The family of one of the passengers on the doomed Titanic submersible has spoken out after officials with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) confirmed the vessel imploded near the ocean floor.
Captain Hamish Harding, 58, was killed along with four other passengers while attempting to visit the famed Titanic wreckage June 18. Harding, the founder and chairman of Action Aviation, was an avid adventurer and explorer who earned two spots in the Guinness Book of World Records after a 2021 dive to Challenger Deep – the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, The New York Times reported. (RELATED: ‘Nanoseconds’: Expert Details What Sub Victims Likely Experienced In ‘Catastrophic Implosion’)
Leaving behind a wife and two sons, Harding was remembered in a statement made on behalf of his family as a “loving husband” and “dedicated father.”
“He was one of a kind and we adored him,” his family stated, adding that the billionaire explorer “lived his life for his family, his business and for the next adventure.”
— Action Aviation (@actionaviation) June 22, 2023
Harding traveled to Antarctica with space pioneer Buzz Aldrin in 2016, helping the 86-year-old astronaut become the oldest person to reach the South Pole, The New York Times reported. Four years later Harding repeated the trek, this time accompanied by his 12-year-old son Giles, making him the youngest person to complete the journey, the outlet stated. In 2019, Harding partnered with former International Space Station commander Col. Terry Virts to complete the fastest circumnavigation of the globe over both the North and South Poles in a Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER long-range business jet, the outlet reported.
“What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it’s that we lost him doing what he loved,” his family stated.
Harding was originally scheduled to make the dive to the Titanic last June but the trip was canceled after the Titan submersible was damaged on a previous dive. Not content to sit idly by, Harding decided instead to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with 20 members of his family and friends, The New York Times reported.
Prior to the dive that ultimately cost him his life, Harding took to social media to announce his position as the mission specialist for the expedition. “Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow,” he wrote.
Harding’s family stated that he would have been “immensely proud” of the cooperation displayed by multiple nations, experts and industry colleagues in the race to find the missing submersible, adding their own heartfelt thanks for the search effort.
“He will leave a gap in our lives that can never be filled,” his family said.