Daughter of ‘Mr Titanic’ killed in Titan sub says wreck dives must continue
The daughter of the Titanic expert killed when a submersible imploded near the doomed liner says trips to the wreck should continue.
But Sidonie Nargeolet, daughter of deep-sea explorer Paul Henri-Nargeolet, says she’s angry that OceanGate – who built the ill-fated sub – never made contact after the disaster. Speaking from her home in Ordino, Andorra, the 40-year-old revealed that she had still not heard from anyone at the company eight months after her loss.
She said: “My anger is mostly because no one from OceanGate contacted us to say we are sorry for your loss, which I’m angry about. At least I think they could have contacted us to say we are sorry for your loss”.
Despite the fate of her dad, however, she believes that expeditions to the Titanic wreck should continue. “I think they have to do it,” she said. “We don't have to make a confusion with a bad sub and a good one, you know? I think it’s good that people go on the sub and it’s good to take artifacts from the Titanic, but just not to play with security, the lives of people.”
A former Navy diver, Mr Nargeolet earned the nickname ‘Mr Titanic’ because of his multiple expeditions down to the wreck. He was one of four killed when the OceanGate submersible, Titan, catastrophically imploded near the Titanic on June 18 last year. Also killed was OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, businessmen Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood, and Mr Dawood’s teenage son Suleman.
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Sidonie and her dad, who earned the name "Mr Titanic" for repeatedly diving to the wreck (Credit: Pen News)Prior to the disaster, Miss Nargeolet had no idea that her father’s dives might be dangerous. She said: “I have always been used to it, so I think it was like normal for me. So I never wondered if the submersible was a good one or not. He told me that the Titan was a new kind of sub, but he didn't tell me he was worried about it.”
She continued: “I didn't know anything about this sub, I didn’t know how it was made. Now from what I heard, it seems that so many people said it was a bad sub, so why has it been able to go into the sea?”
A young Paul completing an earlier dive (Credit: Pen News)
His daughter believes dives to the wreck should continue (Credit: Pen News)The first sign of trouble came in a text from Paul-Henri’s wife, Anne Sarraz-Bournet. “She sent me a WhatsApp telling me that my dad had been on the sub and he didn't come back on time,” said Sidonie. “At the moment when I read the message I was in total panic, because I thought ‘it’s a sub, if there is a problem it’s really bad’. But with time and some explanation, I started really to have hope and to think, 'no, maybe they lost radio contact, it’s going to be fine' I don't know if it was because there was really a hope or because it's my dad and I didn't want to think he was dead.”
Paul seen not long before the tragedy (Fivedeeps) In any case, her hopes were shattered when the US Coast Guard announced to the families that Titan had been lost.
She said: “We had four days to get prepared for it, but anyway, it’s hard to accept. We heard it was all done, but it’s really hard to to realise because we don't see any body, you know? So it's like he's gone – okay, but we have nothing to say goodbye to.”
French-born Mr Nargeolet detailed his experiences diving the Titanic wreck in a book, Dans les profondeurs du Titanic (In the depths of the Titanic). Now the book has been translated into English under a new title, The Secrets of the Titanic .
Sidonie said: “I’m really happy. Last May, my father told me that his book started to be translated in English. For sure, he hasn’t seen the result, but I’m happy that he said it to me and now it’s going to go out. I’ve learned many things in the book, and it’s something that will always make him be present.”
The Secrets of the Titanic , translated by Laura Haydon, is available now for Kindle on Amazon, with a paperback version coming in June. An OceanGate representative said they made contact with the Nargeolet family after the accident.
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