Pioneering submersible pilot weighs in on Ocean Gate disappearance
ALAMEDA - Manned-submersibles have been used since the late 1950s to explore the ocean floor, and one of the pioneers of the technology is a Bay Area native. KPIX sat down with him to discuss the recent disappearance of a tourism vessel near the wreckage of the Titanic.
Don Walsh was born in Berkeley and is a graduate of Alameda High School. He's now 91 years old, but in 1960 Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard were the first two people to ever explore Challenger Deep in a submersible. They dove more than 7 miles down to the floor of the Pacific Ocean in the Mariana Trench.
"That was my job as the test pilot. Not to do science, but to make sure it was safe and reliable before we handed it over to the scientists," said Walsh.
He was the only US Navy submersible test pilot. Since then, Walsh made a career out of submersibles and became a pioneer in the field. He said within the past 20 years or so, the submersible market has changed. Where it once focused on only scientific research, there's now a sector for ocean adventure tourism, which was the primary focus for Ocean Gate.
"They were doing some things that made a lot of us who've been in the business for a long time question what was going on," says Walsh.
Many in the submersible industry were concerned about the safety guidelines that were supposedly not being followed by Ocean Gate, like the decision not to have a rescue beacon on the vessel and no self-escape hatch.
"They can't even let themselves out, so if they're floating around in the ocean, by Thursday morning it's going to be too late anyway," he said.
Walsh said that based on all the information, many in the submersible community fear for the worst.
"The ratio between miracle and fate is decreasing. Miracle is getting very, very small, and fate is getting very, very big," saids Walsh.
Walsh stressed that for more than 60 years, manned submersibles have had a very good safety record, with only 6 fatalities reported.