Chilling new audio, released publicly late last week, captures what researchers believe could be the exact moment the doomed Titan submersible imploded, instantly killing all five people inside the tiny vessel.
On Friday, Feb. 7, the U.S. Coast Guard shared the roughly 20-second clip as part of its ongoing investigation into the Titan’s demise.
The sub was on an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic on June 18, 2023, when tragedy struck.
The audio, recorded by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) device located approximately 1,400 kilometres from where the sub dropped off the radar — off the south coast of Newfoundland — captures a loud bang and an ominous whooshing noise, followed by eerie silence. The NOAA is calling the sounds a “suspected acoustic signature.”
In September of last year, coast guard officials revealed some of the last communications sent between the Titan sub and its support staff on board the Polar Prince, a former Canadian Coast Guard vessel that was chartered by OceanGate, the company that created the submersible.
“All good here,” read one of the final messages sent by the crew as the sub descended into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Titan lost contact with the Polar Prince more than an hour into its dive. The wreckage was found four days later after a desperate search, discovered only 300 metres from the bow of the Titanic.
Image of the wreck of the Titan sub, sticking upright in the sand on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
U.S. Coast Guard
It’s believed the message was written by Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a Titanic expert and deep-sea explorer who was serving as the sub’s co-pilot, alongside OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. Three other people were on board the tourist expedition: Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, both members of a wealthy Pakistani business family, and Hamish Harding, a British businessman and adventurer.
The submersible had been making trips to trips to the Titanic wreckage since 2021, but the 2023 disaster sparked questions about its safety and Rush’s business practices.
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The investigation has also found that the Titan had imperfections on its carbon fibre hull, dating back to the manufacturing process.
Don Kramer, an engineer with the National Transportation Safety Board, told the hearing last September that there were wrinkles, porosity and voids in the carbon fibre used for the pressure hull of the submersible and that the vessel behaved differently after a loud bang was heard on one of the dives a year before it imploded.
Hull pieces recovered from the sea floor after the June 2023 tragedy showed substantial delamination of the layers of carbon fibre, which were bonded to create the hull of the experimental submersible, Kramer said.
Carbon fibre is considered unreliable in deep water and was a highly unconventional building material. The hearing heard that each dive taken by the Titan likely compressed and damaged the vessel, making it weaker over time.
Kramer’s statements were followed by testimony from William Kohnen, a longtime submersibles expert and key member of the Marine Technology Society. While he helped to build the window for the Titan as part of the Hydrospace Group Company, Kohnen emerged as a critic of OceanGate in the aftermath of the implosion and has described the disaster as preventable.
Debris from the Titan submersible.
NTSB
Kohnen was one of several experts who sent a letter to Rush in 2018, warning of possible dangers with the Titan.
He told the hearing that OceanGate requested a flat window for visual benefits, despite recommending that an “arched” acrylic window would be structurally sound and what is usually used for underwater vessels.
The hearing heard that the window was only rated to a depth of 1,300 metres, but the Titan was making dives almost three times that depth.
Kohnen also pushed back on the idea that the Titan could not have been thoroughly tested before use because of its experimental nature. He also said OceanGate’s operations raised concerns among many people in the industry.
Kohnen said, “I don’t think many people ever told Stockton no.” He described Rush as not receptive to outside scrutiny.
“This is not something where we don’t want you to do it. We want you to do it right,” Kohnen said.
The coast guard is expected to submit a final report about the tragedy in the future.
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