Stop me if you've heard this one: "One man (or group)'s ambitious endeavor to discover the ocean's secrets and prove human ingenuity totally goes according to plan!" ...The Titanic? No, no, that was a fluke! Only an estimated 1,500 people died! ...OceanGate? Oh, you mean that submersible that imploded and killed five people? Pfft, whatever! This time? Larry Connor's going to show us all what's what!
Necessary Context(TM): Larry Connor, put simply, is a very, very rich man. A textbook billionaire. I'll try to keep my billionaire bias out of this article, but I make zero promises! If you really feel inclined to read about how great he apparently is, here. Entrepreneur, jet-setter, shakes hands, cures cancer, "man of the people" -- yadda, yadda, yadda. That's not why we're here.
The Titanic and OceanGate disasters likely don't need much context, but since the latter's more recent, here's my elevator synopsis. Ahem. The former CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, wanted to visit the ruins of the Titanic. He had his company build a submersible to do it, was warned multiple times along the way that perhaps it wasn't a good idea (for many reasons), and the submersible tragically imploded in the ocean -- killing him and four others. That happened last year in 2023.
Enter Larry Connor (and, to a lesser extent, the CEO of Triton Submarines, Patrick Lahey). Within days of the OceanGate implosion, Connor called Lahey, saying he wanted a submarine built to withstand the ocean's depths and reach the Titanic. As Connor told the Wall Street Journal: "I want to show people 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."
Larry Connor's Journey To See The Wreckage Of The Titanic
I could talk about the submarine they're building. We could get into the intricacies. But other outlets have already done all that and I don't want to simply regurgitate well-trodden info here.
Instead, I'll occupy the mind of what I truly hope is the average reader. Why? It's a wonder how humans have managed to remain at the top of the food chain. What's the point?! Why would anyone want to see the aftermath of something so terrible? We've watched this movie before! We know how it ends! But, this time? This time, Larry Connor will do it the right way!
