Ohio billionaire planning to take new sub to Titanic site
**Related Video Above: Pilot, passengers of missing Titan submersible were believed dead last June
DAYTON, Ohio (WJW) — A Dayton-based billionaire is making headlines after he announced plans to travel down to the Titanic wreckage about a year after the OceanGate Titan submersible tragedy that killed five people.
Larry Connor, a real estate investor out of Ohio, and Patrick Lahey, who co-founded Triton Submarines, want to prove the voyage can be accomplished safely.
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“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,” Connor told the Wall Street Journal.
The now-dubbed Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer has been in the works for over a decade, according to TMZ, but the submersible implosion last year was the catalyst needed to push plans forward.
This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. In a race against the clock on the high seas, an expanding international armada of ships and airplanes searched Tuesday, June 20, 2023, for the submersible that vanished in the North Atlantic while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP) The logo for OceanGate Expeditions is seen on a boat parked near the offices of the company at a marine industrial warehouse office door in Everett, Wash., Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ed Komenda) FILE – Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Wednesday, June 28, 2023. OceanGate, the company that owned a submersible that imploded on its way to explore the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five onboard, said Thursday, July 6, that it has suspended operations. (Paul Daly/The Canadian Press via AP, File) FILE – This 2004 photo provided by the Institute for Exploration, Center for Archaeological Oceanography/University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, shows the remains of a coat and boots in the mud on the sea bed near the Titanic’s stern. The wrecks of the Titanic and the Titan sit on the ocean floor, separated by 1,600 feet (490 meters) and 111 years of history. How they came together unfolded over an intense week that raised temporary hopes and left lingering questions. (Institute for Exploration, Center for Archaeological Oceanography/University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, File) FILE – The Titanic leaves Southampton, England, April 10, 1912, on her maiden voyage. The company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic shipwreck has cancelled plans to retrieve more artifacts from the site because the leader of the upcoming expedition died in the Titan submersible implosion, according to documents filed in a U.S. District Court on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/File) A still from the 1997 movie “Titanic,” written and directed by James Cameron, shows the bow of the Titanic under the lights of a deep-sea research vessel. (Screen capture, Paramount Pictures; Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
“[Before] we didn’t have the materials and technology. You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago,” Connor told the Wall Street Journal.
The 2-person $20 million sub is reportedly going to be built to withstand multiple journeys to the site. It is not yet clear when the pair plans on first making the trek.
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The Titanic wreckage rests off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in the Atlantic Ocean. About 1,500 people died when the ship sunk in 1912. It’s about 2.3 miles down to where the ship lies in multiple pieces.
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