Safety Tip: Never Go On a Submarine if the Captain Said He's 'Broken Some Rules to Make This'

Hollandse Hoogte. Shutterstock Images.

When the fate of five deep sea explorers is at best uncertain and most likely ending in tragedy, that's no time for blaming the victims. 

But at the same time, we all owe an obligation to ourselves and to one another to be smart about things. Somewhere out there, someone may be planning a trip to the bottom of the Atlantic to visit the watery grave of 1,500 souls who perished horribly like they're taking a tour bus to see the homes of Hollywood stars. And it's important to know what you're getting into. 

Before you book your trip, do your research. Just as you would if you were taking a river cruise of Europe or a Caribbean resort. For instance, you should know whether the hands you are quite literally putting your life in are, as Nate pointed out, controlling the boat with an Arcade Shark N64 Arcade Stick:

And that's just for starters. Word to the wise, find out how many times the word "death" appears in the waiver you have to sign. You can find out by simply asking around. Talk to other people, famous and otherwise, who have taking the dive before you:

NY Post - Mike Reiss … an Emmy Award-winning writer-producer for “The Simpsons” — descended 13,000 feet with four others inside OceanGate Expedition’s Titan submersible to see the historic wreckage. …

“Death is always lurking, it’s always in the back of your mind,” Reiss, 63, told The Post. “Before you even get on the boat, there’s a long, long waiver that mentions death three times on page one.”

Most of us at some point have signed similar waivers. I recall going whitewater rafting in Maine with my Weymouth friends, and the first thing we did was find the word "death," underline it, skip to the end, and put our names on the line which is dotted. Personally, I think any mention after the first "death" is, if you'll pardon the pun, overkill. You make up your own mind. But you should probably ask yourself why they keep bringing it up. 

Next, check the internet. Not just for the Yelp reviews, but for any information you might find. A quick search may turn up references to, let's call it, improvised equipment:

Above all else, search for an interview the guy who constructed the craft you're cramming yourself into may have given. There, you may find some insight as you make your educated decision:

Source - OceanGate boss Stockton Rush previously spoke about 'breaking rules' to build the missing Titan submersible, newly emerged footage has shown. 

Rush is shown giving a tour of the 22-foot vessel to Mexican actor Alan Estrada before he travelled to the Titanic on the submersible that is the subject of a massive search operation in the Atlantic ocean.

Rush, who is lost on the vessel, is seen telling Estrada - who filmed the video and posted it on YouTube last year - about the seven-inch thick acrylic window on the front of the Titan to give those inside a view of the famous wreckage that lies 12,500 feet below the ocean surface. …

'And acrylic is great because before it cracks or fails, it starts to crackle so you get a huge warning if it’s going to fail.'

The video then shows Rush giving a tour of the submarine's interior … as Estrada narrates in Spanish.

'I'd like to be remembered as an innovator,' Rush is then seen telling the actor. 'I think it was General (Douglas) MacArthur who said: "You're remembered for the rules you break." And you know, I've broken some rules to make this.

'I think I broke them with logic and good engineering behind me. The carbon fibre and titanium, there's a rule you don't do that – well I did,' the CEO says.

Yeah. About that. It's one thing if you've got Scotty on the Enterprise using some space princess' necklace to replace the Dilithium crystals so you can fight the Klingons. When it's your life you're taking about, and you're bringing it 12,500 feet below the surface,  you want equipment that's performing the task it's designed for, not scaffolding poles the CEO MacGyvered into place and acryllic windows that "crackles" to let you know catastrophe is coming. When you're 2 1/2 miles deep, Flex Tape is not going to save you.

Again, this is not blaming the victims. Much. It is expecting them to know what they're signing up for under all those "death"s. Especially when you're a billionaire. If you can afford to hire the very best, state of the art submersible - think of the one James Cameron took down to the Titanic and the bottom of the Mariana Trench - why would you climb into a Family Dollar store submarine? A contraption that looks like a repurposed propane tank out of somebody's back yard? Operated by a GameBoy and held together with poles and plastic windows? 

From whom much is given, much is expected. When you can pay for the very best, most modern underwater craft and you don't take the time to learn your host has been comparing himself to Douglas MacArthur (a notorious egomaniac who left thousands of troops behind when he fled the Philippines) and bragging about breaking basic safety rules on the internet? With all due sympathy and respect, at some point it stops being bad luck, and starts being Darwinism.