The wife of Stockton Rush, the pilot of the missing Titanic tour submarine, is actually the great-great-granddaughter of two first-class passengers who died on the Titanic, records show

The wife of Stockton Rush, the pilot of the missing Titanic tour submarine, is actually the great-great-granddaughter of two first-class passengers who died on the Titanic, records show. 

A fictionalized version of the couple is even featured in the movie.

Ms. Rush’s ancestors on the Titanic are perhaps best known for their tragic love story. Survivors of the disaster recalled seeing Isidor Straus refuse a seat on a lifeboat when women and children were still waiting to flee the sinking liner.”

“I know the logistics of it and I know how vast the ocean is and how very tiny this craft is. I have taken three different dives with this company, one at the Titanic and two others and you almost always lost communication — and you are at the mercy of weather.”

Some tweets from Black Twitter:

Michael: Black Twitter turned that submersible situation into a joke bc we know damn well ain’t no black people on that shit.

Pashy: How would you come out of the submarine if you got saved?

The submarine, which can hold up to five people, tours the wreckage of the Titanic for $250,000 per person.

His stepson, Brian Szasz, shared concerned messages on social media, writing: “My stepdad Hamish Harding is on this submarine.” Alongside a family photo from Christmas day last year, he wrote: “Thoughts and prayers for my family”.

Mr Harding, the chairman of Action Aviation, which buys and sells aircraft, said the vessel left St John’s, in Newfoundland, on Friday and the team planned to start the dive at 4am local time on Sunday. He said the group included a “couple of legendary explorers”.

The group conducting the expedition, Oceangate Expeditions, said it is “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.”

“Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible,” the group said. “We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.”

A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft and a P-8 Poseidon aircraft with underwater detection capabilities from RCC Halifax are on scene, and a Canadian Coast Guard ship is also heading to the area, Corcoran said. In an interview with Fox News, First District Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said the Coast Guard is “bringing all assets to bear” in search of the missing submersible. The US Coast Guard launched a search and rescue operation for a submersible with five people on board that went missing during an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic.

The military branch received a phone call Sunday informing them the Canadian research ship Polar Prince had lost contact with the underwater vessel and were overdue on checking with their communications, according to Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Samantha Corcoran.

“Right now, we are just trying to use all efforts and work with international partners to try to get any resources out there to safely locate all five individuals,” she said.

The Boston Coastguard is carrying out the rescue mission for the OceanGate Expeditions tour group, which takes explorers to the depths of the Atlantic for $250,000 per person. Lt Jordan Hart, of the US Coastguard in Boston said staff were “currently undergoing a search and rescue operation” when asked by CBS News.

Explorer Hamish Harding wrote on social media he was joining OceanGate as a “mission specialist” on an expedition. Seattle-based firm OceanGate, which owns the missing submersible, said it was “exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely”.

It is not known how many people were on board the submersible at the time it went missing, but it has capacity for five.

“Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” OceanGate told CBS. It said it was “deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible”.