Titan sub implosion: Calls to end ‘Titanic tourism’ to wreck site

Eight Harland & Wolff workers died during her construction, seemingly a small price to pay to create the biggest and most luxurious vessel of its time.

Deemed “unsinkable”, the ocean liner confidently steamed out of Southampton, England with a passenger list that included some of the world’s richest and most famous names, in addition to second and third class ticket holders and a large, dedicated crew.   

More than 2200 souls were aboard and approximately 1500 of them perished when she struck an iceberg and sank to the depths of the icy North Atlantic on April 15, 1912.

Many factors and theories abound as to why there was such a tremendous loss of life, ranging from mismanaged evacuation and too few lifeboats to class restrictions, freezing temperatures and missed communications between ships. 

Were there design flaws in the ship itself? 

Had the captain recklessly ignored ice warnings in favour of brazenly ploughing his ship forward at dangerous speeds?

If ever there was a flagrant example of “pride goeth before a fall”, it was the fate of the RMS Titanic.

Well over a century later, the lure of Titanic has caused further loss of life as the world witnessed last week, when the deep sea submersible, Titan, imploded on its journey to tour the shipwreck.

Five people died in the incident, some 488 meters from the bow of the Titanic, 4km beneath the surface.

The wealthy passengers aboard this vessel were piloted by a man who believed the expedition was “safer than crossing the street”.

Also, as in the original incident, the loved ones they leave behind are also victims: forced to endure not only the pain of loss, but ongoing post-traumatic stress.

In fact, contrary to romantic dramatisations of Titanic’s story, there were no “happily ever afters” for those who survived.

Lives were forever changed and, sadly, Titanic enthusiasts are still learning the lessons of hubris.

Even filmmaker James Cameron, who himself made 33 submersible dives to tour the Titanic shipwreck, likened last week’s catastrophe to the original scenario he recreated in the blockbuster 1997 motion picture.

He said, “I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field”.

Ironically, it is Cameron’s film, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, and his unbridled enthusiasm for deep sea exploration that feeds the frenzy of “Titanic Tourism”, which ultimately led to dangerous and risky operations like the one that destroyed the Titan.

As played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in his movie, Jack and Rose were fictional characters straight out of a soap opera, but they captivated audiences into sentimentalising the Titanic story for generations who, stunningly, might not even recognise that it was an actual historical event.

Fans are as quick to cosplay Captain Smith or the “unsinkable” Molly Brown as they would Captain America or Princess Leia.

The founder and curator of the quirky Museum of Failure, Swedish psychologist Samuel West, even included Titanic in his exhibition, saying “it failed horribly”.

The whole point of his project was to illustrate that fear of failure is an obstacle to innovation. So why is history repeating itself, especially as it pertains to the Titanic?

With companies like Titanic: Hope and Glory, which digitally recreates the ship with stunning historical accuracy, touring exhibits and the amazing Titanic Belfast museum in Northern Ireland at the site of the actual ship’s creation, there is no shortage of opportunities for “Titaniacs” to indulge in their passion for the ship, without risking life and limb in the process.

Historian L.A. Beadles PhD hosts a Titanic-themed podcast, Unsinkable, and says “I’m not sure humans have a place there moving forward. Technology allows us to watch it, but perhaps we should let it lie peacefully now”.

Let us also not forget that the shipwreck is also a graveyard for all the souls who perished aboard her as well as the five latest casualties.

We can only hope that they did not suffer and can perhaps take comfort in knowing that they were on an adventure of their own choosing.

I asked esteemed Irish historian Gareth Russell, author of the excellent The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era (2019), to weigh in, and he told me, “Every year, hundreds of tourists visit the Canadian cemeteries where the recovered bodies of the Titanic victims were buried in 1912”.

“This is not classed as disturbing the rest of the dead. The Tower of London and every major battlefield site are also places which stand as simultaneously tourist attractions and monuments to the departed.

“To some degree, insisting the Titanic be treated differently to every other major comparable site seems to elevate the dead of the Titanic disaster in a way we often don’t with many other historical tragedies.

“However, the extraction of artefacts – or objects of archaeological significance, as its defenders would describe them – from the Titanic site is more controversial and certainly there are valid concerns that this goes far beyond what would have been tolerated at any other site of historical significance.

“The visits to the Titanic are also wildly dangerous, as we have sadly seen this week, and knew for years. The morality of the dives is in the eye of the beholder, but the danger of them is clear to nearly everybody.”

As a lifelong Titanic enthusiast myself, I thrilled to Dr Robert Ballard’s discovery of the wreck in 1985, and even considered applying to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to become a part of the exploration mission.

However, I have always resisted the disruption and salvage efforts that followed. Hypocritical, perhaps, when I can go to a museum and enjoy looking at items recovered from Egyptian pyramids or Aztec tombs, but somehow, Titanic and its human connection to us seems too recent, too familiar to warrant further interference with what little is left of her.

My colleague Alexandra Boyd, an actor who appeared in Cameron’s film and also made her own documentary entitled Ship of Dreams: Titanic Movie Diaries, says, “I find it mawkish that a place which is a gravesite for so many and a scientific discovery for others continues to draw the best and worst of mankind to her depths. Titanic is done giving up her secrets”.

Even the superfans agree, like Dale McCarthy in the UK, who makes museum-quality miniature replicas of Titanic-era wardrobe: “The legacy of Titanic will live on, without people constantly going down to explore her”.

Let Titanic finally rest in peace.

Nelson Aspen is an award-winning journalist and co-host of the Titanic Talk podcast. He lives in New York City.