On June 18, 2023, when the Titan submersible imploded during a dive to the Titanic's wreck site, killing five people, so did the knowledge of Paul-Henri Narjolet. It was Narjolet's 38th dive to the sunken ship. Known as Mr. Titanic, he helped recover thousands of artifacts that are now on display in museums and events around the world.
A year later, the company where he worked as head of underwater exploration is preparing a July expedition that will use a submersible employing two robots rather than humans to search for more treasure to pull up in the future.
“There's a technical and a human element to recovering artifacts that technology can never, and should never, replace,” said Jessica Saunders, president of RMS Titanic, which is organizing the expedition. She said Narjollet embodied that kind of expertise.
Meanwhile, the results of the robotic exploration “will speak for themselves,” she said.
Narjollet's former employer's plan represents one of the more immediate consequences of the Titan disaster: replacing humans in submersibles in favor of robots that navigate the icy depths of the ocean, which are perceived to be safer.
But at the same time, submersible industry officials are calling for stronger international regulations to prevent new disasters, and they want to close gaps that Titan's manufacturer, OceanGate, exploited by circumventing voluntary safety certifications the industry has adopted to mitigate significant risks to deep-sea divers.
Many fans of manned submersibles want to ensure that Narjolet's achievement paves the way for the next generation of explorers, including future crewed pilots who may salvage the Titanic's wreckage and related items, such as rivets, fine china and champagne bottles, scattered across about three square miles of the North Atlantic ocean floor.
On his final dive, Narjollet hoped to catch a glimpse of one of his long-held goals: the radio that sent out the Titanic's distress signal. Ships rescued hundreds of survivors, including women and children from lifeboats. In his autobiography, Narjollet wrote that the rescue of the wreckage of the Titanic around the famous radio was “even more urgent” because it was “likely to break up in a short time.”
James Cameron, director of the 1997 film “Titanic,” also supports recovering the telegraph. “Having this device actually on public display would be a very moving experience for the millions of people who visit the museum,” he said in an interview last year.
Underwater robots were a novelty when Narjollet first dove into the Titanic in 1987. Since then, with Cold War spinoffs, their capabilities and numbers have exploded. Today, there are thousands of them, with perhaps 100 of them capable of diving to the Titanic's depths of more than two miles, says Robert D. Crist of the Marine Technology Association, an industry group.
The large underwater robots are packed with lights, computers, video cameras, mapping systems, sensors, and manipulator arms. Most have long tethers that connect them to a mother ship, where an operator sits atop the robot and controls its movements underwater using a joystick and a monitor.
The July expedition to the Titanic, which lies about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, will use two submersibles made by the Schuster Group, a Louisiana-based group of companies that services the offshore oil industry. In May, the company announced it had acquired another company, increasing its fleet of submersible robots to more than 100.
“I've wondered for years why people still build deep-sea submersibles,” said industry pioneer Tyler Schilling, founder of Schilling Robotics in Davis, Calif., about manned spacecraft. “I think the Titan situation is the only rational answer. People want adventure.”
Submersible advocates say the sense of adventure is real and healthy because the vehicles help create a broader public awareness of the wonders of the world's oceans.
A new generation of human-piloted submersibles is likely to up the ante: They have spherical hulls made of clear plastic, giving occupants incredible panoramic views rather than the view seen through tiny portholes.
A bubble submarine strong enough to withstand the Titanic's immense pressures at sea is taking shape. Triton Submarines of Sebastian, Florida, is building it for Ohio billionaire and ocean adventurer Larry Conner. Triton says the sub will set a new bubble submarine depth record.
The new submersible aims to show the world that, in contrast to last year's disaster, undersea vehicles can safely and repeatedly dive to the depths of the Titanic.
“A few years ago, that wouldn't have been possible,” Triton Submarines president Patrick Lahey said of the new submarine. But advances in technology “have made it safe to do it,” he added.
For example, steady advances in heating and shaping thermoplastic materials will allow Triton to make the submersible's transparent walls incredibly strong, Lahey said. They'll be 16 inches thick, a record, Lahey said. The two-person submersible is scheduled to make its ocean debut in early 2026, he added.
Triton prides itself on expensive inspections and testing by specialized marine agencies that certify the safety of deep-sea vehicles, something that the Titan submersible lacked. Titan's makers omitted voluntary testing, leading experts to believe an industry-wide code of conduct needs to become a global requirement.
“This has to be mandatory,” Alfred S. McLaren, a retired Navy submariner, submersible pilot and emeritus president of the Explorers Club, said of the proposed upgrades. “Until we have these testing and certification rules in place, it's all unknowns and stupid things are going to happen.”
Will Konen, chairman of the Marine Technology Association's submarines committee, agreed. “We've got the technology down to earth,” he said. “We don't need to prove it's safe. What we need is a regulatory framework that regulates traffic and makes sure people have a license to drive.”
Currently, there are roughly 200 human-operated submersibles navigating the world's oceans, but that's just a tiny fraction of deep-sea robots, and only about 10 of them are capable of diving to the depths of the Titanic, Konen said.
Until the Titan disaster, submersibles had an impressive safety record thanks to the self-regulations of their operators: Despite thousands of deep dives, no one had ever died aboard a submersible while in the sunless depths.
Experts say a government investigation into what caused the Titan explosion will likely need to be completed before any new rules for the submersibles are written. This month, Coast Guard Capt. Jason D. Neubauer, the U.S. head of the investigation, said it could take another year or two to conclude the investigation and release its findings.
The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations body that sets standards for maritime safety and security, has said it will wait for the results of such an investigation before addressing the issue of regulating submersibles globally.
“People will welcome the change,” Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University in North Carolina, said of the new regulations. “Everyone is thinking about safety.”
Reflecting new warnings after the Titan disaster, the RMS Titanic decided to suspend reliance on manned ships “pending further investigation” into the cause of the implosion.
RMS Titanic's president, Saunders, said the new confidence in the safety of the submersibles would allow the company to employ manned submersibles again, particularly for the challenging mission of recovering the telegraph that sent out the Titanic's distress signal.
The initial recovery plan envisaged a coordinated expedition involving a manned vehicle and three robots to recover the legendary device.
Using both robots and submersibles, Sanders said the company's overall goal is to ensure that jewels found from the legendary liner “are never again lost to the ocean.”