After the Titan

After the Titan submersible imploded last week, Matthew Gavin Frank’s journey to the depths with Karl Stanley, a friend of Stockton Rush’s, took on a new meaning. (Frank rode in Stanley’s sub in February of this year; his essay, in which Frank meditates on the eternal dangers and allure of deep-sea exploration, went online the day after the OceanGate sub went missing.) He discusses Stanley’s warnings to Rush, mass fear, and whether he regrets his experience. Subscribe to Harper’s for only $16.97: harpers.org/save “Submersion Journalism,” Matthew Gavin Frank’s essay in the July issue: https://harpers.org/archive/2023/07/submersion-journalism-homemade-submarine-honduras-deep-sea-diving [8:46] Submersible enthusiasts ignore the all-encompassing danger of the sea [13:57] The psyche of a submersible enthusiast vs. the psyches of the rest of us [16:13] “There is a malign quality to this certain and particular breed of wonder.” [19:32] The Titan tapped into “a fuse of our greatest, fearful hits.” [20:31] How the countdown aspect made us “keenly aware of how much closer we are to our own deaths” [22:38] Joking out of love, joking out of spite, and roasting someone after they’ve died [25:53] The media’s endless quest for ratings [32:15] “If there is such a thing as an expert in risk assessment in one-off, uncertifiable, deep-sea manned vehicles, my resume is hard to beat.” [35:28] Going for a walk, as an antidote to submersible addiction