Canada was 'highly confident' it heard man-made noises during search for Titan submersible, documents show

Canada's military was "highly confident" for days in June 2023 that bangs heard underwater while searching for the missing Titan submersible were man made — by an object striking the hull of a vessel — near the famous Titanic wreck site, CBC News has learned.

Those noises helped keep hope going that the five wealthy explorers on board the missing vessel were still alive during the multi-day, multi-national search, even though it is now believed the vessel imploded within hours of going into the water.

Now internal government documents obtained by CBC News through the Access to Information Act reveal more details about what Canada's search team privately documented during the search, including that a military patrol plane first heard the banging on June 19, the day after the Titan went missing.

The Royal Canadian Air Force's CP-140 Aurora heard multiple "bangs that they are highly confident are manmade by an object striking a hull," read multiple daily internal notices written by the Canadian Coast Guard between June 19 and June 22. 

"They believe the sound originated from near [Titanic's] wreck site at a depth of approximately 10,000 feet." 

That "sensitive information" was included in more than a dozen internal emails and updates to officials at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) that CBC News obtained, and all the way up to Jody Thomas, the prime minister's national security adviser at the time.  

U.S. officials confirmed on June 21 the sounds had been heard and it sent its remotely operated vehicle to search that area.

The search was called off on June 22 when debris from the Titan was found, the same day the Wall Street Journal first reported the U.S. navy's top-secret system used to track enemy submarines had detected what it suspected was the Titan's implosion just hours after the vessel began its voyage.

That information was shared with the U.S.'s search team, but wasn't definitive so officials said they continued the search efforts.

CBS later reported a U.S. navy analysis determined the banging noises were most likely noise from other search ships or ocean sounds. 

What unfolded underwater is still at the centre of a U.S. investigation, with public hearings scheduled for next month. The Canadian Armed Forces have not yet responded to CBC New's request about its latest theory on the sounds it detected.

The family of one of the victims — French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, known as "Mr. Titanic" — launched a $50-million lawsuit earlier this week alleging he died due to gross negligence by Titan's U.S. operator and manufacturer OceanGate Expeditions and other defendants. 

The suit claims all five people on board knew they were going to die before the implosion because an "acoustic safety system" onboard the Titan "would have alerted the crew that the carbon-fibre hull was crackling under extreme pressure."

"They would have continued to descend, in full knowledge of the vessel's irreversible failures, experiencing terror and mental anguish prior to the Titan ultimately imploding," the lawsuit alleges.