DEADLY TITANIC DIVE

THEY WERE ON AN EXCLUSIVE TRIP IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN TO THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS SHIPWRECK WHEN DISASTER STRUCK. NOW THE CREW OF THE TITAN ARE PART OF A TRAGIC LEGACY

- K.C. BAKER

Not unlike the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic in 1912, the excursion promised to be a once-in-a-lifetime thrill. OceanGate Expeditions cofounder and CEO Richard Stockton Rush III, 61, had invited passengers to experience the rarest of adventures: traveling down into the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean in the Titan, the 22-ft. submersible he built, to view the corroding grandeur of the ill-fated luxury liner in its watery grave. "Gliding over the Titanic, descending to the grand staircase and seeing a crystal chandelier still hanging is a thing of immense beauty and tragedy," says explorer Fred Hagen, a 2022 Titan passenger. "It takes your breath away."

On the morning of June 18, Rush was joined by Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, British Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman, 19, and billionaire British explorer Hamish Harding, 58-who had each reportedly secured a $250,000 ticket-in the cramped capsule sealed from the outside with 18 bolts. Weighed down by sandbags and pipes, the Titan slid off an underwater platform and began its two-and-a-half-hour descent to the storied wreck. While seeing it close was "life-altering," says Hagen, "nobody in their right mind goes three miles deep in the ocean in an experimental vehicle without realizing that there's the risk of death."

GRIM NEWS After a massive search that was watched around the globe, the U.S. Coast Guard announced on June 22 that everyone on board had died when the Titan imploded.