Hamish Harding Biography
Hamish Harding is a name that many people may not have heard of until recently, when he became one of the five passengers on board the Titan submersible that went missing during a dive to the Titanic’s wreck on Sunday, 18 June 2023.
He is the founder of Action Group and chairman of Action Aviation, an international aircraft brokerage company with headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Hamish Harding Age
Harding was born on June 24, 1964. He is 58 years old.
Hamish Harding’s Net Worth and Business Ventures
According to Forbes, he has a net worth of $1.2 billion as of June 2023, making him one of the richest people in the UAE. He also owns several other businesses, including Action Hotels, a hospitality company that operates hotels in the Middle East and Australia, and Action Real Estate, a property development firm.
Hamish Harding’s Wife and Children
Harding is married to Linda Harding, a former flight attendant who he met on a flight from London to Hong Kong in 1987. They have two sons, James and Alex, who are both in their twenties.
Hamish grew up in Hong Kong, where his father was a banker, and attended The King’s School in Gloucester and Pembroke College at Cambridge University. He qualified as a pilot in the mid-1980s and started his career in banking software before moving into aviation.
Hamish Harding’s Exploration Feats
Harding has a passion for exploration and adventure that has led him to visit some of the most remote and challenging places on Earth and beyond. He has visited the South Pole several times, once with former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who became the oldest person to reach the South Pole at age 86 in 2016. He has also flown into space on board Blue Origin’s fifth human-crewed flight in 2022, becoming one of the first space tourists to experience suborbital flight.
One of his most notable achievements was leading the One More Orbit mission in 2019, which set a world speed record for the fastest circumnavigation of Earth by aircraft over both geographic poles. The mission was launched and landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US, and took 46 hours and 40 minutes to complete. Hamish Harding was the mission director and crew pilot for the flight, which used a Gulfstream G650ER jet.
Another record-breaking feat that Hamish accomplished was diving to the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep, at a depth of 36,000 feet (11,000 m) in 2021. He did so with Victor Vescovo, an American explorer and investor who owns Caladan Oceanic, the company that operates the Titan submersible. They set the records for greatest length covered and greatest time spent at full ocean depth during their dive.
Hamish Harding’s Titanic Dive and Disappearance
Harding’s latest adventure was diving to the wreck of the Titanic, which lies at a depth of about 12,500 feet (3,800 m) in the North Atlantic Ocean. He was one of five people on board the Titan submersible that departed from Newfoundland, Canada, on Sunday morning for a planned six-hour dive.
The other passengers were Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani businessman and philanthropist; his son Suleman Dawood; Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that organizes Titanic dives; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver.
The Titan submersible is a state-of-the-art vessel that can carry up to five people and withstand pressures up to 16,000 psi (110 MPa). It is equipped with cameras, lights, sonar, and communication systems that allow it to transmit images and data to its mother ship on the surface. The submersible was designed to offer an immersive experience for its passengers, who can view the Titanic’s remains through large acrylic windows.
However, something went wrong during the dive, as contact with the submersible was lost about an hour and 45 minutes into its descent. The mother ship reported that it received a garbled message from the submersible before it went silent. The message indicated that there was some kind of problem with the submersible’s power or propulsion system, but the exact nature and severity of the issue are unknown.
Titanic Submersible Search and Rescue Operations
A massive search and rescue operation is underway to locate and recover the missing submersible and its passengers. The operation is being run from Boston, Massachusetts, and involves several vessels, aircraft, and underwater robots. The search area covers about 1,000 square miles (2,600 square km) of ocean floor, where the Titanic’s debris field is located. The operation is facing many challenges, such as rough weather conditions, limited visibility, and high water pressure.
The chances of survival for the submersible’s passengers are slim, as they only have enough oxygen and battery power to last for about 72 hours. As of Thursday morning, more than 96 hours have passed since the submersible went missing. However, there is still faint hope that the submersible may have landed on a relatively flat and stable part of the ocean floor, where it could preserve some of its resources and maintain a habitable environment for its occupants.