Mr. Stern, a planetary scientist with a background in aeronautics, said he was unaware of some of the concerns that have come to light since the accident, such as the message sent by submarine experts.
He returns unharmed from the trip, impressed by the protocols.
“I fully realized that the implosion could be the way our dive ended,” Mr. Stern said. “My own estimation is that Titan has dived dozens of times—not all of them in Titanic—and to me, that was an empirical indication that they were running a very safe and reliable operation.”
Mr. Price recalled some of the analogies he had heard used on deck to explain what it would be like to be crushed by the intense pressure in the ocean depths. One was a Coca-Cola can that could be smashed with a sledgehammer. The last elephant was standing on one foot, and 100 other elephants stood above it.
Death will be instantaneous.
“In a harrowing way, it was reassuring,” Price said.
On the Polar Prince
All of the expeditions began in Saint John, Newfoundland, on the eastern edge of the North American continent, tucked deep into the claw of a narrow harbor.
The Dowds flew to Toronto on June 14th. A canceled flight to St. John’s gave them time to explore the city, but when the next day’s flight was delayed, they feared they’d miss the Titanic altogether.
“We were actually so worried, like, ‘Oh my God, what if they cancel that trip, too?'” Mrs. Dawood said. In hindsight, I obviously wish they had.
They arrived at midnight and headed straight for Polar Prince, a former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker built in 1959 and used by OceanGate this year.
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