WHEN OCEANGATE'S lost contact with the surface on June 18, the missing sub created a global media frenzy as rescuers rushed to locate and save its five passengers before their oxygen ran out. It was eventually determined that the sub had imploded, prompting widespread criticism of not only 's unorthodox—and uncertified— construction, but also of the very notion of sending tourists 12,500 feet down to the remains of the RMS at $250,000 per head. Months after
