SEATTLE — OceanGate Expeditions, operator of the five-person submersible that went missing in the North Atlantic, is headquartered in Everett.
The vessel named Titan, on an eight-day expedition to view the wreckage of the Titanic, was reported overdue Sunday in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Mass., the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday. The Coast Guard is working with Canadian agencies as part of its search and rescue mission.
“It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that area,” Rear Adm. John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard said at a Monday news conference in Boston. “We’re deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board.”
The submersible went missing about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive. Mauger said the vessel was designed with 96 hours of oxygen available if there’s an emergency, and estimates the vessel now has between 70 hours to the full 96 hours remaining.
The Coast Guard didn’t identify the five people but said they are a pilot and four “mission specialists.” Mission specialists are people who paid for the expedition, according to OceanGate’s website, and may opt-in for roles like dive-image review and sonar operations. The fee is $250,000.
Hamish Harding, the British chair of Action Aviation, is among the crew, according to a statement from the nonprofit The Explorers Club, of which he is a chair. The others haven’t been identified. David Concannon, an OceanGate adviser, wrote on Facebook that he had planned to be on the expedition but had to cancel. He wrote he is now providing assistance in the search and rescue.
OceanGate was founded in 2009 by Seattle resident Stockton Rush, who is the company’s CEO and founder of OceanGate Foundation, a marine technology nonprofit organization. Attempts to reach Rush on Monday weren’t successful.
OceanGate is focused on increasing access to the deep ocean through its fleet of sub vessels, according to its website, which can reach depths beyond 13,000 feet. The Titan submersible, which needs a mother ship for launch and recovery, making it different from a submarine, according to the NOAA, is made with carbon fiber and titanium, weighs 23,000 pounds and has a speed of 3 knots.
OceanGate wrote it planned to return annually over several years to the Titanic wreckage site to document the ship and its rate of decay. The company planned 18 dives total, beginning this summer.
The RMS Titanic, which sunk after striking an iceberg in April 1912, remains at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, also considered the resting place for the more than 1,500 passengers and crew who died. The wreckage was discovered in 1985 by Robert Ballard.
OceanGate did not respond Monday to phone calls or messages, but in a statement posted on social media wrote that the company is exploring and mobilizing all options to bring back the crew safely.
“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” the company wrote. “We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
The Port of Everett, where OceanGate is a tenant, wrote that employees’ thoughts are with the OceanGate family, the crew members on board and their families: “Please come home safe.”
