NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio — It was a tragedy on top of a tragedy. Literally on top of it, all of it sadly disturbingly unfolded in one of the lowest points on earth. Although separated by 111 years, both tragedies known worldwide because of their strange losses of life.
When the ocean submersible OceanGate journeyed 2 1/2 miles below the surface of the Atlantic as its five occupants desired at look at the sunken infamous Titanic passenger ship, the five did not realize their own trip to the bottom was doomed.
A catastrophic implosion tore into the small submersible, taking with it all life aboard. When the submersible went missing, a North Olmsted man long steeped in the story of the Titanic found he was emotionally drawn to the strange saga which has long kept his interest because he is a direct descendant of a victim who went down with Titanic in 1912.
"And as it started to sink, the closer it got to going under water, he did what he had to do. He jumped for it and waited for a lifeboat. He just didn't make it."
Charles "Chuck" Otter is the great-grandson of Richard Otter, who lived with his wife and child in Berea where he worked as a quarry stonecutter. Richard Otter died that 1912 night when the Titanic luxury liner struck an Atlantic iceberg and sank, taking with it most of the crew and passengers.
Eighty-four years after the sinking, Chuck Otter sailed on a cruise ship destined for where the Titanic hit the iceberg. It was to observe from the surface a dive to the Atlantic by a man whose mission was to visit the sunken wreckage.
It was 1996, 27 years before French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet would help pilot the OceanGate Titan submersible to its doom to near where Otter's great grandfather and more than 1,500 others on the Titanic perished on the doomed luxury liner. Otter remembers his 1996 conversation.
"When I told him that my great-grandfather was aboard the ship, he said that was very interesting. And I said 'I was hoping you and your dive team would find something that belonged to him down there,'" Otter recalled.
Of Nargeolet, Otter was impressed. After all, the explorer had successfully piloted a submersible to Titanic several times.
"I was like, 'Wow!' I was sure he'll know what to do if anything goes wrong," said Otter.
Years later, something did go wrong, as the world was stunned when the OceanGate's Titan imploded 13,000 feet below the Atlantic surface with Nargeolet aboard. Five dead, including two paying tourists.
Otter, who follows everything "Titanic," has thoughts on any tourism to the tragic site.
"I don't think the technology is advanced enough to be offering it to paying customers yet," Otter said.
In his Greater Cleveland home, Otter — a historian on Titanic — is spurred by the family stories of his great grandfather Richard’' death. When Titanic sank, Richard's wife Kate (Chuck's great grandmother) was left with the couple's 12-year-old son. For the next 60 years until her death, she refused to speak openly of Titanic.
When Kate Otter died, the family found the 1912 edition of the Cleveland Press, detailing what was known of Titanic's loss at sea. Also found were her letters from Titanic's owners officially telling her of Richard's death.
Since his childhood Chuck, has followed the story from family members who spoke of Titanic, but never in great-grandmother Kate's presence. But for Otter, the bloodline to the dead ship and the great-grandfather who went down on the ship was established.
Now comes the Titan submersible disaster. Because of his one-time meeting of submersible victim Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who visited Titanic several times, Otter now follows the strange tale of one doomed vessel seeking another. He is captivated by a double sea disaster where two catastrophes crossed 111 years apart in the darkness in the ocean’s depth.
It's a moving portrait of a Greater Cleveland man following the stories of two men, more than a century apart, who struggled in the same waters only to never return from the sea again. Of Titan's planned trip to Titanic, Otter had hoped for the best.
"I hoped they would find something belonged to my great-grandfather."
Now, Chuck Otter is left to contemplate not one, but two mysterious tragedies, resting at the bottom of the ocean.