University of North Carolina Wilmington Professor Has Ties To OceanGate And The Missing Titanic Sub

Author Melanie Day

June 21st, 2023 11:24 AM

A professor out of the University of North Carolina Wilmington has ties to the company OceanGate. OceanGate operates the missing Titanic sub. WSOC-TV is reporting that Dr. Steve Ross is currently serving as the chief scientist for OceanGate. Dr. Ross, a professor in the University’s Center for Marine Science is currently onboard the ship’s support vessel. Aka he’s on the boat that launched the submersible that is missing. This story has captivated the nation, and it’s interesting to learn that it has a local connection as well.

According to UNC Wilmington via WSOC-TV, Ross is “safe, but unreachable.” The support vessel Ross is on lost contact with the submersible on Sunday about an hour and 45 minutes into the dive to the Titanic wreck site. A massive multi-station search is currently unfolding in the North Atlantic with time ticking. It is believed there is enough oxygen on the sub for the 5 people on board to survive into Thursday. Multiple news outlets are reporting today that banging sounds have been picked up by sonar within the search area. This gives a glimmer of hope that these individuals could be found alive.

As someone who was fascinated by the Titanic as a child (why were we all?), I have been glued to this story. I hope that somehow they are able to not only locate the sub, but get it to the surface, and open in time. I can only imagine the fear the individuals trapped are feeling. But I also feel for the University of North Carolina Wilmington professor and his OceanGate colleagues that are on the support vessel. I will be following along closely all day in hopes of seeing developments.

10 Titanic Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

**About the ship and the film**

• Lifeboats

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  Everyone knows one of the biggest problems with the Titanic was the lack of available lifeboats. The ship was said to be "unsinkable", and it was said it looked "too cluttered" with the full capacity of 32 boats. Instead there were 20 lifeboats on board. But did you know if those boats had been filled to capacity 1178 could have fit on them. Instead more than 1500 of the 2,240 people on board perished that night.

• Cost

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  When it was constructed the ship cost $7.5 million. Adjusted to today that price would be over $183 million. And it wasn't able to complete even one voyage.

• The Grand Staircase

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  One of the most memorable images of the ships interior is the Grand Staircase. The staircase was replicated for the movie, featuring some of the most iconic moments of the film. When it came time to film the destruction of it, well it had to be done in one take. This is because the staircase was actually destroyed by the water.
• A First Class Ticket

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  Titanic was the most luxurious ship ever made. And this was most evident in the first class areas. How much did a first class ticket cost? Adjusted for modern prices first class tickets ranged from about $1700 to upwards of $50,000. Something tells me Rose's suite was on that upper end. But as far as real passengers go you had the richest of the rich. This is included John Jacob Astor, Molly Brown, and Benjamin Guggenheim.

• ‘The Movie and The Ship

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  We've talked about how much the ship cost to build. But lets put that into perspective of how successful the movie was. The film grossed over $2.2 billion. That's enough to rebuild the ship 20 times over.

• The Iceberg

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  Many things led up to the crash with iceberg and the ships demise. But time wasn't on their side that night. In fact, the time from the first sighting to the collision was only 37 seconds.
• Alcohol

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  We see in the movie that there was plenty of alcohol on board Titanic. How much? For starters there were There were 20,000 bottles of beer and 1,500 bottles of wine. I'd honestly expect more!

• Artifacts

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  More than 6,000 artifacts have been recovered the site of the wreck. Some have been sold to private collectors and others are part of several exhibits in countries all over the world. This includes dishes, personal items, pieces of the ship, instruments, and more.

• In Theaters

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  The movie was one of the most successful of all time. In fact, it was released in theaters on December 19, 1997 and remained there for 10 months. The run of engagement ended October 1, 1998 more than 10 months later. In fact, the VHS had already been released at that time.
• The Real Jack Dawson

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  The main characters of James Cameron's movie are fictional, though many of the secondary characters were real people. But there in fact was a "J Dawson" on board Titanic. Jack was not based on him though, James Cameron didn't discover this fact until after the film's release.

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Author Melanie Day

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