The passengers aboard the ill-fated Titanic submarine likely experienced their final moments surrounded by darkness, observing eerie bioluminescent creatures drifting past, and listening to their favorite music.

Heartbreaking accounts of the passengers’ last minutes surfaced as the wife and mother of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, a father-son duo destined for the Titanic’s wreckage, shared their story with the New York Times. The family’s fascination with the 111-year-old tragedy began when they visited a Titanic exhibit in Singapore back in 2012.

Their interest in the Titanic only intensified after a trip to Greenland in 2019, where they were captivated by glaciers that transformed into icebergs, the very same ocean hazard that led to the Titanic’s demise in 1912.

Christine, the wife, came across an OceanGate advertisement offering trips to the wreckage. Originally, she was to accompany her billionaire husband, but due to pandemic-related delays, their 19-year-old son ended up taking her place, being of the right age to participate in the expedition.

Christina disclosed that her husband and son almost missed the ill-fated Father’s Day journey to over 13,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface. Their original flight to St. John’s, Newfoundland, the departure point for the mother ship, was canceled, and the subsequent flight they managed to book was also delayed.

“We were actually quite worried, like, ‘Oh, my god, what if they cancel that flight as well?’” Christine told the Times.

“In hindsight, obviously, I wish they did.”

Despite the challenges they faced, the family managed to reach the Polar Prince on time. On June 18, Christine and her 17-year-old daughter, Alina, boarded the ship to witness Shahzada, Suleman, and three others – OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush, renowned Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and British billionaire Hamish Harding – enter the 22-foot sub and disappear into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

Although their accommodations aboard the Polar Prince were cramped, with bunk beds and tray-based meals, and despite enduring lengthy 12-hour meetings in the days leading up to the voyage, Christine, the grieving wife and mother, expressed that her husband and son were thrilled about the journey. OceanGate had repeatedly presented the expedition as an opportunity for the participants to become “explorers, adventurers, and citizen scientists.”

Describing her son’s excitement just before he embarked on the sub, Christine compared him to a vibrating toddler, brimming with anticipation.

Her husband, on the other hand, expressed a desire for adventures similar to those of Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a renowned Titanic diver who once found himself trapped in a sub for three days. Christine recalled her husband’s enthusiastic response, saying, “Oh, my god, this is so cool.” He absorbed everything eagerly and had a radiant expression while delving into nerdy discussions about the subject.

Despite having paid $250,000 each for the father and son to partake in the trip, the family’s experience on the Polar Prince leading up to departure was far from extravagant. They endured sleeping in cramped rooms with bunk beds, dining on buffet-style meals served on trays, and engaging in back-to-back meetings from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Additionally, screenings of the hit film “Titanic” were regularly offered to passengers during their downtime.

According to Christine, the majority of the meetings centered around understanding the controversial sub and its safety features, but some of the technical details were challenging for everyone to grasp.

“That engineering side, we just had no idea,” she said. “I mean, you sit in a plane without knowing how the engine works.”

Christine is not alone in feeling perplexed by the intricacies of the Titan sub’s mechanism.

Bill Price, a passenger who embarked on the sub in 2021, recounted how his trip was disrupted when the Titan sub experienced a malfunction in its propulsion system on one side.

According to Price, the sub’s “drop-weight mechanism” failed to release for the ascent, prompting OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush to suggest that the passengers try rocking the sub to assist in its movement. After several attempts, there was a distinct sound indicating that one weight had successfully dropped off. With continued efforts, all the weights were eventually released, and the sub gradually resurfaced.

Despite this incident, Price shared that the crew resumed their submersible journey the following day and had a successful visit to the shipwreck.

He also mentioned that one of the safety lessons covered the risks of implosions caused by pressure, which ironically seemed to have affected the sub in the recent incident.

Price and other passengers were informed that the pressure from the ocean’s depths would be akin to a coke can being crushed by a sledgehammer or being under the weight of an elephant balancing on one foot, accompanied by a hundred more pachyderms on top of it. This description oddly provided a sense of reassurance, as it suggested that any unfortunate outcome would be swift and instantaneous.

In addition to the engineering lessons, Christine mentioned that the tourists on the ill-fated trip were regaled with captivating tales of the deep by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

As they arrived at the launch-off location in the middle of the ocean, Christine felt confident in the “well-oiled operation” run by OceanGate. The crew thoroughly prepared the passengers for what lay ahead, contributing to a sense of assurance in the whole process.

Passengers were advised by Rush to follow a “low-residue diet” the day prior to the trip, and abstain from consuming coffee on the morning of their excursion. Additionally, he recommended wearing thick socks and a beanie to combat the chilling temperatures experienced in the Atlantic.

Christine recounted that the passengers were cautioned about potential condensation pools forming on the submersible’s floor, prompting them to avoid getting their feet wet.

They were also informed that during the journey to the Titanic, the sub’s lights would be off to conserve battery, but they could still witness the captivating sights of bioluminescent sea creatures.

To make the trip more enjoyable, the passengers were encouraged to load their favorite songs onto the sub’s music player since the expedition could last up to four hours. However, Rush jokingly prohibited any country songs from being loaded.

Despite some initial grumbles from Shahzada about the required equipment, the family’s excitement remained unwavering. Christine and her daughter bid farewell to the departing sub, watching it slowly disappear into the Atlantic Ocean at a gentle pace of about one mile per hour, creating a sense of serenity and motionlessness.

“It was a good morning,” Christine recalled, highlighting her husband’s joyful anticipation as he repeatedly proclaimed, “I’m diving tomorrow! I’m diving tomorrow!” the day before the expedition.

Less than two hours into the two-and-a-half-hour descent, when contact with the vessel was lost, she was reassured that such glitches were known to happen occasionally. However, if contact wasn’t reestablished within the hour, the sub would automatically release its weights and ascend back to the surface.

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