decades earlier and a frantic search more than 1,000 feet beneath the surface. it was 1973, and rescue teams were searching for a commercial submersible known as the pisces iii. it had disappeared off the coast of ireland. two british sailors spent three days trapped in the vessel, which was about six feet in diameter. they had been laying trans atlantic telephone cable when the rope connecting them snapped. they survived on a single sandwich and extra oxygen they had on board. before we started the dive, i stole a bottle of oxygen. and because of we stole it, i m still here. otherwise, we certainly wouldn t have been here. reporter: the pisces iii was trapped more than 1,500 feet below sea level, around 150 miles off the island. the men inside avoided speaking to conserve air.
try determine exactly what it is. but again, the time is running out, that is the bottom line here. jason carroll, appreciate. it the missing sub is trapped at the bottom of the ocean, it could be an water many times deeper than rescue efforts, successfully not before. cnn s tom foreman joins us now, with more on some of the challenges involved. tom, there are huge challenges obviously. we don t know how deep this vessel was when contact was lost, or where the currents may have taken it, but just put into perspective for us how deep down this vessel may have gone. you know, this is an area that is just so incredibly forbidding, and so terribly deep. in comparison, they re statue of liberty, eiffel tower, mount fuji, grand canyon, it s important to bear in mind, before you get to the titanic here, this is roughly where the deepest underwater rescue effort occurred in 1973, at that level. this is roughly where nuclear subs operate. so, this gives you an idea of
days having been on this thing, watching this? it s been surreal. it s been haunting. i spent quite a bit of time with stockton and quite a bit of time at the oceangate headquarters in washington and took a dive on titan as they were putting it through its paces. having spent time in the sub, you know, my mind reels to think about it. i also know hamish harding, who is a fellow member of the explorers club. it s obviously a difficult, challenging time. what was it like being inside the titan back in 2021? i think the thing people have to understand is how novel this vessel is. there are, as was said in the previous piece, there are very few submersibles that can reach titanic s depths. and all of them, with the acception of titan are made in a different way. there s a personnel sphere held together with titanium or steel.
normally used to hunt military subs. the entire effort is running on hope that underwater sounds, which we heard again today, are coming from the titan. but it s also running up against these subs limited oxygen supply, in the possibility that locating a vessel the size of a large car in an area twice the size of connecticut. it will simply take more time than they have. cnn s jason carroll is in boston for us. for some of the coast guard searchers are based. jason, what s the latest? well, the u.s. coast guard says that they are in close contact with family members. as you can imagine, anderson, the wait for them is agonizing. those sounds, those underwater sounds that have been detected, have offered them some hope. but time is running very, very short. when you re in the middle of a search and rescue case, you always have hope. that s why we re doing what we do. with what could be less than 24 hours of oxygen left on board tighten, hope at this
tighten, but first, i just want to know what s going through your mind over these past few days, having been on this thing, watching this. it s been very surreal and a haunting. you know, i spent quite a bit of time with stockton and quite a bit of time at the ocean gate headquarters up in everett, washington. and i took a dive on site as they re putting it through its paces to get ready for the initial titanic missions in 2021. so, having spent time on the, sub my mind reels to think about it. i know hamish courting is a board, i know, and he s a member of the explores club. so, it s obviously a very difficult challenging time. what was it like being inside the tightened back in 2021? you know, i think that the thing that people have to understand is how novel this vessel is. you know, there are, as we just said in the previous piece, there are very few submersible as that can reach titanic s depths. and all of, them with the exception of titan, are made in a much different way.