It’s hard to avoid comparison between the public interest in the Titan’s doomed mission and the public fascination with the destruction of the Titanic itself.
A monument to humankind’s grandiose ambitions. And possibly recklessness.
So why has the Titanic, which sank during its maiden voyage in 1912, remained such an object of public fascination for more than 100 years?
Psychology of the incident
There are two main reasons why people continue to be drawn to the Titanic, according to humanities research fellow Kristie Patricia Flannery.
The first is opulence.
At the time, the ship was advertised as the most luxurious ever to set sail, with wealthy passengers paying up to 870 British pounds ($1,650) for a first-class cabin.
To put this into perspective, at the time, soldiers in the British army were paid a salary of 20 pounds ($38) per year.
People enjoy the voyeurism of looking at the ship’s furnishings, learning about the fine dining experiences and the stunning clothes worn by the passengers.
In contrast, hundreds of poor immigrants were also on board the Titanic and they lived in crowded quarters with simple meals.
The second reason, Dr Flannery writes, is the power of the sea.
The fact the Titanic was advertised as an “unsinkable” ship also adds to the intrigue.
“The ship, whose name evoked its massive size, was engineered to cheat the ocean,” Ms Flannery wrote in the Conversation.
“When it departed England it symbolised man’s domination over nature.
“At the bottom of the Atlantic, it serves as a visceral reminder of the indomitable sea’s awesome power.”
Myths and Legends
Another point of major intrigue is the stories of the people who died on board and those who survived.
Over 1,500 lives were claimed and 700 people survived.
The last living survivors died in 2009.
But some, like this former Mount Gambier councillor who claimed to have survived the shipwreck, have had doubt cast upon his claim.
The infamous ship is also still the subject of many myths and legends.
The Titanic is so popular to this day, there are several museums around the world dedicated to the sunken vessel where visitors go to catch a glimpse of artefacts related to the ship.
In Northern Ireland, the Titanic Museum in Belfast displays the last letter written on board the Titanic, which was auctioned for a world record sum of 119,000 British pounds.
Over the years, items have also been auctioned off to private buyers for millions of dollars.
Pop culture depictions
The disaster inspired songs and multiple films in the 20th century, including James Cameron’s 1997 epic romance Titanic, which long reigned as the highest-grossing film of all time.
While it brought more of a mainstream audience to the history of the Titanic, it’s not the first film ever made about it, suggesting public interest never really waned.
Within a month of the ship sinking, a silent film was made about the disaster telling the story of actress Dorothy Gibson, who escaped the disaster.
The Royal Museums Greenwich says In 1943, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels produced a film in which tragedy comes after a heroic German officer is ignored.
The film was designed to suggest that British and American capitalism were to blame for the Titanic disaster.
The museum also says that within two years of the disaster, over 100 songs were written about the tragedy.
There are also a number of travelling exhibitions around the world.
A Titanic replica in China is being put together (it won’t sail) but they have done a lot of work on the interiors.
And Australian billionaire Clive Palmer famously floated plans to build Titanic II.
There’s still so much to learn
Even though the ship sunk over 100 years ago, the wreckage was only found in 1985 around 650 kilometres off the coast of Canada.
It’s around 12,500 feet or 3,810 metres below sea level.
This also helped to renew public interest.
Parks Stephenson told the BBC in May that there was “still much to learn” from the wreck, which was “essentially the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster”.
“And she has stories to tell.”
The first dive took place in July 1986.
The first video of it was only released publicly for the first time this year.
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Footage was captured by cameras on the human-occupied deep-sea submersible called Alvin and a remotely operated deep-sea robot called Jason Junior.
This was cutting-edge technology at the time.
Scientific reasons
Even if it hadn’t been a pop-culture drawcard, scientific expeditions would have continued.
The 1985 discovery was actually using the wreck as a target point for the testing of new underwater vehicle prototypes.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution says the Titanic’s discovery “proved the capabilities of new underwater imaging and navigation systems and helped spur significant advantages in the development of deep-sea expiration technology”.
The ship is also deteriorating because of sea currents and bacteria eating the iron, meaning scientists have to do what they can to study the wreck now.
Since the 1985 discovery, the 30-metre forward mast has collapsed and there are holes in the hull.
The crow’s nest, from which a lookout shouted “Iceberg, right ahead”, is gone.
A 2019 expedition discovered that the captain’s haunting bathtub, which became visible after the outer wall of the captain’s cabin fell away during a James Cameron dive, is gone.
Dive’s difficulty a drawcard in itself
The depth of the wreckage and the challenges required to get there are themselves drawcards for adventurers — especially those rich enough to get there.
James Cameron has done 33 dives.
Two men lost in the submersible disaster, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, were members of The Explorer’s Club, which also boasts Jeff Bezos and Buzz Aldrin as members.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet did upwards of 35 dives — as many as 47, according to a friend.
A statement by Nargeolet’s stepson provided to CBS News said he died doing what he loved.
His friend Larry Daley told the BBC he “lost his life in a place he so loved — exploring the Titanic”.
“It’s kind of symbolic, in a way.”
Daley is also an avid Titanic explorer.
“We always have to keep exploring — that’s what human nature is.”