers. That could include future human pilots recovering more of the Titanic's remains and paraphernalia (rivets, fine china, champagne bottles) that lie scattered about three square miles of the seabed of the North Atlantic.
On his last dive, Nargeolet hoped to glimpse one of his long-time recovery goals: the wireless telegraph which transmitted the Titanic's distress calls. Responding ships rescued hundreds of survivors, including women and children, in lifeboats. In his autobiographyNargeolet said the wreckage of the Titanic around the famous telegraph is likely to “collapse in the short term,” making its rescue “even more urgent.”
James Cameron, known for “Titanic,” his 1997 film, is also in favor of recovering the telegraph. “Exposing that instrument to the public would be very moving for millions of museum visitors,” he said in an interview last year.
In 1987, when Nargeolet made his first dive on the Titanic, underwater robots were rare. So Effects of the Cold War It caused their skills and numbers to skyrocket. Robert D. Christ of the Marine technology Society, a industrial groupHe said that they now number in the thousands and that perhaps a hundred or so could descend into the depths of the Titanic, more than two miles deep.
Large underwater robots are packed with lights, computers, video cameras, mapping systems, sensors and manipulator arms. Most have long tethers that bind them to the motherships. Above, operators use joysticks and monitors to orchestrate the action below.
The July expedition to the Titanic, which is about 370 miles from Newfoundland, Canada, will feature two diving machines from the Chouest group, a Louisiana-based family of companies that serves the offshore oil industry. In May, Announced the acquisition of another company, which expanded its underwater fleet to more than 100 robots.
“For several years I have been perplexed why anyone continues to build deep submersibles,” said Tyler Schilling, an industry pioneer who founded Shilling Robotics in Davis, California, he said, referring to ships piloted by humans. “I think the Titan situation is the only reasonable response: people want adventure.”
The adventure factor, say submersible sponsors, is real and healthy because it helps generate broad public appreciation for the wonders of the world's oceans.
A new generation of human-piloted submersibles is seen adding to the appeal. Known as bubble submarines, they have transparent plastic spherical hulls that give their occupants impressive panoramic views rather than glimpses through small windows.
Now a bubble submarine strong enough to withstand the crushing pressures at the depths of the Titanic is taking shape. Triton Submarines, a company in Sebastian, Florida, is designing the submarine for Larry Connor, an Ohio billionaire and ocean adventurer. Triton facebook.com/tritonsubs/” title=”” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>says will set a record for the depth to which a bubble submarine can descend.
The new submersible aims to show the world that, unlike last year's disaster, underwater vessels can safely and repeatedly venture to the depths of the Titanic.
“A few years ago, something like this wasn't possible,” Patrick Lahey, president of Triton Submarines, said of the new submarine. But technological advances, he added, “allow us to do it safely.”
For example, Lahey said, continued advances in heating and shaping thermoplastic materials will allow Triton to make the submersible's transparent walls incredibly strong. The thickness of it, he said, will be 16 inches, a record. Lahey added that the two-person ship will make its ocean debut in early 2026.
Triton as a company takes pride about what the Titan submersible was missing — expensive rounds of inspection and testing performed by respected marine organizations that specialize in certifying the safety of underwater vessels. It's an industry-wide code of conduct that experts now say needs to become a global requirement because Titan's makers skipped the voluntary step.
“It has to be mandatory,” Alfred S. McLaren, a retired Navy submariner, submersible pilot and president emeritus of the Explorers Club, said of the proposed improvement. “Until these testing and certification rules are implemented, it's an open sea and stupid things are going to happen.”
Will Kohnenwho chairs the Submarine Committee of the Marine technology Society, agreed. “We have the technology up to date,” he said. “We don't need to prove that we are safe. “What we need is a regulatory framework that controls traffic and checks if people have their driver's licenses.”
Kohnen said that about 200 human-piloted submersibles now ply the world's oceans (a small fraction of the deep-sea robot population) and that only about 10 could descend to the depths of the Titanic.
Until the Titan disaster, submersibles had a notable safety record because companies complied with the voluntary code. Despite thousands of deep dives, no person in a submersible died while diving into the sunless depths of the ocean.
Experts say government investigations into the causes of Titan's implosion will likely need to be concluded before new rules for submersibles are drawn up. This month, the head of the American investigation, Captain Jason D. Neubauer of the Coast Guard, said the conclusions of his investigation and its publication could take another year or two.
The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency that sets standards for maritime safety, has declared which is waiting for such findings before addressing the issue of global regulation of submersibles.
“People will accept the change,” Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University in North Carolina, said of the new regulation. “Everyone has safety in mind.”
Following the Titan disaster, echoing the new caution, the RMS Titanic decided to take a break its reliance on piloted ships “until further investigations are conducted” into the cause of the implosion.
Sanders, president of RMS Titanic, said new confidence in the safety of submersibles would allow her company to once again employ piloted vehicles, particularly for the difficult task of recovering the telegraph that sent Titanic's distress calls.
A first version of the recovery plan order a piloted vehicle to work with three robots on an expedition to recover the legendary device.
With robots and submersibles, Sanders said, his company's overall goal is to make sure the gems of the historic ocean liner “are not lost at sea a second time.”
