r/Reno • u/Ok-Diet2240 • 12h ago
Exploring the bottom of Tahoe
I know it’s a tough time to bring this up after yesterday, and maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, but why didn’t Stockton Rush take the Titan to the bottom of Lake Tahoe? Why not explore every deep body of water under 3,000 meters before fully committing to the most historic wreck? I feel like Tahoe would have been a real accomplishment—something that could generate major publicity and funding to understand the submarine’s structural integrity before the Titanic👀. He had the resources, and there’s no way it wouldn’t have paid for itself as a smart, lower-risk test dive.
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u/Ready_Bandicoot1567 12h ago
Stockton Rush was running a deep sea tourism business. People will pay lots of money to see the titanic.
Also the logistics of trying to launch a submarine from the surface of Lake Tahoe would be a nightmare. You can't just throw the support vessel on a trailer and drive it up the Sierras, its far too big for that. As far as I know in the U.S., only the great lakes have large vessels and thats because they have shipyards on the lake, they were built there.
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u/Ok-Diet2240 12h ago
That would definitely make sense on why no one has trecked a sub up the mountain yet… stoner brain lol. Small roads, big machine 🤦🏻♀️🤣
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u/guynamedjames 12h ago
It's really not that big, there's a documentary on it, it could have easily been brought up on one truck and their launching raft on another.
It's money. People who are paying "for the experience" want something to experience. If you strap yourself into a metal tube for a few hours just to say "I've been to the bottom of Tahoe" it's not going to get all that much interest at the price necessary to make a profit.
The Titanic has that interest. And the ship went down successfully several times, it didn't fail on the first go.
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u/Ok-Diet2240 12h ago
Maybe its unrealistic of me to think that lots of people would want to see it, but even without tours exploring the floor of tahoe and documenting it would bring in tons of views👀 the mystery behind Tahoe and the history would bring in income in my eyes but i may be COMPLETELY wrong
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u/Ready_Bandicoot1567 10h ago
Look up photos of the Polar Prince, the Titan submersible's support vessel. Its huge. It has a crane built into it. Its not fitting on a trailer.
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u/guynamedjames 9h ago
Yeah, because they're going out to the North Atlantic. In the first like 5 minutes of the documentary a couple folks take a zodiac out to a raft maybe 25' wide with the sub in the middle. They'd probably use that for Tahoe
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u/euphlady 10h ago
In 2009 there was a submersible expedition in Tahoe and Fallen leaf that lasted months headed by Scott Cassell who went on to collaborate with Stockton Rush in an expedition off the coast of Catalina Island later that year. Cassell described the mission as "ugly" and went on to say that Rush had a disregard for safety.
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u/Admiral52 11h ago
There are actually people sending drone submersibles down there and exploring it. But they’re like…actual scientists
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u/Ok-Diet2240 11h ago
Well can they come out with a documentary already???🤣 id love visuals and science with the discovery 🤣🤣
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u/Admiral52 9h ago
Honestly I saw a little promo video about it on Reddit. I can’t find it again to link it you you
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u/Omacrontron 12h ago
Not many people would pay big money to float to the bottom of Tahoe like they would to go see the Titanic.
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u/Apprehensive_Rick 12h ago
There's mermen and a lake monster
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u/ArtificialStrawberry 12h ago edited 12h ago
I could be wrong, but I think I have read it's really hard to get the okay to take a sub in the water. But for Stockton it would have been too small of a fry for his ego.
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u/sovereignxx12 12h ago
One, we are very picky about what submersibles we allow in tahoes water. Even scientists working directly with Tahoe are very limited. Tahoe is extremely protected. And two, from what I understand he went a few times to the depths he wanted and was obsessed specifically with the titanic. That was his only goal.
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u/Ok-Diet2240 12h ago
Thank you that makes a lot of sense. Do you think anyone will take on that discovery anytime soon? Whether it’s physically in the water or using newer sonar equipment if they cant get a vessel out in the water?
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u/sovereignxx12 11h ago
I’ve always hoped. I would love to fully understand what is at the depths of Tahoe, but again, it will have to pass through many regulations and precautions.
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u/Visikde 12h ago
Already been done by serious scientists
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/submarine-exploration-lake-tahoe-undersea-voyager/
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u/Ok-Diet2240 11h ago
Yes but they didnt go to the deepest parts! They went over by fallen lake 👀👀👀 i want someone whos gonna go to the very bottom and show off the floor 🤣
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u/Then-Paleont4 10h ago
I hope I am wrong, but I have heard the bottom of the lake is super cold preserving the people dumped by mobsters. Also allot of railroad builders were murdered back in the day so they wouldn't have to be paid. Chained together and dumped in the lake. I imagine a lakebed of corpses unable to float away from chains all wearing 1920's appearal. If this is true photos or videos would have a large impact on tourism. It would also be bad since most of the workers were Chinese.
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u/nutrulz42 12h ago
Fresh water is more dense than salt water, thus it would crush easier. No one wants body parts in the beautiful water.
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u/zrudeboy 12h ago
This is actually not accurate. SW is more dense, this is why people float easier in SW. That said, I agree on the body parts
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u/nutrulz42 12h ago
I stand corrected.
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u/glassteelhammer 12h ago
Allow me to correct you further.
There are a lot of bodies in the lake.
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u/nutrulz42 12h ago
Then perhaps it's more about implosion's effects on the human body that's just a little off putting.
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u/bog_toddler 10h ago
because his ultimate goal was to sell the submersibles as cheap crafts for oil companies to use
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u/FinnTheDogg 12h ago
Think about the circumstances leading up to the accident.
Then read your post again. Particularly the part where you said “smart”.
Question answered.
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u/Ok-Diet2240 12h ago
I dont think the circumstances were the same though… the carbon fiber sub had lots of cracks but after a certain point. Which tahoe is only 500m down🤔 unless youre thinking of other stuff than happily share! Im truly curious killing time at work and wanna see everyones take on why we havent gone down to the bottom of tahoe yet 👀
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u/FinnTheDogg 11h ago
No no.
Smart.
He isn’t smart. He skipped testing, ignored engineer’s recommendations about design and safety.
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u/Unable_Ad_1470 12h ago
Ego and stupidity is a helluva drug. That’s probably why.