The Titan Submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions has gone missing on a trip to the titanic wreck site. The Polar Prince was serving as mothership for the Expedition.
we know know that the submersible went missing 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive. It takes around 2 hours to reach the titanic from the surface. dive preparations began around 4am Sunday morning, with the dive beginning at 6am, suggesting the submersible has been missing since 8am Sunday. the USCG indicated they were informed the submersible was missing Sunday afternoon. Word of the missing vessel got out around 10am AST Monday. The Titan submersible can support life for 96hours.
The Response is being co-ordinated by USCG NorthEast sector, based out of Boston. the USCG sent 2 c-130 aircraft to search the surface incase the submersible had surfaced. the 106th US Air national Guard also has c-130’s searching. the RCAF sent a C-130 to search, and a CP-140 Aurora was dispatched to deploy sonobouys to listen to for possible signs of the submersible. Polar Prince is equipped with sonar.
The CCGS Kolpit Hopson 1752 is on scene, the Horizon Arctic was initially dispatched, but has since turned back for St. John’s, replaced with the Skandi Vinland, equipped with an ROV.
the Titan Submersible is rated to 4000m (13123′) of depth. Its constructed of carbon fiber and titanium, and propelled by 4 innerspace 1002 electric thrusters. Titan is 23′ long, 9.2’wide, and 8.3’tall. it carries a pilot and crew of 4.
there are several possibilities as to what happened. the first possibility is an electrical issue, and the sub is unable to propel itself or surface. its possible the submersible is snagged on the wreck itself, and unable to move as a result. the last possibility is that the Titan suffered a structural failure, and was crushed.
Retired RN Rear Admiral Chris Parry indicated he has been contacted by a reliable informant who claims to have warned about structural issues in the Titan 5 weeks ago. Reporter David Pouge took a trip on Titan last year. That saw Titan go missing for several hours, though in that instance it was in communication with the mother ship. his stories are interesting, the sub is controlled by an xbox controller. Pouge indicates that Titan has several redundant systems to enable the submersible to surface, including air bladders and ballast. (Pouge’s report was for CBS, and it is available on Youtube, but not to Canada.
I have been maintaining a twitter thread on this story, continuously updated. This post will get updated, likely at the end of the day.
UPDATES:
on Tuesday it was reported that knocking was heard by the CP-140 aircraft. ROV searches were adjusted to focus on the area where the knocking was detected.
The USAF flew three c-17’s of equipment to St Johns, and it was loaded aboard the Horizon Arctic. the Equipment includes a Pelagic ROV system, and the USN’s Fly Away Salvage system. Horizon Arctic Sailed for the site at 5 am Wednesday, its a 20 hour sail.
Also due tonight is the french research vessel L’Atalante. It’s operated by French research institute Ifremer, and was requested by the USN. The Victor 6000 is an autonomous robot, good to 6000m.
More stories about Ocean Gate Expeditions have been coming out. First were the details of lawsuits with a former employee who was fired after raising safety concerns, including that the porthole manufacturer would only certify it to 1300m and not 4000. Additional Stories are coming out about previous passengers who took a trip on the submersible.
the 96hours of life support runs out Thursday morning. that is likely not a hard deadline, but time is running out for a rescue.
The Herring fleet has been back to calling in Halifax. Lady Melissa and and Morning Star both have put into port to offload at pier 9. Unlike previous years, where the ships hung out on the waterfront, they proceeded directly back to sea.
Low fish stocks have led to reductions in quota the past few years – the fleet was last here in 2019, though this year only the 2 vessels have called so far this year
I recently tweeted this map of the Tantalon fire burn scar, and offered up a post on how its made, if there was interest. There was, so here we go.
Sentinel-2 is an earth observation satellite (there are actually 2 in orbit) operated by the ESA. It offers 10m resolution (meaning each pixel is 10m on the ground), and passes over any given location every 5 days. 10m resolution is not super clear, but it is useful for looking at changes to the earth – like deforestation, Infilling of waterways, or tracking large fires.
The June 12th pass was the first over the Tantalon area with clear skies.
From the Sentinel Hub site, you can download imagery that is georeferenced. (Free Trial Account required)
(Above) Satellite Photo from Sentinel Hub.
Once we have the photo, we can add other data to it in QGIS. I’m not going to go into adding and styling layers in QGIS, But you can see the layers getting added in the video below. (For more GIS How to, see How to produce a Nautical Chart and making the map)
These are the Open Data data sets I used, clicking the link takes you to the download.
UPDATE: I have posted a full process video from scratch on YouTube.
Also – New Version, draped over the HRM 1m DEM, transformed into a Multi direction Hillshade with a 2x vertical exaggeration, giving a good sense of the Terrain.
I have often said it was a matter of time before draft restrictions would eat into container volumes bound for Montreal, and it looks like that may have begun.
This Past weekend saw the first call of MSC Elma to PSA Halifax’s Atlantic Hub,on a new Service from MSC.
MSC has replaced its Boston Express Service with a New service, adding stops, and lengthening the route, while dropping Montreal. The new Ecuador – NWC (for North West Continent) Service consists of an eight week rotation from Antwerp with calls in Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Halifax, Boston, Freeport, Rodman (Balboa), Guayaquil, Puerto Bolivar, Guayaquil, Paita, Cristobal, Moin (Costa Rica) and back to Antwerp. Ships currently assigned to the service are all in the 8800+teu range. This past weekends caller, MSC Elma, features 1700 reefer plugs, which will be well used transporting South American fruits and Agricultural products.
The Boston Express Service used 4 ships, and sailed from Antwerp, calling on Bremerhaven, Boston, Montreal and back to Antwerp. These ships were in the 2500teu range.
The current size record for the Port of Montreal is the MSC Melissa, at 6730teu, which is 9300teu smaller then then the current Canadian record holder, CMA CGM Marco Polo.
In October 2021, i spent a week on Sable Island. As part of that trip, I had the opportunity to drive around the Island. i clamped a camera to the jeeps sun visor. this video tour is the result.
It is lightly Narrated, and includes photos of parts of the island not visible from the beach.
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The tanker AlgoTitan arrived late this afternoon and tied up at berth 25. Algotitan arrived in Halifax in December as Chantaco, and joined the Canadian Flag in January 2023. Sice then the ship has plied the domestic refined products trade, sailing the Great lakes and making several stops in Halifax.
The stop at pier 25 is likely for maintenance or supplies.
Veteran fleet mate Algoscotia is tied up opposite on Pier A, at Berth 27. Horizon Arctic is at Pier 28, and ONE Eagle at Pier 41
ONE Eagle returned today on the westbound leg of the EC5 Service, taking the place of ONE Cygnus at pier 41, which sailed this morning.
the Bird class ships are rated at 14026TEU and were built for NYK beginning in 2016. The bird class, was named after birds. ONE Cygnus was built as NYK Swan, but ONE SWAN was already taken, so the ship was named cygnus, after the Latin for Swan.
Asian Empire arrived this morning and tied up at pier 9 to offload heavy equipment. The ship will move to Autoport in the morning, which spent the day occupied by Sunshine Ace.
The Korean Flagged Asian Empire was built in 1998 and is 25 years old. its 229m long, and 29m wide.
The Articulated Tug/Barge combo Leo A MacArthur / John J Carrick arrived in Halifax last night for McAsphalt in Eastern Passage. Part of the miller group of companies, They operate a terminal for the handling of the liqued components for asphalt.
An Articulated tug an barge is two vessels designed to be more or less permanently connected and operate as one. The Barge connects to the tug via a notch, and the two vessels are held together by large Articulating pins. This setup is more common in the US, where a Tug w/tank barge requires a much smaller crew then a tug with a tank barge of the same size.
For an upclose look, the Captain at the time gave me a tour of the combination, the Tug then Operating under the name Victorious for the same owners.
