The doomed ocean liner Titanic continues to intrigue the public after more than a century.

The five people aboard the missing deep-sea submersible Titan aren’t the first to risk their lives to get a glimpse of one of history’s most famous shipwrecks.

More than a century after the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage from Britain to New York, the disaster continues to fascinate people like few episodes in history.

The Titanic, the largest steamship in the world at the time, made headlines when it sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, killing 1,500 people. It was full of glamorous guests and it was called “unsinkable” by officials of the company that operated it.

Decades later, it was the holy grail of undiscovered shipwrecks and the subject of many stories, including “A Night to Remember,” Walter Lord’s 1955 bestseller.

The mystique persisted even after the wreck of the Titanic was found on the seabed in 1985. Two years later, Mr. Lord was a speaker at a Titanic tribute event aboard a chartered New York yacht, featuring a five-piece band like the one that had played to doomed passengers on the stern of the Titanic. In 1997, the James Cameron movie “Titanic,” starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, introduced tragedy to a new generation.

Today, young people watch conversations about the Titanic on social media – including on the short video app TikTok, where established facts about the disaster merge with misinformation and manipulated content.

Advances in deep-sea submersible technology have made it possible to travel to the wreck itself. With tickets for the Titan voyage costing $250,000, the journey isn’t for everyone, and some critics object to the idea of ​​visiting an underwater tomb. Still, the trips are popular enough to sustain a thriving mini-industry.

The company that owns the Titan submarine, OceanGate, has been bringing tourists to the Titanic wreck since 2021. said in a 2019 press release that slots were booked by “citizen explorers seeking an adventurous, scientific, and meaningful experience.”

This year, the company announced that five expeditions of each are permanent eight dayswere scheduled for 2023 and another five for 2024.

“This is your chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something extraordinary,” the company said. “Be one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes.”