The discovery of the remains of the Titan in the vicinity of the Titanic shipwreck, last Thursday, closed a search that has kept the entire planet in suspense. After confirming the death of her five passengers by the implosion of the ship due to external pressure All kinds of questions have been raised about security systems that are too lax, at least in international waters.
The lack of regulation of underwater exploration activities has allowed a ship, almost handmade, and without any safety certification, to submerge almost 4,000 meters deep with a fatal outcome. But,a similar tragedy could happen in our country?
Many are unaware that in Spain passenger tourist trips are made every day inside a submarine. “They have been doing it for more than thirty years,” confirms to NIUS José Luis Martín, merchant marine and chief engineer, in the year 92, of one of the first submersibles that were chartered in Spain for this purpose.
“We did dives of between 30 and 40 minutes in the waters of Marbella and there were never any problems. The risk was zero, because our submarine was of the highest securitynot like the spawn of the Titan, which unfortunately has had a sad, but predictable end”, he laments. “The submersible in which I worked, like those that continue to operate today in Spain, was built in a Finnish shipyard specialized in the manufacture of tourist passenger submarinessubjected to all the necessary tests and certifications,” he stresses.
Certifications that the Titan did not possess. The pilot who died in the accident, Stockton Rush, boasted on different occasions of having skipped security controls, including the approval certificate for the device, because, according to what he said, it was an impediment “to scientific progress.” Rush wanted to be remembered as a pioneer in submersible innovation. “I have broken some rules to make this possible,” she would say. He used titanium and carbon fiber to build it even though he knew it was very dangerous. “There is a rule not to do it”, she admitted… “but I did it”, she repeated with pride.
“His behavior was suicidal,” defends Martín. “The bad thing is that with his irresponsibility dragged four innocent people to death“, emphasizes the Spanish submarine expert.
Tourist trips in a submarine in Spain: why the Titan thing cannot happen
“What happened with the Titan could never happen in Spain. Never,” reiterates Martín. “To begin with, because a ship like that could not navigate in Spanish waters because It did not have approval, it did not have a flag, it did not have a license plate, the pilot did not even have a nautical title, which are essential requirements here “, clarifies. “It would have had an inspection by the Civil Guard patrol boats and they would have stopped it and returned it to port immediately”emphasizes the specialist. “What happens is that in the US the regulation is much more permissive, to give you an idea, anyone who buys a sailing boat can take it, without any title, they just ask you for insurance. Ignorance is very daring and then the consequences come”, highlights the merchant marine.
Diving in a ship to enjoy the seabed or sunken wrecks is possible in Spain, “although at the moment only in the Canary Islands”explains Judith Darias, the director of Atlántida Submarine, one of the companies engaged in this activity on the island of Gran Canaria, Submarine Adventure. the other company, Submarine Safariesoperates in Tenerife and Lanzarote.
He Golden Shark is the submersible that works every day of the week in Gran Canaria. “It has 44 places for tourists and two for the pilots of the ship. Two merchant marine pilotsthe maximum training possible, who have enormous experience, they have accumulated 37 years between the two,” says Darias.
“This training is essential, because the captain is the one who decides whether or not the right conditions exist to descend,” he highlights. “Depending on the type of notice that there is from the Maritime Meteorological Service, the trip can be directly canceled or a prior test is chosen without tourists, only with company personnel, to evaluate the state of the sea and decide later. “explains the manager. “We’ve been doing this for three decades and we’ve never had a problem. It’s all very, very controlled.”
He Golden Shark, Like the other two submarines that operate in the Canary Islands, it has been manufactured at the Finnish shipyard in Turku, designed specifically for the tourist market. It can dive to a maximum depth of 75 meters and navigate at a speed of 3 knots per hour. “However, Due to the characteristics of the coast of Gran Canaria where we are, it never drops below 18 or 22 meters”Darias details. “And also, for greater security, the submarine always follows the same route through the same place. We have an administrative maritime concession of almost 3,000 square meters, marked out, where no one can enter without permission, since we are developing a project to regenerate the seabed. An artificial reef park that is where we initially dive and then we went out to a public area to visit two sunken wrecks that have been there for many years. An interesting and safe route because we never strayed from what is established,” he says .
This submersible works seven days a week -as long as there are no setbacks- and You can make up to eight daily dives. “That nothing has happened in three decades with this strong activity, I think, indicates the high level of security it has,” argues Darias.
Security controls in Spain for tourist submarines
“The Maritime Captaincy is the one in charge of ensuring the safety of ships, including submarines,” explains Martín. “Each ship is subjected to some exhaustive and rigorous periodic controls where every detail is inspected and if any anomaly is found, it is obliged to make the repair or to correct the defect. If it is not resolved, the pertinent certificate that allows it to navigate is not issued and the submarine remains in port,” says the merchant marine.
“Two reviews are done annually. conscientious One in the water, submerging the ship to a depth of 47 meters, to test that it does not suffer any type of damage, and another on land“, explains the director of Atlántida Submarine.
“The underwater test is for verifyamong other things, the tightness“, confirms Martín. “It is verified that there is no entry of water, that there are no cracks, that there is no tearing, which is when droplets begin to come out on the walls, that would be a very bad sign. On the other hand, the dry test is vital in tourist submarines, it lasts about two weeks and there check the hull millimeter by millimeter, the weldsa non-penetrating liquid test is carried out that reveals if there are any pores, cracks or imperfections”, explains the submarine expert.
“In addition, adds the director of Altlántida Submarine, “in everyday life, security is also extreme. This is like a plane The pilot arrives in the morning and does an exhaustive check of all the submarine’s equipment together with the maintenance manager. And if all that checkup turns out to be positive, as happens on a plane, go out to work. If there is an incident, you can’t leave, the trip is canceled or delayed until everything is ok,” he points out. “Our maintenance manager has been working in the company for 30 years and was trained in Finland with the manufacturers. The margin of safety is very large.”
José Luis Martín was one of those in charge of this daily control in his submarine. “He checked all the equipment on board, the electrical part, the compressed air charge, the installation of valves, the pipes, he checked the battery, the switches, the compass, so that the submarine navigates correctly, the television cameras, the eyes of ox, it was a very meticulous inspection, and the same thing that I did then my colleagues who operate in the Canary Islands do now. The result, we have already commented, zero accidents in more than three decades of use of tourist submarines.
The Titan drama does not affect Spanish tourist submarines: here is an affordable experience
Despite the size and monitoring of what happened on the Titan, the reservations to know the depths of the Canary coasts on board a submarine do not seem to have suffered. “Look, the news of the disappearance broke on Monday, on Thursday it was learned that it had imploded and that same day we had a waiting list that we were not able to solve“, assures Darias. “We have not had more cancellations than usual since then. We have worked with absolute normality and we are already full of reserves for the summer, “he advances.” I think that people are very intelligent and know that what happened in Atlantic waters is not comparable in any way “
Another of the differences with the damaged ship is the public for which it is intended. The Titan, to millionaires with the whim of seeing the remains of a legend up close. The victims paid 250,000 euros per head. “In our submersible, adults pay 35 euros and children 20 euros. And also with much more visibility,” says the director of Atlántida Submarine. “You can’t see the Titanic but you do see a wonderful fauna and flora”.
“On the Titan they must have had a feeling of total claustrophobia because there was no visibility. It was a cylinder with a simple porthole at the bow. In my submarine in Marbella and in the canaries that continue to operate now there is enormous clarity. They have a porthole in the front, another in the rear, and 11 circular windows on the port side and another 11 on the starboard, also think that the depth is very shallow, at 20 meters the clarity and visibility inside the submarine is total” , explains the merchant marine José Luis Martín.
Nonethelessthe companies dedicated to these immersions offer an escape route for those who at the last moment have a panic attack or claustrophobia. “It has ever happened to us that when the hatch is closed there are people who get overwhelmed and do not want to continue. By regulation, an auxiliary boat always goes along with the submarine, which is our eyes on the surface, this is the one that is communicates that a passenger must be disembarked and brought to port,” he concludes.
