What was the price of Titan sub search? A look at estimates

For the first time since the frantic search for the lost Titan submersible this summer, Global News is able to paint a picture of what the bill for the mission looks like.

The now-infamous search for the missing Titan submersible saw millions of dollars worth of Canadian military equipment and personnel deployed in the search, estimates suggest.

The figure, calculated by Global News with data provided by the government, gives an idea of the financial value of Ottawa’s involvement in the search for the lost vessel, which suddenly imploded while on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage in June.

The operation fell within the budgets of the departments involved – Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Department of National Defence (DND) – spokespeople for both told Global News. Officials say that means DND did not incur incremental, or additional, costs while Fisheries and Oceans Canada – which oversees the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) – said it does not track expenditures incurred from specific search and rescue cases.

“Responding to incidents is part of our overall daily operations, and as a result it would be difficult to calculate and allocate costs on a case-by-case basis,” the fisheries spokesperson told Global News.

“Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) resources respond to incidents of distress.… The goal is to save lives and CAF search and rescue services are provided free of cost to those in peril; they do not function on a cost-recovery basis,” the DND spokesperson said.

But based on the resources deployed in the search, the time they were deployed and their average hourly operating costs, the total value of the recovery operation appears to be around $3,125,226 to $3,130,576.

The search for Titan – a deep-sea submersible operated by American tourism and expeditions company OceanGate  – captivated the world’s attention following its sudden disappearance on June 18.

The U.S. and Canadian governments scrambled resources to find it once it was reported missing. Titan suddenly lost communication with Canadian vessel Polar Prince an hour and 45 minutes into its descent.