Rich and Adventurous: Everyone Missing on the Titanic Sub

A British billionaire, a famed deep-sea diver, and two members of one of the richest families in Pakistan are among those aboard a submersible mission to the wreckage of the Titanic that went missing Sunday.

A major search effort is underway in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean to locate the submersible and its five passengers. The underwater vehicle named Titan was reported overdue on Sunday night after it lost contact with Polar Prince, the surface ship supporting the submersible around 900 miles off the Massachusetts coast. David Concannon, an adviser to mission organizer OceanGate Expeditions, said Titan had a 96-hour supply of oxygen when it entered the water at around 6 a.m. on Sunday.

Officials have not confirmed the identities of those onboard, but family members and business associates have identified all five.

Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman

Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, belong to one of the richest families in Pakistan. The elder Dawood, 48, is vice chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited, an investment holding company and family business that is more than a century old. The company invests in a wide range of industries including agriculture and healthcare, but Dawood specializes in technology, including companies focused on “transforming industries through the internet of things,” according to an online bio.

Dawood also serves as a trustee of The Dawood Foundation, which supports education initiatives in Pakistan, and the SETI Institute, a California research organization that searches for “intelligent beings in other star systems.” He is also a board member of the Engro Foundation, the social investment arm of fertilizer behemoth the Engro Corporation.

A source connected to the British royal family told The Daily Beast that Dawood is a “longtime supporter” of The Prince’s Trust International and The British Asian Trust, two charities founded by King Charles. As a result, Charles had asked to be “kept fully up to date on the situation,” the source said.

Dawood was born in Pakistan but moved to the United Kingdom for school. He still resides in the U.K. with his wife, Christine, and their two children. His biography on the SETI website describes him as an “ardent animal lover.”

"We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time,” the family said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.,”

Hamish Harding

British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, is the founder and chairman of Action Aviation, an aircraft sales and acquisitions company that specializes in finding “hard-to-source” aircraft, according to its website. The Dubai-based company was founded in 2004 and also offers aircraft financing.

Outside of work, Harding is known as an intrepid adventurer who has set three Guinness World Records, including the longest time spent at full ocean depth for a more than four-hour trip to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench. He has traveled to Antarctica with astronaut Buzz Aldrin and to space on a flight with Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ private space travel company. He is the chair of the Middle East chapter of the Explorers Club, a professional society dedicated to scientific exploration and field study.

Harding posted on Instagram about the Titanic trip before his departure, writing that the venture was “likely to be the first and only manned mission” to the wreck this year because of poor weather conditions. “More expedition updates to follow IF the weather holds!” he wrote.

In a statement on the Action Aviation website, managing director Mark Butler said he and the Harding family were “very grateful for all of the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues.” He added that the team was “extremely proud of Hamish and we look forward to welcoming him home.”

His stepson, Brian Szasz, posted on Facebook Monday sending “thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic,” but later deleted the post, according to the New York Post.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet

Paul-Henri Nargeolet is a French diver affectionately referred to as “Mr. Titanic” on account of his reputation as the explorer who has spent the most time at 12,500 feet beneath the waves at the wreck of the doomed liner.

According to his company website, he has completed 37 dives to the ship and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts, including a 20-ton section of the ship’s hull. He also served as the expedition leader on the “most technologically advanced dive to Titanic,” and spearheaded the first comprehensive survey map of the vessel, according to the site.

“His knowledge of the wreck site is unparalleled,” RMS Titanic Inc., which owns rights to the wreck, said in a statement. “We trust and have faith his experience will help navigate this critical situation.”

Nargeolet was born in France and raised in Africa, and previously served 22 years in the French Navy, according to his company bio. After retiring from the Navy in 1986, he joined the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of Sea, where he led the first recovery mission to the Titanic. He now serves as director of underwater research for the Experiential Media Group, which creates touring museum exhibitions, including the controversial Bodies exhibit that premiered in 2005.

Nargeolet previously told The Irish Examiner about the risks associated with his passion. “When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you [realize] that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem,” he said.

A family spokesperson confirmed Nargeolet was on board the submersible to the BBC on Tuesday.

Stockton Rush

Stockton Rush is the CEO and founder of OceanGate Inc, the company running the expedition. Rush—whom Smithsonian magazine once called a "daredevil inventor”—has a BSE in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business, and became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world in 1981, at age 19.

Rush served as a flight test engineer for the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, briefly working at Edwards Air Force Base on the anti-satellite missile program, before pivoting to smaller businesses, according to a bio on the OceanGate website. He served on the board of directors for a sonar-system manufacturing company and as chairman of a wireless remote-control device manufacturer.

Rush founded OceanGate in 2009, which claims to have completed over 14 expeditions and over 200 dives in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico. The company started offering its $250,000 trips to the Titanic wreckage in 2021.

In the Smithsonian piece, Rush bemoaned the safety regulations around the submarine industry, saying, "It's obscenely safe because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn't innovated or grown—because they have all these regulations."

The near-miss

David Concannon, the OceanGate adviser, said he was also supposed to be on the dive but was unable to go.

“There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event,” said Mark Butler, the managing director of Harding’s Action Aviation business. “We’re all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound.”

“We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely,” OceanGate said in a statement Monday. “Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.”

The extreme depth and attendant pressure at the fabled 1912 wreck have left some skeptical that a rescue mission may even be possible. Titanic diver G. Michael Harris, who said he has “unconfirmed reports” that he knows three people on board Titan, expressed doubt that even the U.S. Navy could help.

“When you’re talking 6,000 pounds per square inch, it is a dangerous environment,” he said on Fox News. “More people have been to outer space than to this depth of the ocean.”

On Tuesday, the British Ministry of Defense told The Independent that the U.K. has not been asked to assist with the rescue, but said initial reports suggest the depths of water potentially involved significantly exceed those at which the NATO Submarine Rescue System can safely operate.

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