Shipwreck expert says Titanic wreckage site should be federally protected

A leading Canadian marine oceanographer and shipwreck expert says tourism access to the Titanic wreck site should be limited following the Titan sub tragedy.

Rob Rondeau has been studying shipwrecks for more than 25 years and believes the U.S. government needs to implement more oversight and restrictions around diving vessels.

"Making sure that the vessels that are diving, especially if they are from the U.S., meet the standards to ensure that everyone on-board are safe,” said Rondeau, a marine archaeologist at Simon Fraser University and author of the bestseller Titanic Lives: On Board, Destination Canada.

"Clearly there wasn't enough oversight in this expedition," Rondeau said. "Because if there, given what we know now about the previous allegations of the (Titan) sub not being properly constructed, had there been that oversight, the submersible wouldn't have been allowed to go to the wreckage site in the first place."

Rondeau said there is a need for third-party oversight to inspect these vessels, like the Titan submersible, built by the U.S.-based OceanGate Expeditions, which is hailed as the "world’s only carbon-fibre submersible."

"If the company had sought independent oversight, it is likely this accident would not have happened," said Rondeau.

After a four-day search for the missing Titan sub, debris from the carbon-fibre sub was found near the Titanic wreckage site.

All five people onboard are presumed dead following the sub’s implosion. They include OceanGate CEO and Titan pilot Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, a billionaire and explorer, French explorer and oceanographer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman who are members of a prominent Pakistani family.

Titanic expert and St. John's resident Larry Daley is mourning the loss of his friend and colleague Paul-Henri Nargeolet. The pair had partnered on previous ocean expeditions together.

"The first expedition I did with PH was in 1998 and it was the first one I ever did in my life," said Daley, who dove to the Titanic wreckage site in 2003 in a Russian Mir submersible.

It was a 12-hour journey, said Daley, and the chance of a lifetime to travel the unimaginable depths.

"Down there I think it's between six and seven thousand PSI and at depth, you have a water column above you of almost 13 thousand feet and so it is a harsh environment to work in," said Daley.

Rondeau says there are only a dozen submersibles made that are capable of diving to the depths of the Titanic site.

"The wreck of the Titanic sits basically two and a half miles below the sea and it's an incredibly hostile environment," said Rondeau. "And as we saw even the smallest problems with the integrity of the hull can be catastrophic."

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced Friday afternoon that it was launching an investigation into the Titan's mother-ship, the Polar Prince, a Canadian-flagged vessel that launched the Titan into the Atlantic Ocean.

"The TSB (is) the investigation authority of the flag state of the support vessel," the Canadian board said in a statement, adding that its investigation will focus on "the circumstances of this operation conducted by the Canadian-flagged vessel Polar Prince."

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board announced earlier in that day that it was investigating the Titan tragedy and the implosion of the sub.