The cast of billionaires who pay £195,000 per seat for a trip to follow in Titanic director James Cameron and descend to the most famous shipwreckin the world

• The so-called citizen explorers are expected to play an active role in the mission
• Read more: How deep is the Titanic wreck and where is it located?

For a group of wealthy adventurers, it was the greatest trip that money could buy.

And the thrilling prospect of seeing the Titanic first-hand dispelled any fears they might have had about descending two and a half miles into the icy depths of the Atlantic in a submarine.

The supposedly ‘unsinkable’ ship, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912 at a cost of 1,500 lives, has long fascinated explorers.

But it is only this decade that paying passengers have had the chance to see the Titanic shipwreck for themselves – on a submarine trip.

At $250,000 (£195,000) a seat, tickets are not cheap – and far from being ordinary tourists, the so-called citizen explorers are expected to play an active role in the research mission to the maritime heritage site.

A photo of OceanGate’s ‘Mission 3 and Mission 4 crews’, posted online by the company before setting sail

This is the last sighting of the submersible, Titan, which was launched on Sunday. It is seen in a photograph shared by Hamish Harding’s company. He and the four others onboard remains unaccounted for

As OceanGate Expeditions, which has been running the Titanic tours for three years, stated earlier this year: ‘We are truly inspired by [passengers’] sense of adventure, amazing life experiences, and willingness to jump right in.’

It said this year’s Titanic Survey Expedition would allow ‘a select number of individuals to explore the vessel that was once the height of opulence, but whose journey would end tragically’.

READ MORE: Race to get drone to Titanic wreck and search for missing tourist sub in operation that would be 11,000 feet deeper than the deepest successful undersea rescue operation 

The research vehicle, named Titan, is a miniature submarine described as the world’s only carbon-fibre submersible capable of diving five people. A pilot, a ‘content expert’ and three paying guests are thought to have been taken to the ocean floor. The company advertises it as ‘a once in a lifetime opportunity’ to ‘safely dive the Titanic wreckage site’ in a ‘12,500ft journey to the bottom of the sea’.

The 22ft-long submarine features a dome window at the front in which guests can sit and admire the views. Behind that are the pilot’s controls, and basic seating for the guests. On a Q&A page of OceanGate Expeditions’ website, passengers are urged to ‘restrict your diet’ before the journey but, for those who need one, there is a small toilet situated in the front dome, the ‘best seat in the house’.

Clients are told that ‘if money isn’t an object and you don’t mind close quarters’ they can join one of the trips.

Past explorers have included James Cameron, director of the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, the firm says. OceanGate Expeditions, a US based not-for-profit company, adds that it is dedicated to exploration of the undersea world and providing ‘rare opportunities for citizen explorers and researchers to work together to expand our understanding of our home, Earth’.

So with this in mind, last Friday, June 16, a group of a dozen or so paying explorers set off into the wild north Atlantic from St John’s Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada, aboard the Polar Prince, the chartered ship from which the submarine is launched. They sailed 350 miles to the coordinates of the wreck and were to spend eight days on board the ship, taking it in turns to complete the eight-hour submarine mission to the Titanic.

Photos posted online showed ominous stormy grey seas, with billionaire British guest Hamish Harding, 58, saying it had been the ‘worst winter in 40 years’. On Sunday morning at 4am local time, there was supposedly a ‘weather window’, and the submarine was launched. Mr Harding’s aviation company tweeted: ‘The sub had a successful launch and Hamish is currently diving. Stay tuned for further updates!’

OceanGate Expeditions is one of the only companies that offers the tours. Tickets cost up to $250,000

A look at what it is like inside the OceanGate expedition to see the Titanic 

Titanic leaving Southampton, Britain, for her first and last voyage on 10 April 1912

A view from the submersible looking towards the Titanic wreckage

OceanGate had said in the lead-up to the trip: ‘Our crew has diligently prepared our equipment and updated our checklists for the 2023 Titanic Expedition, but we always expect new challenges.

‘Lucky for us that we have chartered an icebreaker as our expedition vessel! The Polar Prince… has a long-running history of clearing ice from harbours and guiding ships through ice-choked marine environments.’

The submarine, which had 96 hours of air, is designed to automatically surface if it runs into trouble, and maintains contact with the surface vessel via an internet connection powered by Elon Musk’s Starlink system. But an hour and 45 minutes into Mr Harding’s mission, contact was lost.

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