A spot on one of the summer missions will set you back US$250,000 (S$346,737)
Forget space. You can now take a trip to the most famous ship in maritime history for a cool six-figure sum.
OceanGate Expeditions is carrying out a series of dives to the sunken RMS Titanic this year and has invited qualified explorers along for the ride. The company of undersea explorers, scientists and filmmakers, which completed a successful inaugural expedition to the storied shipwreck in 2021, will be embarking on five missions during the summer of 2022 to further document the site before it’s gone forever.
The world’s largest luxury steamship struck an iceberg back in 1912 and subsequently sank 644 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. The 269-metre behemoth has since been quietly dissolving on the ocean floor for the past century as bacteria and underwater currents eat away at its remains. Expeditions like this provide vital insight into the current condition of the wreck and the rate of decay. It’s also a chance to see the vessel that scientists estimate will be completely gone by 2037.
Each 10-day mission kicks off with training and includes eight days at sea. The world’s largest deep-diving submersible, christened Titan, will then take three “mission specialists” (that’s you), a pilot and a researcher on a series of dives over 3600 metres to the remnants of the iconic liner. OceanGate says the schedule allows for up to five submersible dives on each mission. The dives can last for up to 10 hours each.
With the largest viewport of any deep-diving sub, multiple external cameras and a spate of other high-tech gadgets, Titan will allow the crew to gather as much information as possible on the Titanic and everyone aboard will have an active role in surveying the wreck.
“Honouring and remembering all those lost and impacted by the tragic sinking of the Titanic is an integral part of our efforts to study and document the wreck site,” Stockton Rush, president of OceanGate Expeditions, said in a statement. “We are mindful of the lessons learned in the sinking and look forward to what the Titanic will teach us over the next 110 years.”
The 2022 Titanic Expedition will start on June 15. There are a limited number of openings for this year’s missions and a spot will set you back US$250,000 (S$346,737). Aspiring mission specialists can contact OceanGate Expeditions for additional info. Oh, and there’s another expedition slated for next year if you miss out.
This story was first published on Robb Report USA
