Welsh presenter and adventurer Lowri Morgan has recalled how she felt “emotional” upon venturing down to see the Titanic shipwreck in a Mir Russian submersible in 2003. The 48-year-old, who hails from Gowerton, was speaking to WalesOnline following news that a tourist submersible, Titan, went missing during a similar expedition on Sunday, June 18.
“When the opportunity came I accepted the challenge and was committed to doing the research,” said Lowri, who was a deep-sea diver at the time. She described how at the time the more she learned about the Titanic, which famously sank after striking an iceberg in 1912, the more she was “hooked”.
She added: “The history of that booming era was fascinating. At the time researching the ship became a huge part of my life. More people have been to space than to the depth of where the Titanic is so there was a fascination.”
Read more: Everything we know about missing Titanic submersible Titan and those on board
Lowri stressed that prior to going down to see the shipwreck she was made aware of the risks in the “starkest terms”. Highlighting said risks, she said: “Pressure is nearly 380 times greater than atmospheric pressure. Even a pin prick crack in the small window would see [you] instantly implode.”
“Before we dived we went on to the Keldysh, which is a Russian science ship,” Lowri remembered. “Then when you go into the submersible you hear the bolts closing on you and the wheel tightening as you settle into your tiny seats. It’s a small living area and all the rest is batteries and machinery.”
As the submersible began its journey Lowri said she tried to “ignore the thoughts of claustrophobia” that were in the back of her mind. “When you just drop a few metres below the surface the light is turned off to save power, which leaves you in pitch black darkness with only the eerie echoing ping of the sonar. I think that's when it hits you – that sense of vulnerability. You're reminded of the risks you're about to face.”
Although the risks were indeed great Lowri described how they were ultimately overshadowed by her excitement to see the Titanic itself. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster because you are very excited to be going down in this amazing submersible to see this incredible ship that still lies there at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
“It’s the same type of feeling when initially, the way I describe it, you're sitting in a train and you're stationed and you're not too sure: are you moving or is the other train moving? It's a bit like that where you don't really realise – you don't feel as if you're free-falling down to the bottom. Then suddenly the darkness of the Atlantic Ocean is broken and this image appears on the camera monitor and that's when you realise that this overwhelming solitude is punctuated by this sudden wall of steel, the Titanic.”
At first glance Lowri said the Titanic is split into two with about “800m between both the front, the stern, and the bow”. The middle of the ship is the rubber field, which is where the ship split in two.
“You're constantly reminded that you're looking at a graveyard of 1,500 people. The closer we got to the wreck the more things I saw that moved me. I saw ceramic tiles and I knew from which room they'd come from. I saw children's boots and toys.
“I also saw a pair of leather boots, which was obviously the resting place of somebody. I've raced in the Arctic in -70 degrees Celsius and I can only tell you how painful it is to be that cold. It's like having pins and needles sticking to you. I wouldn't want to imagine how it was for those people who were in the water. If you weren't in a lifeboat within 25 minutes you'd have died. The ones who were in a lifejacket would have been taken away and found but the ones without would have obviously dropped to the bottom.”
Lowri likened the scene to being like she was on the “dark side of the moon”, commenting on how the area itself is less like a graveyard and more “serene”.
Search and rescue teams are yet to find the tourist submersible that went missing on Sunday. Five people are on board with rapidly declining oxygen. Lowri said that upon first hearing what had happened she spared a thought for the tourists' families. She explained how “it'll be very dark for them and it'll be cold” before adding: “They most probably won't have much food or water with them. When we went down we had something like 3.25 days of oxygen per person.”
Lowri recalled how she felt a huge sense of relief upon reaching the ocean’s surface. “It only dawned on me when I phoned home and the first thing my parents said when I answered was: ‘Oh, you're safe.’ It’s only then that you realise how dangerous a thing it is to go down to the Titanic. You have to have total respect for Mother Nature because she's far greater than you. When you go into these challenges you have to have some humility and also have your plans. It is an amazing experience to see Titanic. It’s incredible and I really didn’t realise just how incredible until I set my eyes on her.”
