Daughter of ‘Mr Titanic’ Paul-Henry Nargeolet killed in Titan implosion says dives to see famous ship should continue
THE daughter of the Titanic expert who died when a submarine imploded near the doomed liner says voyages to the wreck must continue.
Sidonie Nargeolet says she’s angry that OceanGate – which is the ill-fated sub – never reached out after the disaster, but she doesn’t believe the tragedy should stop future expeditions continue.
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Speaking from her home in Ordino, Andorra, the 40-year-old revealed that eight months after losing her father, she had still not heard from anyone at the company. Paul Henri-Nargeolet.
She said: “My anger is mainly because no one from OceanGate has contacted us to say we apologize for your loss, which I am angry about.
“At least I think they could have contacted us to say we apologize for your loss.”
However, despite her father’s fate, she believes that the expeditions to the wreck of the Titanic should continue.
“I think they should,” she said.
“We don’t need to create confusion between a bad sub and a good one, you know?
“I think it’s good for people to go on the submarine and it’s good to take artifacts from the Titanic, but not to play with safety, people’s lives.”
A former Navy diver, Paul was nicknamed “Mr Titanic” because of his multiple expeditions to the wreck.
He was one of them five dead when the OceanGate submarine Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion near the Titanic on June 18 last year.
OceanGate’s CEO was also killed Stockton Rushbusinessmen Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood, and Mr Dawood’s teenage son Suleman.
Before the disaster, Miss Nargeolet had no idea her father’s dives could be dangerous.
She said: “I’ve always been used to it, so I guess it was normal for me.
“So I never wondered whether the submarine was good or not.
“He told me the Titan was a new kind of submarine, but he didn’t tell me he was worried about that.”
She continued: “I didn’t know anything about this sub, I didn’t know how it was made.
“From what I heard, it seems so many people said it was a bad submarine, so why was it able to go into the sea?”
The first sign of trouble came in a text message from Paul-Henri’s wife, Anne Sarraz-Bournet.
“She sent me one WhatsApp told me my father had been on the submarine and he didn’t get back in time,” Sidonie said.
“The moment I read the message I was in total panic because I thought ‘it’s a sub, if there’s a problem it’s really bad’.
“But over time and some explanation, I really started to get hopeful and think, ‘No, maybe they lost.’ radio Get in touch, it will be fine’.
“I don’t know if it was because there really was hope, or because it was my father and I didn’t want to think he was dead.”
Regardless, her hopes were dashed when the U.S. Coast Guard announced to the families that Titan had been lost.
She said: “We had four days to prepare for it but either way it’s hard to accept.
“We heard it was all done, but it’s very hard to realize because we don’t see any bodies, you know?
“So it’s like he’s gone. Okay, but we have nothing to say goodbye to.”
French-born Paul described his experiences diving the wreck of the Titanic in a book, *Dans les profondeurs du Titanic* (In the Depths of the Titanic).
Now the book has been translated into English under a new title, *The Secrets of the Titanic*.
Sidonie said: “I’m very happy. Last May, my father told me that his book was being translated into English.
“Definitely, he hasn’t seen the result yet, but I’m glad he told me and now it’s going out.
“I learned a lot of things in the book, and it’s something he’ll always be around.”
*The Secrets of the Titanic*, translated by Laura Haydon, is now available for Kindle Amazonwith a paperback release in June.
An OceanGate representative said they contacted the Nargeolet family after the accident.
It comes as sounds Terrifying video footage revealed the knocking sounds that kept hope alive in the search for the doomed Titan submarine.
A frantic search for the five passengers of the submarine caught the world’s attention in June last year.
News from the mysterious popping sounds spread like wildfire around the world while the rescue mission was underway.
It was previously thought that it could have been a desperate SOS call from the ship that was later found in pieces at the bottom of the ocean.
Search teams were alerted after Titan lost contact with its mothership and disappeared during an expedition to the Titanic wreck on Sunday, June 18, 2023.
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