FO: About $20,000.

Fitz. And it could have been used on the Titan, as just one easy safety measure among many, but wasn’t?

FO: Yes. They went in a completely different direction. They proudly stated on their website that they chose to focus on hull strength as the whole basis for the safety of their submersible – which is tragically ironic, given what appears to have happened. They had these gauges on the hull continuously measuring the strains on it as it changed depth, which they said were better than anything, and therefore we don’t need anything else.

Fitz: Was that madness?

FO: It was complete madness to ignore previous accidents and previous systems and all the knowledge that has been built up on how things can go wrong, and what needs to be done to limit those risks.

Fitz: But if it is that obvious that having no safety systems beyond a strong hull was crazy, how did it escape them?

FO: Because they started from the precepts that the classification and certification systems were too bureaucratic and stodgy and would take years to get through. Their approach was: “We’re innovative and cutting-edge, and we can’t afford to wait, we’ve got to get on with this. And so we’ll focus only on the strength of the hull, using carbon fibre and not steel or titanium.” And by the way, when carbon fibre does collapse, it takes about 20 milliseconds. It just goes, instantly. Another design failing is that … if you wanted to go to 4000 metres depth like this, you’d design it to be able to go to 50 per cent more than that, so about 6000 metres. But this submersible was able to go to a depth of 4000 metres and was going to 3800 metres.

Fitz: So your best estimate is that the submersible imploded in just 20 milliseconds?

FO: Yes. From what we know now, it looks like started to delaminate and …

Fitz: Delaminate?

FO: Peel back. The carbon fibre is made up of many layers bonded together. Under the pressure and the strain the outer layers likely started to lose structural integrity.

Fitz: So all the alarms you mentioned would have started to beep?

FO: Their alarms would have started to go off, and it seems they likely dropped their “clump weights” to start up to the surface, but it was too late. When it happened and it imploded, it would have been instantaneous.

Fitz: What’s the explanation for the knocking sound that confused everyone?

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FO: That is a complete mystery to me, and will likely be discussed for years to come. All the reports had regular knocking, not just the regular noise that the ocean is full of. But when you get regularity, that suggested it was man-made.

Fitz: All right. All up you make it sound like a catch-as-catch-can affair. I mean, there was one report from someone who had been down on the Titan previously saying something that broke was fixed up with zip-ties. Are they cowboys?

FO: Yes. The tourist submersible industry sprang out of the offshore oil and gas industry, and it isn’t mandated to comply with any of these certification rules – because ultimately, they are operating in international waters beyond the reach of much law. And the CEO of this company, who was in the submersible, said he had no interest in certification because that takes years and years, while they were innovative. He said he wouldn’t employ 50-year-old white men because they’re not inspirational. Well, I can tell you that what we did building the Collins Class rescue system was completely innovative and never been done before. [The Australian submarine rescue vehicle Remora] was designed, built, certified and tested in 23 weeks. I think that was inspirational, and innovation is not limited by age. In fact, age actually helps you understand what can go wrong and how you can innovate to avoid it because you’ve got so many bent knees and bruised shins that you actually don’t want to go through that again.

Fitz: OK, this is delicate, but what are the ethics of this? There has been some criticism of the commercial enterprise of the Titan diving on a grave site. Will we see future commercial missions diving on the Titanic, then going over the 400 metres to see the Titan’s effective grave site too? The latter would certainly seem to me to be ghastly, ghoulish, horrible and unimaginable – paying money to gaze at the aquatic graveyard of those who had died while paying money to look at another aquatic graveyard. How soon is too soon to look at such things?

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FO: It’s … too soon to say. The biggest ethical problem is if you take action to interfere with either site. But beyond the Titan’s remains being a grave site, it is also a monument to folly and will act as a warning to all who might follow. It says: you are involved in a risky business here, and all the evidence points to the need to do things the proper way and not the way these cowboys did it. There is good reason to go through an oversight process, or review by others who have experience in this area. And while that might take time, haste can come at the terrible price now strewn on the ocean floor next to the Titanic.

Fitz: Thank you for your time. Whatever the rights and wrongs, vale the dead.

Quote Of The Week

“Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate.” – Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.

Tweet Of The Week

“We should call Australian crime dramas ‘Yeah, noir’.” – Dr Nathan Kilah, @ChemistryNathan

Joke of the Week

I met a fairy today who granted me one wish.

“I want to live forever,” I said.

“Sorry,” said the fairy, “I’m not allowed to grant wishes like that, try something else.”

“Fine,” I said, “I don’t want to die until the Australian parliament starts behaving like adults.”

The fairy looked at me crossways: “You’re a shifty big bastard, aren’t you?”

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