Psalm 107:23-31
King James Version
23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
24 These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.
28 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
31 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Wonder if it is indeed from the submersible, will it be identifiable with pieces big enough to recognize and verify?
“I’m sorry, Captain. It can only be the ‘HORATIO’” —Worf, when encountering a debris field.
Can’t decide if I’d rather have gone down with the Titanic or been crushed to death on the Titan. Probably the later since at least be sudden and quick.
Besides we taxpayers, who else is going to pay for these search efforts?
It seems to me that those people who intentionally engage in highly risky adventures need to produce a bond to cover any search costs if a search is required.
If they do not produce a bond, then they must sign a waiver.
Don’t think Coast Guard would have released this info if it was incorrect.
Titanic has been surveyed so many times, they know where all Titanic debris
are and what is new debris.
“History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men.”
I hope it was quick and painless for them.
From another article on this incident: “When you’re talking 6,000 pounds per square inch, it is a dangerous environment. More people have been to outerspace than to this depth of the ocean.” This sub operator was incredibly reckless.
They certainly seem to have known exactly where to look. It takes time to move this CG vessel, and then they were able to immediately go right to the spot and find it.
Memories of Thresher
There is some question whether they were describing a NEW debris field or if they were describing THE debris field from the titanic. Journalism sucks these days and people have a hard time communicating accurately.
Hopefully a “reporter” asks for clarification at 3pm.
When they first announced finding a “debris field”, I was thinking that it was debris floating on the surface. Now I realize it’s a debris field on the ocean’s bottom. Could be from Titanic, could be from Titan.
I guess we’ll have to wait until they tell us…
Keep a lookout for 497 1/2 feet of rope.
To me, finding a debris field means that the submersible almost certainly imploded, if the debris is in fact from that craft, which should be easy to determine.
If they were 1 hour 45 minutes into a 2.5 hour descent, their depth was somewhere around 8750 feet, thus the external pressure would have been approximately 3900 PSI. From what I read about the failure properties of carbon fiber, it occurs instantly and catastrophically. This vehicle had been on previous dives, thus the carbon fiber no doubt experienced some level of cyclic stress, meaning that minute weaknesses likely developed with the slight compression and expansion, however small, which happens due to such pressure extremes.
Understand that things which our minds think of as rigid actually flex quite a bit when exposed to large forces. Standard high pressure cylinders such as those used for scuba diving, commercial gases, etc must be hydrostatically tested every few years. The way they test them is to submerge them in a precision calibrated water-filled testing vessel. The tank is then pumped up to a certain pressure, and the amount of water which spills out due to the amount that the tank expanded under that pressure is carefully measured. If the amount of water exceeds the established safety limits, then the tank is considered to be unsafe, having “failed hydro”, and is removed from service.
Back in the 1980s one of the major scuba cylinder manufacturers used a different aluminum alloy for some of their 3000 PSI tanks. Eventually some of these tanks started failing under pressure, sometimes catastrophically (as in exploding) causing at least one fatality. Analysis revealed that over time, repeated filling and use of the tanks was causing tiny cracks to form around the neck of the tank, but inside the metal where they could not be seen by a normal visual inspection. The phenomenon was called Sustained Load Cracking (SLC). Tanks made from this alloy were pulled from service, and in fact the manufacturer offered a swap program for them. While it was technically possible to detect SLC through the use of a testing device which generated an electrical current through the tank, overal the recreational diving industry pretty much refused to fill these tanks any longer. I myself owned one, and when I learned about SLC, I immediately scrapped it. One does not take chances with high pressure, or with the ocean.
As another example of the effects of pressure on seemingly rigid objects: A charter captain with whom I used to dive had a son in the US Navy submarine service. He got to go on a short dive when they did a special cruise for immediate families. He said one of the most eye-opening things was when they had him tie a string taut from one side of a compartment to the other, prior to descent. At depth, they took him back to that same compartment, and the string was hanging down loosely, halfway to the deck. That’s how much the submarine had compressed due to the external pressure, and this is only a fraction of the depths we’re talking about here at the Titanic site.
Under these extreme pressures, close to 4000 PSI, and with carbon fiber failures occurring catastrophically and pretty much instantaneously, the implosion would probably happen in a few milliseconds. Human reaction time is 150 milliseconds at minimum, so this would almost certainly be a literal case of the event being over before they even knew it was happening.
This is a tragedy no matter what the mechanics were, but compared to spending days in the dark, freezing at 37° as the oxygen supply slowly ran out, implosion is a far better way to go.
If this did in fact happen at around 8750 ft, there would no doubt be some spreading and drift of the debris, due to the significant currents which are usually found at this site. And of course lighter materials such as carbon fiber fragments would drift farther. However, in my opinion the telltale objects, and those probably most likely to be found, are the titanium end caps. Those would survive an implosion mostly intact, and should provide a solid return on a side scan sonar, if the ROVs being used are so equipped, as they probably are. Plus, they are large, thus would be more easily spotted by visual means as well. The metal “skids” beneath the hull should also survive relatively intact, and would provide further positive identification.
It will be interesting to hear the details of what was found when the announcement is made.