The Polar Prince, the support ship that launched the ill-fated Titan submersible, has arrived back in port in Canada. This follows the tragic implosion during a dive to the Titanic wreckage.
The vessel, named Polar Prince, docked at St John’s Harbor, Newfoundland, on Saturday morning, June 24, with a smaller crew than when it departed eight days earlier.
Efforts to locate the Titan, about 435 miles south of St John’s, were called off after its fatal implosion deep underwater. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has launched a safety investigation into the incident.
The Polar Prince, a decommissioned Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker owned by Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Service Ltd, was chartered by OceanGate. It served as a support vessel for the Titan’s mission to explore the Titanic wreckage.
OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush, along with passengers Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, tragically lost their lives in the submersible.
Two Canadian Coast Guard vessels also returned to St John’s harbor, with one remaining at the disaster site. The US and Canadian authorities have begun investigations to determine the cause of the fatal implosion.
The US Coast Guard has not launched a formal inquiry yet, as search and rescue operations continue in the area where the vessel was destroyed. Debris from the implosion was found about 12,500 feet underwater, several hundred feet away from the Titanic wreckage it was set to explore.
