MANITOWOC (NBC 26) — More than one thousand miles away from the Titanic wreck, northeast Wisconsin researchers are thinking about how the loss of the Titan—a Titanic tourist submersible—might affect underwater travel in Lake Michigan.
“It’s going to set us back a little bit in terms of what maybe that technology would have been in the Great Lakes,” Kevin Cullen, Wisconsin Maritime Museum Director, said. “In fact, OceanGate, we were in consultation with the company actually looking at one of those submarines just last year.”
People can already explore Lake Michigan in submarines operated by Viking Cruise Line.
Travel writer Jennifer Billock took a Viking submarine tour and told NBC 26 over email, “It was all very professional and we were all shown all the security measures multiple times and told how to use them.”
Cullen says these types of trips in Lake Michigan could be on pause because of the Titan situation.
“There’s interest out there for tourism, but also for scientific research to bring people to the shipwrecks that we have right here off of our shoreline. I see that being delayed now,” Cullen said.
But, people in northeast Wisconsin have differing views on whether they would go on a submarine or submersible to explore their own backyards of Lake Michigan, like Ashlee and Steve Johnston. While walking through downtown Manitowoc, Ashlee commented she would “never” go on a submersible, but Steve disagreed.
“I probably would’ve thought about it, except after hearing the story about the one that’s lost I definitely would not,” said Manitowoc resident Steve.
Seasoned sailors Michael and Tara Huck say they would still be willing to take the trip.
“There's plenty to explore down there,” Michael Huck said. “And I think that a better-prepared submersible would fare pretty well. This, even the one that's lost me 35 or so trips.”
Tara Huck agreed.
“Yeah, I think it'd be a lot of fun,” she said. “A lot of shipwrecks to see. It'd be good for the area to have tourism here. “
But others aren’t as sure, like Marissa Kohlbeck of Manitowoc.
“I mean it would be a very cool experience… I think it would be a great way to show and expand on the history of Lake Michigan, but I don’t think I ever would, considering it’s very scary,” Kohlbeck said.
Cullen says he just hopes this doesn’t hinder science.
“We need to have this data, certainly to understand extreme environments so that we can safely navigate them,” Cullen said.
We reached out to Viking Cruise Line for more information on their submarine tours of Lake Michigan, but they did not respond to our request.
