Mckenzie Margarethe is a marine scientist who spent two years working on a touring submarine.
In light of the Titan tragedy, she shared 3 things people should look out for on submarine tours. First and foremost, Margarethe said you should always “know the history” of the company.
The world ground to a halt in late June when five people died onboard OceanGate’s Titan submersible during a visit to the Titanic wreckage. The passengers had paid upwards of $250,000 for their places on the ill-fated vessel, which suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all onboard.
In the aftermath, columnists and industry experts have seemingly come to the same conclusion: the Titan tragedy will not stop the super-rich from embarking on extreme travel. With that in mind, Insider spoke to Mckenzie Margarethe, a former copilot and naturalist for Hawaii’s Atlantis Adventure submarines, about the recommendations she has for people who are still interested in booking recreational submarine tours.
Margarethe, 31, told Insider she’s also a marine scientist who is keen to return to working on a submarine for research purposes in the future — she regularly shares insights about the submersible industry, the ocean, and marine life on her TikTok page, which has over 368,000 followers. The Atlantis Adventures submarines she worked on, which can carry up to 48 passengers, only descended to around 110 feet, she said. Meanwhile, OceanGate said the Titan could travel to 13,123 feet below the ocean’s surface.
Nevertheless, the risk of death at either depth on a submarine is always “a possibility,” she said.
Though Margarethe called some of the stipulations OceanGate outlined in its waiver “odd” (when Insider reviewed a copy of OceanGate’s Titan submersible waiver on July 8, it mentioned the vessel was not certified by any regulatory bodies and built with materials that have “not been widely used” for other subs), anyone interested in booking a submarine tour should be prepared to see, read, and sign a detailed waiver.
