Looking Back, Sub Tourist Calls Himself ‘Naive’ for Taking 2021 Dive to the Titanic

Arthur Loibl, one of the submersible company Oceangate's first customers, holds up a photo of the Titanic, in Straubing, Germany, on June 21, 2023. Armin Weigel/dpa via AP

BERLIN—As an international search determined the implosion of a vessel setting out for the underwater wreckage of the Titanic, a man who was one of the submersible company’s first customers characterized a dive he made to the site two years ago as a suicide mission.

“You have to be a little bit crazy to do this sort of thing,” said Arthur Loibl, a 61-year-old retired businessman and adventurer from Germany.