A year after OceanGate implosion, another billionaire plans to take Titanic expedition
NEW YORK — Another billionaire is planning to take a submersible to the site of the Titanic — the same destination to which OceanGate’s Titan sub was headed last year before it imploded, killing all five people onboard.
Ohio real estate investor Larry Connor told The Wall Street Journal that his expedition, in a $20 million, two-person Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, is intended to rebrand submersible seafaring.
“I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way,” said the founder of the Connor Group, who boasts a net worth of $2 billion, according to Forbes.
Connor did not detail when exactly he plans to take the plunge, but said he’ll be going with Triton Submarines co-founder Patrick Lahey — whom he contacted about recreating Titan’s dive in the days after the doomed vessel’s implosion — to prove that a journey to the Titanic site is both possible and safe.
The Triton sub is set to dive more than 12,400 feet (2.3 miles) to the shipwreck of the Titanic, whose 1912 sinking left more than 1,500 dead.
The 22-foot Titan submersible made its descent into the Atlantic Ocean at 8 a.m. ET on June 18 — Father’s Day — and lost contact with the surface about an hour and 45 minutes later on its way to view the Titanic wreckage.
The U.S. Coast Guard ultimately concluded that debris belonging to the sub had been discovered on the ocean floor and, in addition to being consistent with “a catastrophic implosion,” contained “presumed human remains.”
The victims included OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, British billionaire Hamish Harding and explorer Paul-Henri “Mr. Titanic” Nargeolet.
Though it initially continued to advertise Titanic expeditions, OceanGate suspended “all exploration and commercial operations” the following month.
