Another Billionaire Is Planning A Deep Sea Submarine Voyage To The Titanic To Prove It's 'Safe' After The OceanGate Tragedy
Larry Connor wants to go where others have gone before.
Aleksandr Merkushev / Shutterstock In June 2023, the world was riveted by what could have been an avoidable tragedy when five passengers died in the implosion of the OceanGate submersible as it attempted to reach the site of the Titanic’s wreckage.
Loss of life is always shocking, yet it seems as though some people missed the meaning of that particular lesson.
Another billionaire is planning a deep sea submarine voyage to the Titanic to prove it's ‘safe’ after the OceanGate tragedy.
Larry Connor is an Ohio real estate mogul whose net worth is estimated at $2 billion. He’s the founder of the Connor Group, a luxury real estate firm named after himself, and now, he’s seeking a return to the site of tragedy, as he plans a submarine voyage to reach the site of the Titanic in 2026.
Connor is joined in his mission by Patrick Lahey, the founding partner of Triton Submarines.
Triton Submarines has spent the past decade developing a submersible that they say can travel up to 4,000 meters below sea level, which measures 200 meters deeper than the location of the Titanic’s final resting place.
The submersible, named the Triton 4,000/2, can hold two passengers in a transparent cockpit and costs $20 million.
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Part of his plan for 2026 is to demonstrate that the technology works and that deep-sea ocean travel is safe despite all indications to the contrary.
Connor told the Wall Street Journal of his wishes, saying, “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.”
While most people would take the story of OceanGate as a warning, Connor is, apparently, not most people.
The billionaire put forth his proposal to build another submersible that could reach the Titanic just days after OceanGate imploded.
Connor is no stranger to life-changing travel. In 2021, he and Lahey went to the Mariana Trench, which is the deepest point on Earth.
He then took off on another adventure, becoming the first person to visit both the deepest sea and outer space in the same year.
Connor was part of the world’s first all-private mission to the International Space Center with Axiom Space, spending 17 days in space.
It was a life-changing, awe-inspiring trip for Connor, who shared that his voyage to space was “a humbling experience.”
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“I hope we’ve played a role — however small — in allowing future generations to have similar experiences,” he said.
Yet these experiences are cost-prohibitive to most people who are working to make ends meet on Earth, as the price of groceries rises to costs people can't afford, and the cost of living grows so high that people are faced with losing their homes.
There’s something to be said for looking at a tragedy straight-on and saying, “I can do better,” which is what Connor and Lahey seem to be proposing.
If history is to repeat itself again and again, how long will it take the uber-rich to gain some semblance of hubris and actual humility?
There’s value in exploration and adventure. Yet there’s also value in looking at the world we all live in and offering solutions to the issues that affect people in their day-to-day lives, the people who can’t go to space or the deep sea, the people who are just trying to get by, without risking the one life they have.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture, and all things to do with the entertainment industry.