- The President of the Explorers Club emphasizes the important role of private explorers in expanding knowledge.
- In a thought-provoking essay published in The Wall Street Journal, he defends the Titan sub passengers as true explorers rather than mere wealthy thrill-seekers.
- Each passenger paid $250,000 for the trip.
The President of the Explorers Club asserts that the passengers on the Titan submersible were not wealthy daredevils but genuine contributors to scientific exploration.
In a recent essay published in The Wall Street Journal, Richard Garriott de Cayeux, who has been leading the Explorers Club since 2021, defends this viewpoint. He argues that private explorers, such as those on the Titan submersible, play a vital role in expanding the boundaries of knowledge, despite being often dismissed as wealthy thrill-seekers.
“Critics may label their expedition as ‘extreme tourism,’ and perhaps it was, but it was their spirit of exploration that propelled them to seek, experience, and learn,” de Cayeux wrote.
The five individuals on board included OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, billionaire Hamish Harding, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, billionaire Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Suleman Dawood. Both Harding and Nargeolet were members of the Explorers Club.
De Cayeux draws parallels between the passengers on the Titan submersible, who each paid $250,000 for the trip, and historical innovators like the Wright Brothers. Just as early flights were ridiculed as pursuits of the ultra-wealthy, today’s private deep-sea explorations are often misunderstood.
The Titan submersible went missing on June 18, and on June 23, the US Coast Guard confirmed the deaths of all five passengers. The submersible was operated by OceanGate Expeditions as part of an eight-day dive to reach the wreckage of the Titanic.
While de Cayeux defends the Titan submersible expedition as exploration rather than tourism, it is worth noting that space and deep-sea exploration have increasingly become playgrounds for the affluent.
Harding, who was also onboard the Titan submersible, has experienced space travel through a Blue Origin flight, although the price he paid for this excursion is undisclosed. However, it is worth mentioning that one seat on Blue Origin’s inaugural spaceflight was auctioned off for $28 million, according to the Observer.
Interestingly, a week after the Titan submersible tragedy, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic began selling tickets for commercial spaceflights at a cost of $450,000 per passenger. Additionally, tickets to go to the International Space Station with Elon Musk’s SpaceX are priced at $55 million per passenger.
Wealthy explorers often justify their expensive endeavors by claiming to contribute to scientific advancements. As previously reported by Insider, Jeff Bezos has defended his investments in space travel as a means to protect our home, rather than abandon it.
Last month, Insider highlighted the rising trend of space and deep-sea tourism, noting that rescuing passengers in space could potentially be even more challenging than the recent Titan sub disaster.
Insider reached out to de Cayeux for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
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