Titanic Museum Honoring Victims of Titan Sub Implosion Despite Controversy

By Andrew Roberts

The five people who lost their lives on the Titan submersible vehicle on Friday will be immortalized along with those who perished on the Titanic. According to TMZ, a pair of museums will honor the five lost onboard and have held a private memorial with other staff members.

Mary Kellog-Joslyn and her husband John co-own the Titanic Museum Attraction locations in Pigeon Forge, TN, and Branson, MO. Their motivation behind the act is to pay tribute to those aboard they knew personally and the families of the other victims.

Similar to James Cameron, who insisted the diving community is small and tight-knit, the couple were good friends with Paul-Henri Nargeolet, the French pilot who Kellog-Joslyn says was part of the second expedition to see the Titanic record back in 1987.

The museums had a total turnout of 250 people, with ceremonies including a speech for those who lost their lives, a wreath-laying in the memorial room, and the addition of their names to the plaque of Titanic victims from the sinking back in 1912. According to TMZ, the five names of those who perished onboard the Titan will be etched into the glass plaque, permanently adding them to the existing Titanic victims.

Nargeolet was one of the passengers on the Titan during the fateful journey that commenced a week ago. Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman were the other passengers, alongside the captain and OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush.

The submarine was first reported missing on Sunday, with OceanGate confirming they had lost communications with the vessel around an hour into the descent to the Titanic. When the vessel didn't surface, authorities were called. The U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian officials would work together to search for the submarine.

While some thought that the submarine had 96 hours of breathable air and limited hours of life support, these initial thoughts were likely false hope. James Cameron has called out the rescue operation, noting that it sounded like an implosion occurred when he heard details on Monday morning. Rush had been criticized in the past by members of the deep diving community over his vessel and the safety requirements needed to successfully traverse the deep water.

Despite these criticisms, Rush is still likely to be immortalized on the plaque like his passengers and those who died on the Titanic. This includes Thomas Andrews, the architect of the Titanic that also perished with the ship.

Stockton leaves behind his company that received $450,000 in PPP loans and had them forgiven, and a massive bill that ABC News notes will likely be paid by taxpayers. According to the outlet, "The Coast Guard, as a matter of both law and policy, does not seek to recover the costs associated with Search and Rescue from the recipients of those services." The final total hasn't arrived for the week-long search and recovery mission.

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