Paul-Henri Nargeolet

Paul-Henri Nargeolet (; 2 March 1946 – 18 June 2023) was a French deep sea explorer and ''Titanic'' expert. Known as "Mr. Titanic", Nargeolet was one of five people who died aboard the submersible ''Titan'' when it imploded on 18 June 2023 near the wreck of the ''Titanic''.

Early life

Nargeolet was born on 2 March 1946 in Chamonix in the French department of Haute-Savoie. He lived in Casablanca, Morocco, for 13 years before relocating to Paris to complete his studies at the age of 16.

Career

French Navy

Nargeolet began his career in the French Navy, where he served as an officer specialising in mine clearance, diving, and deep underwater intervention from 1964 to 1986. During the 1970s, he was appointed Commander of the Groupement de Plongeurs Démineurs de Cherbourg, whose mission was to find and neutralise underwater mines. During the 1980s, he was transferred to the Undersea Intervention Group (: ), where he piloted intervention submarines.

During that time he travelled the world retrieving submerged French airplanes and helicopters, including the individuals and weapons in them. By this work he found a Roman wreck, located at a depth of 70 metres. He also located a DHC-5 Buffalo airplane that crashed in 1979 with 12 people aboard, including several members of the Mauritanian government. Nargeolet retired at the rank of ''capitaine de frégate'' (frigate captain).

IFREMER

In 1986, the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) contacted Nargeolet about diving to the wreck of the ''Titanic''; he heartily agreed to go.'''' With IFREMER, Nargeolet piloted dives to the ''Titanic'' wreck site in 1987, 1993, 1994, and 1996.'''' His 1987 expedition was the first to collect artefacts from the wreckage.

As part of his IFREMER missions, Nargeolet located various aircraft damaged at sea. On 15 May 1993, Nargeolet made a dive with the ''Nautile'' and discovered, by chance, ''La Lune'', which sank in 1664 near Toulon.''''

Center for Maritime & Underwater Resource Management

Beginning in 1994, Nargeolet was director of Michigan State University's Center for Maritime & Underwater Resource Management (CMURM).

Aqua+

From 1996 to 2003, Nargeolet worked with Aqua+, a subsidiary of Canal+, whose objective is to produce underwater films. During his time with the company he directed the underwater missions of two submarines.''''

Premier Exhibitions, Inc.

In August 2007 RMS Titanic, Inc., a company owned by Premier Exhibitions which organizes travelling exhibitions, commissioned Nargeolet to locate , which had rescued survivors of but was torpedoed in 1918.''''

Nargeolet worked with RMS Titanic to recover artefacts related to the ''Titanic'' as the director of the Underwater Research Program''.'' His work has included utilizing remotely operated vehicles (ROV), as well as piloting dives to the wreck site.'''' His work has resulted in recovering nearly 6,000 artefacts over the course of 35 dives.'''' In 2010, he was part of a mission to 3D map the wreck site and determine levels of deterioration using ROVs and autonomous underwater robots.''''

Also in 2010, he was involved with the search for the flight recorder of Air France Flight 447, which crashed the previous year while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.''''

Other

As an expert on the ''Titanic'', Nargeolet participated as a creator of two documentaries: '' Titanic: The Legend Lives On'' (1994) and ''Deep Inside the Titanic'' (1999). In 2022, he published (), which recounts his expeditions.

''Titan '' expedition and death

On 18 June 2023, Nargeolet was onboard the ''Titan'', a submersible owned by OceanGate on an expedition to view the ''Titanic'' wreckage. The vehicle lost contact with the above-water ship, . Search-and-rescue missions involved water and air support from the United States, Canada and France. Over $6.5 million was spent on rescue efforts.

On 22 June, after the discovery of a debris field approximately from the bow of the ''Titanic'', OceanGate said it believed Nargeolet and the four others aboard "have sadly been lost." A United States Coast Guard press conference later confirmed that the debris was consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure hull, resulting in the implosion of the submersible vehicle.

Personal life

Nargeolet had two daughters, Chloé and Sidonie; a son, Julien; a stepson, John Nathaniel Paschall; and four grandsons. His wife Michele Marsh, an American television reporter, died in 2017.

Later, as a result of his ''Titanic'' work, Nargeolet re-established contact with a childhood friend, Anne Sarraz-Bournet, who became his second wife.

At the time of his death, Nargeolet lived in Pawling in New York, having moved there in 2022.

See also

*List of solved missing person cases

Works

*. HarperCollins, Paris 2022,

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nargeolet, Paul-Henri
1946 births
2020s missing person cases
2023 deaths
20th-century French explorers
21st-century French explorers
Civilian submariners
Deaths in the Titan submersible implosion
Formerly missing French people
French expatriates in Morocco
French expatriates in the United States
French Navy personnel
French underwater divers
Michigan State University people
People from Chamonix
People who died at sea
Underwater explorers