Billionaire Larry Connor is set to lead a groundbreaking deep-sea expedition to the Titanic’s wreckage. This follows the tragic implosion of the Titan submersible. Connor, an Ohio-based real estate mogul, plans to dive over 12,400 feet using a state-of-the-art submersible.
Connor will team up with Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines. Lahey has developed the $20 million Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, a two-person submersible built for multiple safe, deep-sea missions.
Their goal is to prove that deep-sea exploration can be safe. This comes after the June disaster involving the Titan submersible, which killed all five on board, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
Connor expressed his vision to the Wall Street Journal: “I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can also be wonderful and life-changing if approached correctly.”
“Patrick has been planning and designing this for over a decade,” Connor added. “We didn’t have the materials and technology before. Such a submersible couldn’t have been built five years ago.”
A Tragic Failure
The Titan submersible imploded en route to the Titanic on June 18, instantly killing five people, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and four others. Concerns about the Titan’s safety had been raised due to OceanGate’s decision to bypass certification from established safety bodies like the American Bureau of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas in Europe.
