Paul-Henri Nargeolet

Paul-Henri Nargeolet (French pronunciation: [pɔl ɑ̃ʁi naʁʒɔlɛ]; 2 March 1946 – 18 June 2023)[3]: 1 [1][4] was a French deep sea explorer and Titanic expert. Known as "Mr. Titanic",[2] Nargeolet was one of five people who died aboard the submersible Titan when it imploded on 18 June 2023 near the wreck of the Titanic.[5]

Paul-Henri Nargeolet
Born(1946-03-02)2 March 1946
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Haute-Savoie, France
Died18 June 2023(2023-06-18) (aged 77)
North Atlantic Ocean
(near the wreck of the Titanic)
Cause of deathImplosion of Titan submersible
Other names
  • P.H. Nargeolet[1] or simply P.H.
  • Mr. Titanic[1][2]
Spouses
  • ​
    (died 2017)​
  • Anne Sarraz-Bournet
Military career
AllegianceFrance
Service/branchFrench Navy
Years of service1964–1986
RankFrigate captain
Signature

Early life

Nargeolet was born on 2 March 1946 in Chamonix in the French department of Haute-Savoie.[3]: 1  He lived in Casablanca, Morocco, for 13 years[6] before relocating to Paris to complete his studies at the age of 16.[7]

Career

French Navy

Nargeolet began his career in the French Navy, where he served as an officer specialising in mine clearance, diving, and deep underwater intervention[3]: 1  from 1964 to 1986.[8] In the 1970s, he was appointed Commander of the Groupement de Plongeurs Démineurs de Cherbourg, whose mission was to find and neutralise underground mines.[3]: 1  In the 1980s, he was transferred to the Undersea Intervention Group (French: Groupe d'Intervention sous la Mer: GISMER), where he piloted intervention submarines.[3]: 1  During that time he travelled the world retrieving submerged French planes and helicopters, including the individuals and weapons upon them.[3]: 1  Through this work he found a Roman wreck, located at a depth of 70 metres. He also located a DHC-5 Buffalo that crashed in 1979 with 12 people on board, including several members of the Mauritanian government.[3]: 2 [9] Nargeolet retired at the rank of capitaine de frégate (frigate captain).[10]

IFREMER

In 1986, the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) contacted Nargeolet about diving to the wreck of the Titanic; he heartily agreed to go.[3]: 2  With IFREMER, Nargeolet piloted dives to the Titanic wreck site in 1987, 1993, 1994, and 1996.[3]: 2  His 1987 expedition was the first to collect artefacts from the wreckage.[6]

As part of his IFREMER missions, Nargeolet located various aircraft damaged at sea. On 15 May 1993, Nargeolet made a dive with the Nautile and discovered, by chance, La Lune, which sank in 1664 near Toulon.[3]: 2 

Center for Maritime & Underwater Resource Management

Beginning in 1994, Nargeolet was director of Michigan State University's Center for Maritime & Underwater Resource Management (CMURM).[11]

Aqua+

From 1996 to 2003, Nargeolet worked with Aqua+, a subsidiary of Canal+, whose objective is to produce underwater films. During his time with the company he directed the underwater missions of two submarines.[3]: 2 

Premier Exhibitions, Inc.

In August 2007 RMS Titanic, Inc., a company owned by Premier Exhibitions which organizes travelling exhibitions, commissioned Nargeolet to locate RMS Carpathia, which had rescued survivors of RMS Titanic but was torpedoed in 1918.[3]: 2 

Nargeolet worked with RMS Titanic to recover artefacts related to the Titanic as the Director of the Underwater Research Program. His work has included utilizing remotely operated vehicles (ROV), as well as piloting dives to the wreck site.[3]: 2 His work has resulted in recovering nearly 6,000 artefacts over the course of 35 dives.[3][6] In 2010, he was part of a mission to 3D map the wreck site and determine levels of deterioration using ROVs and autonomous underwater robots.[3]: 2 

Also in 2010, he was involved in the search for the flight recorder of Air France Flight 447, which crashed the previous year while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.[3]: 2 

Other

As an expert on the Titanic, Nargeolet participated as a creator of two documentaries: Titanic: The Legend Lives On (1994) and Deep Inside the Titanic (1999). In 2022, he published Dans les profondeurs du Titanic (lit. 'In the Depths of the Titanic'), which recounts his expeditions.[6]

Titan expedition and death
Main article: Titan submersible implosion

"If you are 11 metres or 11 kilometres down, if something bad happens, the result is the same. When you're in very deep water, you're dead before you realize that something is happening, so it's just not a problem."

— Nargeolet in 2019[12]

On 18 June 2023, Nargeolet was onboard the Titan, a submersible owned by OceanGate on an expedition to view the Titanic wreckage. The vehicle lost contact with the above-water ship, MV Polar Prince.[5] Search-and-rescue missions involved water and air support from the United States, Canada and France. Over 6.5 million was spent on rescue efforts.[13]

On 22 June, after the discovery of a debris field approximately 490 metres (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic,[14] OceanGate said it believed Nargeolet and the four others aboard "have sadly been lost."[15] A United States Coast Guard press conference later confirmed that the debris was consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure hull, resulting in the implosion of the submersible vehicle.[14]

Personal life

Nargeolet had two daughters, Chloé and Sidonie; a son, Julien; a stepson, John Nathaniel Paschall; and four grandsons. His wife Michele Marsh, an Emmy Award-winning American television reporter, died in 2017.[16][17][18]

Later, as a result of his Titanic work, Nargeolet re-established contact with a childhood friend, Anne Sarraz-Bournet, who became his second wife.[6][1]

At the time of his death, Nargeolet lived in Pawling in New York state, United States,[19] having moved there in 2022.

Works
  • Dans les profondeurs du Titanic. HarperCollins, Paris 2022, ISBN 979-1-03-390984-2 (in French)

References
  1. Samuel, Henry (20 June 2023). "'Mr Titanic': The diver who has spent more time at shipwreck than anyone". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 June 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  2. "L'océanaute Paul-Henri Nargeolet, « Monsieur Titanic »" [The oceanaut Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 'Mister Titanic']. Le Monde (in French). 20 June 2023. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  3. "Paul-Henri NARGEOLET Biography". Cité de la Mer. Issuu.com. April 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  4. "OceanGate says it believes individuals on missing sub "have sadly been lost"". CNN. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  5. "What we know about the passengers on board missing Titanic submersible". Sky News. 19 June 2023. Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  6. Cunin, Jean-Marie (15 April 2022). "PORTRAIT. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, l'amoureux du Titanic, sort son premier livre" [PROFILE. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a lover of the Titanic, releases his first book]. Ouest-France (in French). Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  7. "Paul-Henri (PH) Nargeolet". Experiential Media Group. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  8. "What we know about the 5 people on the missing Titanic tourist submersible". NBC News. 20 June 2023. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  9. "Sunday 27 May 1979". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  10. Joly, Vinciane (20 June 2023). "Sous-marin disparu : Paul-Henri Nargeolet, chasseur d'épaves, passionné du « Titanic »". La Croix (in French). ISSN 0242-6056. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  11. McBride, Jessica (19 June 2023). "Paul Henri 'PH' Nargeolet: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  12. Caplan, Anna Lazarus Caplan (20 June 2023). "'Mr. Titanic' Was Aware of Sub Risks: 'You're Dead Before You Realize That Something Is Happening". People. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  13. Henley, Jon (21 June 2023). "Titanic sub live updates: vessel may have less than 20 hours of oxygen left, says US Coast Guard, as search continues". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  14. Chao-Fong, Léonie (22 June 2023). "Titan sub: crew have died after catastrophic loss of pressure – latest updates". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  15. Regan, Helen; Renton, Adam; Picheta, Rob; Sangal, Aditi; Hammond, Elise; Meyer, Matt (22 June 2023). "Missing Titanic sub crew believed to be dead, tour company says". CNN. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  16. Roberts, Sam (18 October 2017). "Michele Marsh, Longtime New York TV Anchor, Dies at 63". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  17. Williams, Alex (23 June 2023). "Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Known as 'Mr. Titanic,' Dies at 77". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  18. Johnson, Alan (23 June 2023). "Daughter of Titanic explorer said she was still hopeful before debris find". mirror. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  19. "Titan sub victim lived in Dutchess County". Daily Freeman. 23 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
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