Last year's disaster of the Titan submarine owned by the American company OceanGate did not deter billionaires ready to take people on a submarine trip to the Titanic wreck.
Now this feat will be attempted by Ohio billionaire, Larry Connor, who apparently has not learned any lessons from the Titan implosion. As a result, five passengers died underwater, including two other billionaires.
To implement his bold idea, real estate agent Larry Connor turned to Patrick Lahey, CEO of commercial submarine company Titan Submarines. He called him a few days after the Titan boat disaster, asking about creating a boat that could reach the Titanic wreck, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
As a result of this conversation, a two-person submersible vessel was constructed. Its name is Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer. According to its specifications, it is capable of submerging to a depth of approximately 4,000m, i.e. 200 m further than the wreck of the Titanic.
Connor argues that Triton is made of materials that were not previously available. The same applies to the technologies used for this purpose.
"Patrick has been thinking about designing something like this for over a decade. But we didn't have the right materials and technology. It couldn't have been built five years ago."
Now, together with Lahey, they intend to prove to everyone that a commercial vessel can safely reach the famous wreck. As they emphasise, there is no comparison between the design of the Triton and the Titan, which in their opinion was built of too experimental materials.
"I want to show people around the world that although the ocean can be extremely powerful, it can also be wonderful and give great joy, as well as a unique feeling of changing your life, if you approach such a journey in the right way," explains Connor.
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Lahey realises that not everyone thinks the same way. "The Titan tragedy had a chilling effect on people interested in such boats. It brought back the old myths that only crazy people would dive into something like this."
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This article was originally published on Onet Travel.