Missing Titanic Sub Disaster May Have Devastating Impact on Future Research Opportunities, Says Expedition Executive

Future research opportunities at the RMS Titanic shipwreck site in the North Atlantic may be jeopardized due to the recent missing tourist submersible catastrophe. David Scott-Beddard, the CEO of UK-based Titanic exhibition company White Star Memories Ltd, stated that the chances of any future research being carried out on the wreck of Titanic are slim “probably not in my lifetime”. The disaster unfolded for the Titan sub, which lost communication with its mothership less than two hours into its journey to the bottom of the ocean floor from Newfoundland, Canada. Extensive search efforts by land, air, and sea have been underway to locate the sub. Meanwhile, experts had previously raised safety concerns about the Titan sub as its safety could be compromised by poor quality control and safety protocols. The Titan disaster will without a doubt have a significant impact on the chances of people visiting and studying the wreckage in the future. The wreck of the Titanic was first discovered in 1985 and since then dozens of expeditions have been conducted to explore and research the site. Paid commercial sightseeing trips, such as those offered by OceanGate, are a recent development. Titanic is one of those unreachable, unattainable things for most of us, unless you’ve been working in research and have been lucky enough to dive to the wreck in the past, said Scott-Beddard. She sits majestically on the sea bed, incredibly rare for a ship that sunk to be sitting upright.