Final Message from DoomedTitanSub Revealed, Sent Seconds Before Losing Contact with the Surface

Mar. 15, 2025

The animated video details how theTitanbegan diving down from thePolar Princeoff the coast of Canada around 9:20 a.m. local time on June 18, 2023.

While the submersible and the ship traded a series of routine messages for the next 40 minutes, an issue arose just before 10 a.m. when thePolar Princerepeatedly asked theTitanif the submersible could see the ship on its display — to no answer — leading to more urgent messages.

Hamish Harding; Stockton Rush; Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Suleman Dawood; Shahzada Dawood.JOEL SAGET,HANDOUT/Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat/AFP via Getty Images

JOEL SAGET,HANDOUT/Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat/AFP via Getty Images

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After about 15 minutes, theTitanresponded, acknowledging that it had communication and thePolar Princesaid, “I need better comms from you,” to which theTitananswered “yes” and said they “lost system oand [sic] chat settings.”

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a noted explorer aboard the submersible at the time, is believed to have been sending these messages, according to the Coast Guard.

ThePolar Princeasked again, “status? do you see polar prince on your display?” And soon after, theTitanwrote back “yes” and “all good here” at 10:15 a.m.

Nine minutes after that, theTitannotified thePolar Princethat they were “east south east [of] the nbow,” which officials think means the vessel was close to theTitanicwreckage.

Minutes later,Polar Princeasked again ifTitansaw them on their display.

The Titan submersible.Xinhua/Shutterstock

Xinhua/Shutterstock

Titanthen asked thePolar Princeif they were also at the bow, andPolar Princesaid “making our way there … your position jumps significantly each ping” — which the ship repeated to theTitanat 10:36 a.m., only 11 minutes before losing contact with the submersible.

At 10:47 a.m., at a depth of about 3,350 meters and a pressure of 4,900 pounds per square inch, the Titan messaged that they “dropped two wts,” referring to their weights — and contact was then lost almost immediately, at 10:47:32 a.m., according to the Coast Guard.

Four days later, some of the wreck of theTitanwas found about 500 meters from theTitanic.

All five passengersdied in the implosion: Nargeolet and another adventurer, Hamish Harding; father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood; and Stockton Rush, who co-founded OceanGate, the company operating theTitan.

OceanGate has since suspended its operations amid the ongoing investigation into what happened. Accordingto the Associated Press, the company says it has cooperated fully with the government probes.

Attorney Jane Shvets, representing OceanGate at the hearing, read a brief opening statement in which she said they “offer our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones, among them those here today, of those who died on June 18, 2023.”

The hearing that began Monday “will review testimony from technical experts, crew members, and other relevant parties, and will examine evidence related to the submersible’s design, operation, and safety protocols,” the Coast Guard has said. Afterward, investigators will submit a final report.

Scheduled witnesses include OceanGate employees and members of the government. The National Transportation Safety Board will also issue its own findings.

Thefinal momentsof theTitanpassengershave been the subject of much discussion.

However, some outside experts have pushed back on this.

“The way a sub operates is that you load it up with weight at the top … so that on the surface it’s heavy and that drags it down through the water column down to the bottom,” one expert tells PEOPLE.

“People read that — oh, we’re dropping weight, they must be in trouble,” the expert says. “It’s actually, no, they’re just approaching theTitanic.”

source: people.com