HOLMES – The OceanGate submarine that imploded while diving to the Titanic wreckage on Sunday, June 18, was piloted by Dutchess County resident Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, known as “Mr. Titanic.”
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush piloted the ship. Nargeolet was a crew member. He was part of the first expedition in 1987 that reached the Titanic wreckage.
In January of 2022, “Mr. Titanic” relocated to Dutchess County from the Town of Kent in neighboring Connecticut after he purchased a home on 2.75 acres on Route 292 in the Pawling hamlet of Holmes. He purchased the property for $1.5 million.
The three other passengers have been identified as British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani investor Shazada Darwood, and Darwood’s 19-year-old son Suleman.
Nargeolet was an experienced diver and earned his nickname after making more than 35 dives and exploratory trips to the Titanic’s final resting place during his career.
Nargeolet was piloting the minivan-size submarine designed by OceanGate that launched from a surface vessel on Sunday lost contact with the surface vessel in less than two hours after the dive on Sunday, June 18. At the time of its disappearance, the vessel was considered to have an air supply of only 41 hours.
Several countries, including the United States, participated in the search efforts.
Sources have indicated that top-secret US Navy microphone technology recorded the implosion that occurred “several days ago.” The debris field was located on Thursday, approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, that had sunk in 1912. All five souls on board are considered dead.
