As the world watches, transfixed, by the search for the Titan submersible in the North Atlantic, Roger Mallinson looks on with a particular sense of immediacy and dread.
Mr. Mallinson, now 85 and living in Troutbeck, England, survived what Guinness World Records lists as the world's
deepest underwater rescue 50 years ago.
On Aug. 29, 1973, Mr. Mallinson, then 35, and Roger Chapman, 28, were in a six-foot wide deep-sea submersible called the Pisces III, conducting a routine dive to the seabed for work on a trans-Atlantic phone cable, about 150 miles off the coast of Ireland.
As they were preparing to get towed back to their mother ship, a hatch accidentally opened, causing the aft sphere, a self-contained portion of the vessel, to flood. The extra water added weight to the submersible and sent it plunging 1,575 feet underwater.
Mr. Mallinson told the BBC in 2013 that as the submersible plummeted, the two men "got cushions and curled ourselves up to try and prevent injuries" from the looming impact with the seabed. "We managed to find some white cloth to put in our mouths so we didn't bite our tongues off too." He added: "It was about 30 seconds until we hit."
With a single sandwich, a can of lemonade and a limited supply of oxygen to survive on, the two men were stuck. They did their best to preserve oxygen, which meant not speaking or moving. They would squeeze the other's hand to let each other know they were OK.
Rescuers soon began an international effort to bring the men back up, with the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom sending in teams. Two vessels that had been called to assist with the recovery failed to bring Pisces III up the surface.
Finally, after more than 80 hours, the men were rescued by a U.S. Navy submersible, the CURV-III, which was able to attach a rope to pull the Pisces III to the surface. They made it out with only 12 minutes of oxygen to spare, Mr. Mallinson said.