The regularity of the noises picked up by Canadian planes “corresponds to the regularity of a human”, explains Michel L’Hour, Wednesday on franceinfo. The archaeologist spoke with the French Paul-Henri Nargeolet before his departure.
“The fact that it is a repeated noise every 30 minutes is comforting”, estimated Wednesday June 21 on franceinfo Michel L’Hour, renowned underwater archaeologist, former director of the Department of Underwater and Underwater Archaeological Research (DRASSM), while the American Coast Guard announced this Wednesday morning to have picked up underwater sounds by Canadian aircraft during search operations for the submersible missing since Sunday with five people on board near the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. For Michel L’Hour, “the regularity of the signal corresponds to the regularity of a human”. “We must keep hope”insisted the specialist.
>> What we know about the disappearance of the submarine “Titan”, which occurred during an expedition to the wreck of the “Titanic”
franceinfo: We are talking about “noises” heard every 30 minutes, also acoustic signals, can this come from the submarine?
Michel L’Hour : The fact that it is a noise repeated every 30 minutes is comforting. The seabed is an extremely noisy world. The proximity of the wreck also means that it necessarily cracks because the Titanic has been under water for more than 100 years. So we can’t interpret everything.
“The regularity of the signal corresponds to the regularity that a human wants precisely to distinguish his signal from that of the fauna or the noises which circulate under the ocean. With this technique, it could precisely come from a human who could decide to strike at regular intervals on the shell, which wants to stand out while limiting its consumption of air, an extremely precious commodity.”
Michel L’Hour, former director of DRASSMon franceinfo
It remains to locate the origin of the noise. Where is this origin, that is, if this is the submarine I hope for. And where is he? How deep? Is he on the surface? That, the information does not say. And once we’ve located it, put the means in place to recover it. It’s not worth tapping every fifteen minutes because you know that we’re going to deploy sonar to try to geolocate you and so you’re going to be tapping every 30 minutes at very regular intervals, so that whoever hears this signal understands that there is a human origin.
Did Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, specialist in the wreckage of the Titanic, one of the five passengers, tell you of these doubts about this expedition aboard the “Titan”?
He was dubious because it’s a newly designed machine in carbon fiber, with a very wide porthole, almost 60 centimeters in diameter, which is enormous for machines that are subjected to considerable pressures.
“When I had Paul-Henri Nargeolet on the phone 48 hours before the start of this mission, when we mentioned this submarine, he told me ‘I’m not hiding from you that I’m a little doubtful, it’ is quite intriguing, but I’m interested in seeing how it works’.”
Michel L’Hour, former director of DRASSMon franceinfo
He’s a born explorer, he’s someone with a lot of composure. There is no madness in Paul-Henri [Nargeolet]. He has a mad passion for the Titanic, but he is perfectly reasonable. I think that if he had really thought that this machine was not “safe”, he would not have entered it and he would not have offered to accompany the passengers. He may have doubted the principle, but I think that if he went down, it was because he had confidence in the machine.
There is enough oxygen left in the “Titan” to last until 12 p.m. Thursday, according to the US Coast Guard. So should we have hope?
Of course, and there are two hopes in reality. On the one hand, because there is still air and I think they managed it very early. People like Paul-Henri Nargeolet, with their experience, had to say right away that the air had to be managed. We manage the air like shipwrecked people manage the water from the start, we ration ourselves. And then on the other hand, you have to keep hope because you have in the submersible probably the best, or one of the best specialists in the world of this type of machine, in other words the one who is perhaps the most capable of explain, calm others, make the right decisions, manage your team and lead them to the rescue. So yes, I personally still have hope and it’s not because I want to, it’s because I believe.