Almost one year after the OceanGate Titan submersible implosion, another businessman is looking to make the same trip.
Larry Connor, a 73-year-old businessman and billionaire from Ohio, told the Wall Street Journal about his plans to prove that a dive to the Titanic wreckage site can be managed safely if proper engineering is employed.
Not long after the news of the OceanGate Titan’s suspected implosion broke in June 2023, Connor spoke with Triton Submarine’s CEO Patrick Lahey, who had gone on record to criticize OceanGate’s safety practices. He called its CEO “predatory,” and said that they could and should make something better.
Larry Connor, an entrepreneur and the founder of the Dayton, Ohio luxury real estate company The Connor Group, possesses a net worth of $2 billion, according to Forbes. He is a known explorer, and has already voyaged to the Mariana Trench and the International Space Station.
He has told news outlets that he wants to prove that a deep-sea submersible can be made, and an extensive trip can be accomplished, “without disaster.” Connor was quoted as telling The Wall Street Journal that he wants “to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way.”
Connor went on to tell The Wall Street Journal that he would be working with Triton Submarines, a company that builds submersibles for deep-sea travel. The trip will use the Triton 4000/2 “Abyss Explorer,” which has a $20 million price tag and is described as “the world’s deepest diving acrylic sub.” The two-person craft boasts the ability to descend over 13,000 feet (4,000 meters).
Lahey, the CEO, co-founded Triton with now-retired Bruce Jones. Lahey wants to accompany Connor on his mission, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade,” Connor told The Wall Street Journal. “But we didn’t have the materials and technology. You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago.”
However, even with the proper equipment, the shadow of the OceanGate disaster looms heavily. On June 18, 2023, five people boarded the Oceangate submersible to visit the Titanic wreckage that lies 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) underwater. It was OceanGate’s Expeditions’ third annual trip to the site, and according to the archived itinerary of the mission, each passenger paid $250,000 for the chance to view the wreckage.
On the submersible was British businessman Hamish Harding; Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, who were members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families; French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
The vessel was scrutinized for its design, which was made of carbon fiber and titanium and measured about 9 feet high, 8 feet long, and 22 feet wide. The submersible imploded on its way down to the ocean floor sometime after communication between the Titan and the mothership stopped 90 minutes into the trip. Debris from the Titan was found in five large parts on the sea floor about 1,6000 feet from the Titan’s bow, and the passengers were declared lost on June 22. Some human remains were eventually recovered.
