A man who was rescued from a submersible after three days stuck in the depths of the ocean has told those on board the missing Titanic vessel to "bang on the sphere" to attract attention.
As time ticks on in the search for the missing Titanic submersible, 85-year-old Roger Mallinson—who in the 1970s survived the deepest underwater rescue ever—has shared his advice for those on board.
"If I could say anything to them it would be to stay warm and keep hoping," Mallinson told Newsweek. "Bang on the sphere, bang on the sub somewhere, make a noise that could be heard through the water. Imagine that the dolphins are looking after you and they will go chattering through the water. If you have a hammer, it would be great to knock on the sphere, make some noise. It will transmit a hell of a long way. They are all listening for it. It might be an idea for the people looking for them to do the same."
The Titan submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, has been missing since June 18. It disappeared one hour and 45 minutes into its dive to the Titanic wreck site, which lies 13,000 feet below the surface of the ocean off Newfoundland, Canada, carrying tourists who paid $250,000 to see the site.
On board are British adventurer Hamish Harding, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, the chief executive of OceanGate.
As of 1 p.m. ET on June 20, the U.S. Coast Guard said they had about 40 hours of breathable air left.
In its latest update, the Coast Guard said that a Canadian P-3 aircraft initiated in the rescue effort had detected "underwater noises" while searching for the sub.
Data from the aircraft described the noise as a "banging" sound, internal e-mail updates from the Department of Homeland Security's National Operations Center, obtained by Rolling Stone, reported.
The Coast Guard has since said that these noises will give rescuers a target.
Mallinson said that the psychological toll on a person in this situation is great.
"They will have absolutely not one atom of hope," he said. "I do think it's very weird they haven't found the [Titan] sub yet."
Mallinson's own story began in August 1973, when he survived three days trapped in the Pisces III—a vessel measuring 6 feet in diameter. After Mallinson and fellow sailor Roger Chapman set off on a routine dive to set a transatlantic telephone cable on the seabed, 150 miles off the coast of Ireland, a hatch in the sub was accidentally pulled open, according to a 2013 BBC report.
Water flooded the vessel and the extra weight plunged the two sailors into depths of 1,575 feet below the surface of the ocean.
Once they realized they were trapped, they only had 66 hours of oxygen left.
The pair were eventually rescued after three days at sea, and several setbacks involved in the rescue. There were multiple attempts to rescue the sub. Over the next two days one rescue sub lost its life line, which was going to be used to pull them to safety. The next one to go down failed to find the lost sub. They finally managed to fix the line to the sub on the third day, however, it fell off shortly after.
They were finally rescued on September 1.
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About the writer
Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
