The loss of the sub Titan, and the five people aboard, during a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, has raised a lot of questions about the commercialization of what many regard as the grave of the more than 1,500 people who lost their lives when the ship sank in 1912.
There are those who would prefer to keep the Titanic’s remains off limits to tourists and souvenir hunters.
There are also those who are inclined to keep people away from the wreck for financial and safety reasons.
It is phenomenally expensive to get to and from the Titanic. Only a handful of submersibles are capable of doing it. The prospect of attempting a rescue 3.75 kilometres below the ocean’s surface, where pressure is about 6,000 pounds per square inch, is more than daunting from a practical point of view; the cost would bankrupt half the countries on earth.
However, there are those who would gladly pay the price (according to Google, about $125,000) to travelling to the bottom of the ocean to see the Titanic’s ruins, or double that for a journey high above the earth to the edge of space. Those who want to visit the International Space Station should be prepared to cough up $55 million.
This would be the ultimate in adventure tourism, at least until billionaires cast their eyes on Mars, or resume funding libraries and hospitals, like they did a century ago.
The tragic loss of Titan and its crew has raised questions about adventure tourism in more affordable, earthly realms, as well as places only the very rich can visit.
People pay high prices to put their footprints on pristine snow – or even better, ski or snowmobile on it. Forget the groomed trails of popular resorts.
There is something in the human spirit that drives us to climb higher and run faster than anyone else, and be the first to see or do something. Records in anything are made to be broken.
For some, the driving force is the adrenaline rush that comes from a brush with danger – or spending more money to do it than most people can afford, for example, going close to double the speed limit in a Lamborghini.
For others, it is simply the thrill of going “where no one has gone before” and having the selfie to prove it.
At least, that is the case until the adventure-seeker falls off a cliff and breaks a leg. Then what the adventurer wants is rescue, and a bed in a first-rate hospital as soon as possible.
The fact the rescuers’ own lives and safety are at risk during practices, training and actual events is rarely considered.
It is time it was. It is also time to consider the financial cost of that training, along with equipment used in rescues.
Around here, the rescuers are often volunteer firefighters who hold down regular jobs. We are well aware that local volunteer firefighters have been injured and killed while serving their communities.
This is not a call for people to get billed for being rescued, although in many cases, that already happens – fire trucks, helicopters and the like are expensive to operate.
What this is, is a plea for people to look before they leap, so to speak. What those, “Danger, do not enter!” signs mean is, if you do decide to take the path less travelled, or even blocked off, you are likely to run into trouble – the kind of trouble that has rescue teams slogging through swamps and up steep trails with stretchers and other gear to get you. You may think the adrenaline rush is worth it, but the rescuers’ thoughts are probably on whether everyone will make it home safely.
People, being the creatures we are, will continue to want to “explore strange new worlds” and “boldly go” on exciting vacations – and this area has some thrilling possibilities, not to mention fabulous scenery – but that in no way precludes driving the speed limit and paying attention to warning signs.
Think “bold,” not “befuddled.”
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Pauline Kerr is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter currently working for Midwestern Newspapers. She can be reach at pkerr@midwesternnewspapers.com.
