Originally Posted by :
A search and rescue operation is currently underway to locate a submarine that went missing during an expedition to the Titanic.
The U.S. Coast Guard was looking for the submarine Monday morning after it disappeared during the expedition from St. John's, N.L. The infamous 1912 wreck is located more than 600 kilometres southeast of the province in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The trip to the Titanic was being run by OceanGate Expeditions, a U.S.-based company. It uses a five-person submersible named Titan to reach the wreckage 3,800 metres below the surface. OceanGate's website advertises a seven-night voyage to the Titanic for US$250,000 per person, or approximately CA$330,000.
"We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely," an OceanGate spokesperson said in an email to CTV News. "Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families."
Those tours are a series of five eight-day missions to the Titanic with the money raised by tourists going towards Titanic research. Posts on social media show the ship launched from the St. John's area last week.
Did they really have 5 people in this?? Or do they have a larger version??
Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
This whole search costs $$$. And while it is purposeful to help people out in need, you can't just consistently spend time and $$$ to try to rescue people in dire conditions that are in a vessel that cut corners on safety regulations.
Sure. Are we going to start banning rock climbing, hiking, backcountry skiing, etc.? Colorado spends a ton of money on search and rescue operations for all of those. Hell, half the reason the Coast Guard even exists is because of the need for search and rescue. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
I wonder what countries can do in the future to prevent this?
Since the voyage occurred in international waters, the only thing I could think of would be countries banning companies that have commercial vessels that aren't tested and certified from being on their soil/water?
There really isn't a way to prevent this. Its hard to regulate what happens in international waters. Whaling can be somewhat regulated because the ships bring the whales back to shore. Even then, Japan sends out whaling ships and gives the finger to the UN. What is the UN going to do? Impose sanctions? Let's check in with Russia and Iran and North Korea and China to see how well that works.
The ship would not have been able to operate in US or Canadian waters because it was not certified and was carrying passengers. But if the ship isn't made to be sold, it doesn't need a certification. Planes are the same way. You can build your own experimental plane from a kit and fly it yourself with no certification or certificate of soundness. You can fly friends and family. But you cannot charge people to fly in it unless its certified.
The reality is that stopping something like this via regulation would be very difficult. I mean, let's say the US would not let the company land their ships in US ports. You think Iceland or Greenland would stop them? Even if you could stop a ship from visiting Titanic b/c no country would host the docking ship, the Mariana Trench is in the east pacific. You think Papa New Guineau would stop a ship from running submersibles to the Mariana Trench if the submersible did not meet US Coast Guard standards? Doubtful. And with the money being charged for trips, it would take comparatively little to add a 'docking fee' that was paid directly to New Guinea inspectors/govt officials to allow docking. This would apply to countless WWII wrecks littered throughout the Pacific ocean. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Sure. Are we going to start banning rock climbing, hiking, backcountry skiing, etc.? Colorado spends a ton of money on search and rescue operations for all of those. Hell, half the reason the Coast Guard even exists is because of the need for search and rescue.
In those instances you mention, those commonly happen (if people read signs correctly and don't do shit in areas where there are ginormous signs that say DON'T GO HERE) in national parks or territory within the U.S.
This accident happened in international waters and involved noble rescue efforts from three countries.
I think there's a difference between a cargo ship in international waters that's up to code and being in peril vs an experimental vessel that had its operator blatantly ignore safety codes and being in trouble in international waters.
Originally Posted by frozenchief:
There really isn't a way to prevent this. Its hard to regulate what happens in international waters. Whaling can be somewhat regulated because the ships bring the whales back to shore. Even then, Japan sends out whaling ships and gives the finger to the UN. What is the UN going to do? Impose sanctions? Let's check in with Russia and Iran and North Korea and China to see how well that works.
The ship would not have been able to operate in US or Canadian waters because it was not certified and was carrying passengers. But if the ship isn't made to be sold, it doesn't need a certification. Planes are the same way. You can build your own experimental plane from a kit and fly it yourself with no certification or certificate of soundness. You can fly friends and family. But you cannot charge people to fly in it unless its certified.
The reality is that stopping something like this via regulation would be very difficult. I mean, let's say the US would not let the company land their ships in US ports. You think Iceland or Greenland would stop them? Even if you could stop a ship from visiting Titanic b/c no country would host the docking ship, the Mariana Trench is in the east pacific. You think Papa New Guineau would stop a ship from running submersibles to the Mariana Trench if the submersible did not meet US Coast Guard standards? Doubtful. And with the money being charged for trips, it would take comparatively little to add a 'docking fee' that was paid directly to New Guinea inspectors/govt officials to allow docking. This would apply to countless WWII wrecks littered throughout the Pacific ocean.
You do bring up a good point that's a whack-a-mole solution. I'm just saying (aside from death) there probably is some way to discourage vessels that aren't adherent to code from either: 1. Being used for commercial purposes. 2. If they are used for commercial purposes, to not be able to expect help unless it's commercialized. Otherwise, aside from the people who spend enormous amounts of money for these trips, this dangerous behavior is encouraged.
I guess what I'm saying is you know how for some events, facilities hire private security? Do something like that for vessels that aren't up to code-which would raise the cost to operate these vessels an absurd amount to where it basically forces the operator to be certified if it wants to be profitable. [Reply]
I will share a couple of things growing up though.
My mom's birthday was November 20th. One day I asked her when it will fall on Thanksgiving. She replied it can't. I couldn't get my head around that one for a few years.
Another time, the night before the daylight savings time "fall back", I asked dad what time should I set the alarm clock for to get up to go hunting. He said just leave it alone, it's the same time. That one took me longer.
Originally Posted by ChiefaRoo:
Imagine getting smooshed down to the size of a softball. I wonder if the pressure turns you into a sphere? Anyone know?
I don't believe so.
My memory is that it's centrifugal force that does that. Because it creates a sort of gravitational pull that takes anything further away and tries harder to 'pull' it in. So the nature of gravity and centrifugal force combined is what tries to pull everything into a central point, makes it relatively equidistant from the center and thus a sphere is formed.
Here I think the shape's going to be more akin to an egg cooked on a hot rock...then another hot rock gets dropped on top of it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
So the nature of gravity and centrifugal force combined is what tries to pull everything into a central point, makes it relatively equidistant from the center and thus a sphere is formed.
Ah. So it's like the angle of the dangle is directionally proportional and congruent to the heat of the beat. [Reply]
