Explorers Mourn Friends Who Died on 'Titan' Sub — and Say 'Loss of Life' Was 'Only a Matter of Time'
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"He was the kind of Frenchman that you see in the movies, where risk was just something you accepted," Victor Vescovo tells PEOPLE of Paul-Henri Nargeolet
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Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Hamish HardingRenowned explorer Victor Vescovo, the only deep sea explorer to have reached the depths of all five oceans, is mourning the loss of his friends Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Hamish Harding, who were victims of the Titan submersible implosion.
“Paul-Henri Nargeolet was such a charming soul,” Vescovo tells PEOPLE of the French explorer. “It’s very strange for me to be talking about him in the past tense. But he was so friendly and accepting of everyone. He also had a very strong core."
"He was an extremely accomplished diver and submersible operator. He did many, many dangerous things, including removing unexploded ordinance from the sea floor left from World War II, but he handled these missions with such a French “Je ne sais quois,” type of attitude," Vescovo adds. "He was the kind of Frenchman that you see in the movies, where risk was just something you accepted with a glass of nice Bordeaux.”
Related: Loved Ones of 5 'Titan' Submersible Victims Pay Tribute: 'We Are United in Grief'
The pair worked closely together on Vescovo’s Five Deeps Expedition, where Vescovo traveled to the deepest parts of all five oceans — the only explorer in the world to ever have done so.
"I was able to get the best people in the planet to design, build and operate the submersible system [that we used for Five Deeps], including PH,” Vescovo says of Nargeolet. “I hired him as my chief technical advisor, and later as safety officer on my expedition. So PH was deeply involved in helping me validate the safety of my diving system."
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Rob McCallum, another one of the world’s most accomplished deep-sea explorers who also worked on the Five Deeps Expedition, agrees that Nargeolet was one of the finest people he’d ever sailed with.
“I had the privilege to work and sail with PH Nargeolet for over 20 years,” McCallum tells PEOPLE. “We have sailed to Titanic together three times, and he was a key part of my team (Safety Auditor/Advisor) for the year long ‘Five Deeps Expedition.”
He adds, “That relationship brought us together for the successful search for AirFrance 447. PH loved being at sea, and lived for being part of a well-oiled team. He considered each expedition a chance to explore, and each expedition team his ’sea family’. There are many former crew members who will raise a glass at sunset for a fond shipmate now at rest.”
Vescovo shares that Nargeolet knew there were risks with the OceanGate submersible, which is likely why he wanted to work with them.
“It was widely acknowledged that the OceanGate submersible had inherent technological risks that made many of us think it was very unsafe. And that it was only a matter of time before there was a potential loss of life incident,” Vescovo says. “And PH and myself and others spoke to Stockton Rush about this."
"But I believe that PH truly loved diving Titanic, and sharing that site with others, and that he believed he might, by working with OceanGate, potentially help them mitigate some of the risks that they were taking on," Vescovo adds. "And if something bad did happen, that he would potentially be there to help.”
Vescovo says he also brought up the concerns with longtime friend Harding.
“I warned Hamish and PH Nargeolet about the dangers of OceanGate, and they nodded and agreed, but that was the only submersible operation that was visiting Titanic,” adds Vescovo.
The legendary explorer, who previously went to space and the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with Harding, remembers the billionaire as having a fondness for adventure.
“In his soul, he was an explorer and an adventurer, but with a charming British personality. He was always smiling, always had a positive attitude. But he also had that pilot sensibility of calm and kind of unflappableness," Vescovo says.
In a social media tribute shared on social media after news of the "catastrophic" implosion, the explorer posted a tribute to his "good friends."
"This has been a difficult week for the submersible community," he wrote on Twitter "Deep ocean diving is very safe when industry standard certifications and procedures are followed. I will miss my good friends PH Nargeolet, who I worked with closely, and Hamish Harding, my friend in sea and space."
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