By John Schwing

WESTPORT — Would you sign this waiver?

“It is an experimental, submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death.”

You might have second thoughts, but at least on camera, Westport resident David Pogue — technology expert, author, columnist and, in this case, CBS “Sunday Morning” correspondent — shrugged and said, “Where do I sign?”

Pogue, in a 10-minute report for the news magazine program, recounted his firsthand experience last year with the submersible, called Titan, now the focus of worldwide media attention since it was reported missing Sunday during a deep-sea voyage to the wreckage of the ocean liner, Titanic.

Titanic, of course, is the stuff of both tragic legend — and obsession — since it sank during its 1912 maiden voyage from Britain to New York, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 of its passengers. 

The ship’s hulk settled nearly two and a half miles below the surface of the frigid North Atlantic off Newfoundland — and since then its fate has been the subject of endless fascination for moviemakers, historians and researchers, both professional and amateur.

“Titaniacs.” In Pogue’s report, that’s how some of those pursuing the Titanic’s legacy are described by Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, the company that assembled the submersible and used it to offer tours of the wreck.

Rush said the Titanic enthusiasts range from people who mortgaged their home to take the OceanGate voyage, to wealthy individuals who wouldn’t think twice about the $250,000 fare, to someone who won a lottery.

Pogue traveled with OceanGate to the North Atlantic to report on one of its expeditions, which he described as a dive “to the Titanic in a one-of-a-kind, carbon-fiber submersible for $250,000 per person.”

Also along for the expedition was a man described an “industry mogul” from India and a bank executive who said it has been a long-held dream of hers to view the Titanic’s wreck.

“Dreams don’t have a price,” the woman told Pogue, who said she has been saving for a chance to see the Titanic for 30 years.

The Titan submersible, according to the report, has a five-inch-thick carbon-fiber shell, and can accommodate up to five people — the number of passengers on board when the vessel was reported missing Sunday. 

Before the sub departs, its door is sealed with 17 bolts from the outside, and can be re-opened only by unscrewing those bolts by crews outside.

Pogue, who admitted to being “nervous” about a trip on the Titan, compared its interior to the size of a minivan, and “couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised.”

When Rush — who reportedly is aboard the missing sub — says, “We run this whole thing with a game-controller,” Pogue reacts with a face-covering laugh of astonishment.

Pogue, at one point, tells Rush the submersible appears to have “elements of MacGiver-y, jerry-riggedness.” But Rush defends the sub, saying the key pressure vessel is “buttoned-down,” having been developed with help from Boeing, NASA and the University of Washington.

When Pogue’s voyage to the Titanic had to be scrubbed because waves were judged “too big” for the submersible, an alternative deep-sea dive off the continental shelf in the sub also was aborted after descending all of 37 feet below surface when technical issues were encountered.

The OceanGate expedition continued several more days, Pogue reported, and on the final day at sea, the submersible was launched successfully and descended to the Titanic wreckage — and back.

The bank executive, who planned three earlier expeditions to the Titanic that were canceled, appears exultant in the CBS footage of the encounter. Apparently in tears, she exclaims, “I love you, I love you!” as she hugs a crew member.

Pogue’s CBS report ends, with what now seems an ominous premonition: “Stockton Rush plans to return to the wreck [of the Titanic] this coming summer …”

On Sunday afternoon, Pogue tweeted: “As we monitor the lost @OceanGateExped sub to the #Titanic, two reasons for hope. First, they have 96 hours of oxygen on board. Second, they have SEVEN different ways to rise to the surface — multiple redundant ballast and air-bladder systems.”

Here is Pogue’s CBS “Sunday Morning” report posted on YouTube:

John Schwing, the Westport Journal consulting editor, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.