Ohio Billionaire Aims to Prove Safe Titanic Expedition with New Submersible

Ohio real estate investor Larry Connor wants to prove that Titanic-level deep-sea missions are safe even a year after the Titan submersible tragedy. The New York Post reports that Connor and Triton Submarines co-founder Patrick Lahey will dive 12,400 feet to the Titanic shipwreck site in a cutting-edge submersible.

Connor told The Wall Street Journal, “I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way.”

The $20 million Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, developed by Connor, can reach 4,000 meters. Patrick has been planning and designing this for over a decade. We lacked supplies and technology. You couldn’t build this sub five years ago “Connor said.

LAhey said Connor called him quickly after the Titan sub collapse to urge him to design a safe and trustworthy submersible. “You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to Titanic-level depths repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption,” he remarked.

Lahey has often criticized OceanGate, the Titan’s manufacturer, for weak safety requirements. His post-implosion assessment of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was “quite predatory”. Titan passengers signed a waiver calling the ship “experimental” and citing many risks.

The Titan submersible catastrophe killed British adventurer Hamish Harding, French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British billionaire Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. Expeditions by OceanGate have ended.

Five-day search yielded putative human remains and damaged debris from the Titan submarine. The Titanic’s debris field was found 1,600 feet from its bow, ending a difficult rescue. The Titanic is 400 miles off Newfoundland, two miles below the surface.