Paul-Henri Nargeolet lost his life along with four other passengers on the Titan, the submarine dedicated to tours of the Titanic wreckage.
On Thursday afternoon, OceanGate released the tragic announcement: the five people on board the Titan submarine "have sadly been lost". The Titan was a touristic submarine that explored the wreckage of the Titanic, the large transatlantic ship that sank in 1912.
When, yesterday afternoon, some debris was found near the Titanic, experts concluded that the submarine imploded instantly on Sunday. A merciful death that caused no suffering: the five people on board were likely killed before realizing something was wrong.
The five passengers were Stockton Rush, OceanGate CEO; Shahzada Dawood, vice-chair of chemicals conglomerate Engro Corporation, and his son Suleman; Hamish Harding, chair of private airplane firm Action Aviation; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Nargeolet was born in France in 1946. After living for 13 years in Casablanca, Morocco, he moved to Paris to complete his studies.
Nargeolet was one of the world’s leading Titanic experts, earning him the nickname "Monsieur Titanic". He was part of the very first expedition to the wreckage in 1987 and starred in many documentaries about the tragedy.
After the first expedition, Nargeolet brought back with him a golden plate from the Titanic. He described the ship’s bow as "the most beautiful part of the wreckage", which would later become famous thanks to James Cameron’s "Titanic".
At 77 years old, Nargeolet visited the Titanic for scientific purposes in 1993, 1994, and 1996. When tourist trips to the site started, Nargeolet was often invited aboard. It is estimated that he visited the Titanic 35 times.
Nargeolet’s relationship with OceanGate
Throughout his life, Paul-Henri Nargeolet worked with a number of institutions dedicated to underwater exploration.
His first assignment was in 1980 at the Underwater Intervention Group (GISMER), working on retrieving sunken French planes and ships. His first Titanic expedition was with the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER).
Later, he became director of the Michigan State University’s Center for Maritime & Underwater Resource Management (CMURM).
In 2007 he was commissioned by the company Premier Exhibitions to find more wreckages for tourist purposes. Thanks to this job, he found the site of HMS Carpathia, a ship that rescued some Titanic survivors and was later torpedoed in 1918.
On the OceanGate Titan, Nargeolet most likely acted as a guide, showing visitors the different parts of the Titanic and explaining its purposes.
He was described as a calm and well-mannered man, with a natural tendency for leadership. Sadly, he has now joined the rest of the victims during the final visit to his lifetime passion.
