THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: ABOARD THE TITAN SUBMERSIBLE

I was invited to join an Oceangate mission three weeks before the implosion of the submersible Titan killed the five people who were on board. 

I had spent eight days on the Polar Prince, the monthership, waiting to go down to the Titanic. I was scheduled twice, but both times the weather turned and the dives were canceled. The dive that imploded was the first of the year, so I was fortunate not to have gone. This photo is of Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, inside the Titan, which I took while I was waiting to dive. 

I gave it to Associated Press, whose members reprinted it around the world. The four days that the sub was missing and its fate unknown were very upsetting to me — in addition to getting to know Stockton, I had also become friends with the wreck explorer P.H. Nargolet, who also perished in the implosion and, by chance, I was friends with Hamish Harding, a paying guest who was also onboard. While it turned out that Stockton’s hubris and irresponsibility led to the implosion, I was still distraught that three people I had gotten to know met their fate in the very tube I had photographed a few weeks before. 

Arnie is Explorer at Large, Northstar Travel Group and this is a column he does for WONDERLUST