The youngest person ever to explore the wreck of the Titanic has opened up about his experience, saying he fell unconscious during the journey. Sebastian Harris was just 13-years-old when he descended 12,500 feet down the Atlantic Ocean to view the historic shipwreck. This was in 2005, and no one has broken his record since.
Sebastian Harris dived to the site with his father, G Michael Harris, in a Russian Mir II submersible in 2005. The voyage took 12 hours and earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest person ever to explore the Titanic wreck.
Harris, now in his early 30s, spoke to The Sun about his experience, saying that a small glitch led him to lose consciousness during the dive. Thankfully, he regained consciousness quickly and was able to explore the wreck with the rest of the mission team.
“During our dive, we had a small safety issue. Suddenly our oxygen levels started to drop and I fell unconscious while we were diving down,” he told The Sun.
“Fortunately my father and our pilot did not experience the same issue, otherwise it may have been fatal, and thankfully we had oxygen meters inside of the sub that were showing lower oxygen levels than normal. So we cranked it up and then I was back in the game,” he added.
“These activities are inherently dangerous. A 13-year-old doesn't really have a sense of their own morality, so I was blissfully ignorant to a degree, but in different circumstances that could've ended in tragedy,” said Harris.
Harris spoke to The Sun while search for OceanGate’s Titan submersible was still underway. During his interview, he theorised the sub has suffered a catastrophic implosion – a theory that was proved correct two days later.
The submersible was on its way to view the Titanic when it lost contact with the surface. It has since been confirmed that a catastrophic implosion destroyed the sub, and all five people onboard are presumed dead.
“It seems like maybe they weren't taking all available precautions and I think many folks in the industry will find that incredibly frustrating,” said Harris, adding that he would have never gone on OceanGate’s Titan submersible.
“I can’t say that I would go on it, no,” he said. “The Mir submersible I went on had several hundred dives logged before we set off.”
“I think the biggest takeaway from all this is anybody who is interested in this kind of tourism needs to do their due diligence and kind of take their safety into their own hands and have a very clear understanding of what they’re dealing with,” he continued, adding that the tragedy would hopefully make for stricter laws on safety regulations.
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