The company behind the remotely operated vehicle that found the debris from the missing Titan submersible has its operational base tucked away in a brick building that was once a county garage in East Aurora.
Here on Persons Street, one-third of a mile from Main Street, Pelagic Research Services operates within the same building as a law firm. A pet boutique and a repair shop are across the street.
Behind black overhead doors, Pelagic has a work area, a wood workbench and a small office, adorned with a whiteboard and a flat-screen TV.
On this Friday afternoon, reporters crowded inside, standing on the concrete floor where the company’s remotely operated vehicle, the Odysseus 6K, would usually sit. That vehicle, which on June 22 descended 3,800 meters to the ocean floor in just 90 minutes and found the debris field not long after, is aboard three trucks and should arrive in East Aurora on Monday, Pelagic CEO Edward Cassano said.
Cassano, in describing an emotional, tiring mission, said his company is designed to support research and science at depth. Pelagic’s primary market, in fact, is deep sea science, having worked with groups such as Ocean Networks Canada and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But because the company has one of the few vehicles that can dive at depths of up to 6,000 meters – a vehicle that became operational in 2016 and was built by MPH Engineering in Largo, Fla. – Cassano and his team knew that, one day, a rescue call might come.
That call to Pelagic came at 5:45 p.m. June 18 from OceanGate Expeditions.
OceanGate had lost contact with its sub, with five people on board.
When Pelagic was asked to activate the Odysseus 6K, Cassano said the company assembled its team, with some heading directly to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and others going to East Aurora.
That Monday, June 19, the team began packing and mobilizing Odysseus, with the equipment arriving by late afternoon to Buffalo…
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