Record Submersible Dive Made in Preparation for Titanic Survey

OceanGate has broken a deep-sea diving record by transporting a crew of four on an abyssal descent of nearly 4,000 meters. There is only a handful of submersibles in the world that can reach these depths, and OceanGate’s Titan is the only submersible capable of carrying five people beyond a depth of 3,000 meters.

The dive, which was validated by a representative from Lloyd’s Register, took two hours to reach the ocean floor at approximately 2.34 miles beneath the surface outside Little Harbor near the Great Abaco Island in The Bahamas. In addition to submersible pilot, Stockton Rush, Joel Perry, President, OceanGate Expeditions, Karl Stanley, owner of Roatan Institute of Deepsea Exploration, and Petros Mathioudakis, Field Technician, 2G Robotics, joined the record-breaking dive. 

The dive crew spent an hour capturing 4K images and testing the 2G Robotics underwater laser scanner while conducting a survey of the ocean floor. The images, video and data captured will be used as real-world calibration for the Titanic Survey Expedition that OceanGate Expeditions has planned for June through August this year.

“This dive was another important step toward opening deepsea exploration to more people and places. We are developing technologies and designing submersibles and infrastructure that is making underwater exploration more accessible than ever before,” said Stockton Rush, CEO and Chief Pilot, OceanGate.

OceanGate is improving submersible safety with its proprietary real time monitoring system that constantly monitors hull integrity throughout every dive and its patented launch and recovery platform that permits the use of smaller vessels and eliminates the need for divers in the water during launch and recovery. 

Titan’s carbon fiber hull means it can accommodate up to five crew members, while being lighter than any other deep diving submersible. A smaller and lighter submersible allows OceanGate to use smaller topside support vessels and means the submersible, its platform and support systems can be transported anywhere in the world in standard shipping containers.

Beginning June 2019, Titan will transport citizen explorers to a depth of 3,800 meters to explore the RMS Titanic during the first manned mission to the historic site since 2005. The 2019 Titanic Survey Expedition is nearly fully booked with only a few remaining spaces available. The company is accepting applications for 2020.