US Coast Guard Searching For Missing Vessel Carrying Guests To View The Titanic Wreckage

Author Melanie Day

June 19th, 2023 1:38 PM

I didn’t know this was an option. And if I had heard about it before this incident, I would have had this on my bucket list for sure. Pending I had money to burn. Like most kids my age I went through a massive Titanic phase. Why were elementary school students in the 90s so obsessed with a tragic accident from almost 100 years earlier? Who knows but I definitely was. But now another tragic, perhaps accident, has taken place surrounding the infamous White Star Line ocean liner. WFLA News out of Florida is reporting that The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a search off the coast of Newfoundland for a missing vessel that was carrying guests to view the resting place of the Titanic.

The Missing Vessel

The missing vessel is owned by Ocean Gate Expeditions. According to their website have been operating this expedition yearly since 2021. Tourists, who pay around 100,000 for the voyage and help fund it, go alongside the company’s researchers. The purpose is to document the wreckage through photos and video, as well as study the site and how it’s being integrated into the ocean. The wreckage of the Titanic is located about 380 nautical miles south of Newfoundland and lies 12,800 feet beneath the ocean. Ocean Gate Expeditions has confirmed that the vessel is missing and issued a statement to BBC News saying, “We are exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families.”

They have not confirmed the exact number of passengers on board the missing vessel that was visiting the Titanic wreckage. They also do not know exactly where it was when it disappeared. BBC News reports that the vessel has been in “life support” mode for over 96 hours. While this certainly does not sound good, I hope that the vessel is located and that the crew is safe. There was enough tragedy surrounding the supposedly unsinkable ship, no one else should have to die surrounding it.

10 Titanic Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

**About the ship and the film**

• Lifeboats

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  Everyone knows one of the biggest problems with the Titanic was the lack of available lifeboats. The ship was said to be "unsinkable", and it was said it looked "too cluttered" with the full capacity of 32 boats. Instead there were 20 lifeboats on board. But did you know if those boats had been filled to capacity 1178 could have fit on them. Instead more than 1500 of the 2,240 people on board perished that night.

• Cost

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  When it was constructed the ship cost $7.5 million. Adjusted to today that price would be over $183 million. And it wasn't able to complete even one voyage.

• The Grand Staircase

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  One of the most memorable images of the ships interior is the Grand Staircase. The staircase was replicated for the movie, featuring some of the most iconic moments of the film. When it came time to film the destruction of it, well it had to be done in one take. This is because the staircase was actually destroyed by the water.
• A First Class Ticket

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  Titanic was the most luxurious ship ever made. And this was most evident in the first class areas. How much did a first class ticket cost? Adjusted for modern prices first class tickets ranged from about $1700 to upwards of $50,000. Something tells me Rose's suite was on that upper end. But as far as real passengers go you had the richest of the rich. This is included John Jacob Astor, Molly Brown, and Benjamin Guggenheim.

• ‘The Movie and The Ship

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  We've talked about how much the ship cost to build. But lets put that into perspective of how successful the movie was. The film grossed over $2.2 billion. That's enough to rebuild the ship 20 times over.

• The Iceberg

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  Many things led up to the crash with iceberg and the ships demise. But time wasn't on their side that night. In fact, the time from the first sighting to the collision was only 37 seconds.
• Alcohol

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  We see in the movie that there was plenty of alcohol on board Titanic. How much? For starters there were There were 20,000 bottles of beer and 1,500 bottles of wine. I'd honestly expect more!

• Artifacts

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  More than 6,000 artifacts have been recovered the site of the wreck. Some have been sold to private collectors and others are part of several exhibits in countries all over the world. This includes dishes, personal items, pieces of the ship, instruments, and more.

• In Theaters

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  The movie was one of the most successful of all time. In fact, it was released in theaters on December 19, 1997 and remained there for 10 months. The run of engagement ended October 1, 1998 more than 10 months later. In fact, the VHS had already been released at that time.
• The Real Jack Dawson

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  The main characters of James Cameron's movie are fictional, though many of the secondary characters were real people. But there in fact was a "J Dawson" on board Titanic. Jack was not based on him though, James Cameron didn't discover this fact until after the film's release.

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Author Melanie Day

Category:

• Human Interest
• Lifestyle
• Local
• News
• Travel

Tags:

Canada,Local,North Carolina,Titanic,Tragedy