“I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable,” billionaire Larry Connor said.
An Ohio billionaire, Larry Connor, is gearing up to explore the Titanic wreckage in a specially designed submersible. This bold venture comes after the tragic collapse of OceanGate’s sub.
Patrick Lahey, from Triton Submarines, a top name in personal submersibles, said that Larry reached out soon after the mishap. Larry wanted a submersible that could reliably and safely reach the Titanic to prove it could be done right. Lahey recounted Larry’s words: “You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption.”
The result is the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer. This high-tech, two-person vessel, priced at $20 million, is designed for multiple deep-sea dives to around 4,000 meters, deeper than the Titanic’s resting place at 3,800 meters.
Larry highlighted that new materials and technologies have made this sub possible, technologies that didn’t exist five years ago. He shared, “Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn’t have the materials and technology. You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago.”
Having previously dived into the Mariana Trench, Larry is fearless about deep-sea exploration. He and Patrick plan to use the Abyssal Explorer to safely reach the Titanic and show it can be done right. Larry shared his philosophy: “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.”
After the sad incident with OceanGate’s Titan sub in June 2023, Lahey admitted that many people’s interest in deep-sea vehicles dwindled. “This tragedy had a chilling effect on people’s interest in these vehicles,” he said. “It reignited old myths that only a crazy person would dive in one of these things.”
Lahey, however, stressed a significant difference between certified submersibles like Titan’s and OceanGate’s experimental designs. Certified subs are deemed safe and up to code, unlike OceanGate’s unconventional approach.
Billionaire financier Ray Dalio, who invested in Titan Submarines along with Hollywood director James Cameron, echoed this sentiment. Even after the OceanGate incident, he believes in the reliability of certified submarines. Dalio stated, “In that situation they were experimental, they didn’t have certification, and they were not representative of what subs are. Anyone who is knowledgeable would have no reservations.”
