The friend of adventurer Hamish Harding says that he "understands the risks for certain," since Harding said in his last Instagram post that this mission was probably the only one planned to visit the Titanic by 2023 due to "the worst weather" in the past 40 years.

The last radio communications of one of those aboard the sub before it went silent have made headlines as the search continues for the sub that was carrying five people near the Titanic wreckage off the coasts of Canada and Cape Cod.

ABC News reports that among the people inside OceanGate's submersible is adventurer, billionaire Hamish Haring, Titanic enthusiast, diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and British businessman Shahzada Dawood, as well as his son Suleman.

Terry Virts, an astronaut with ITV Good Morning said Harding sent him a text message shortly before the vessel started its descent towards the wreckage. He wrote: "Hey we're heading out tomorrow. It looks good. The weather has been bad, so they've waited for this,"

Virts stated that his friend Harding "understood risks for sure" and that he has "set a couple of world records" while traveling to the Mariana Trench. He also added that the two had "talked a lot about the risks and different things they would be able do... he seemed very excited about it."

Harding referred to the bad weather on his last Instagram post, before diving under water again on Sunday.

He wrote: "I'm proud to announce that I have joined @oceangateexped as a mission expert on the sub going to the Titanic for their RMS TITANIC mission," alongside photos of himself and the Titan sub before departure.

This mission will likely be the only manned Titanic mission in 2023 due to the worst Newfoundland winter in 40 years. "We are going to dive tomorrow," wrote he. "We left St. Johns in Newfoundland yesterday, and plan to begin diving operations at 4am tomorrow. We have to prepare and do briefings until then.

He said that the team included a few legendary explorers. Some of them have made over 30 dives on the RMS Titanic, including PH Nargeolet, since the 1980s.

His page has not been updated since the last update.

The submersible OceanGate Expeditions lost contact about 45 minutes after submerging on Sunday. It had reportedly 96 hours' oxygen left when it left, so search efforts must race against time.

The United States Coast Guard is searching for the Titan with the Canadian Coast Guard. They are also working together to search an area that's "roughly the same size as Connecticut", about 900 nautical miles from Cape Cod in Massachusetts. US Coast Guard District 1, Rear Admiral John Mauger said that as of Tuesday morning, they had "underwater search capabilities on scene." They are "going use this to see if [we can] locate the submersible under the water."

He said that it was "a challenge" to search in the "remote areas," because of the fog and the waves. But he added, "We are deploying all our resources to ensure we can find the craft and save the people onboard."

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Title: Last Text Message from Billionaire Aboard Missing Titanic Submarine Revealed
Sourced From: www.toofab.com/2023/06/20/lost-titanic-submarine-hamish-harding-last-text/
Published Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2023 15:25:35 +0000

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