Brit’s haunting final text to astronaut pal before doomed Titanic mission

A MISSING Brit billionaire shared a final text with a pal hours before he boarded a doomed mission to the Titanic.

Hamish Harding, 58, is one of the five people aboard the Titan submarine that was running an excursion down to the iconic shipwreck.

Rescue crews are frantically searching the Atlantic Ocean after the £200,000-a-head voyage disappeared - with a desperate race against time to find them before they run out of oxygen.

Explorer and adventurer Harding was aboard along with American dive boss Stockton Rush, French sub-pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, Pakistani millionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

And now one of Harding's pals has revealed his final text message to him before he plunged below the surface and the submarine went dark.

Stormy gales wash walrus and seals ashore as urgent warnings for SNOW issued

Nasa astronaut Terry Virts was speaking about his friend on Good Morning Britain, describing him as the "quintessential British explorer" and saying he would "want him in his corner" during a crisis.

Virts, from Houston, revealed that Harding had texted him hours before he went missing, confirming the mission was going ahead - despite fears over bad weather conditions.

And he said that the seasoned explorer "understood the risks" involved with the dive.

"The last text I got was saying 'Hey, we are headed out tomorrow, it looks good, the weather has been bad'," said Virts.

"They had been waiting for this. He went down to the deepest part of the ocean and set a few world records last year at the Mariana Trench - and we talked quite a bit about the risk. "

Virts went on: "He was very excited about it - they actually going there for a fun trip but they are doing some serious science also."

The astronaut added he was hopeful that Harding and the other four men will be found with an "armada" of ships and planes now descending on the wreck site.

He said the fact no explosions or "dramatic sounds" had been detected on the sonar was a positive sign and implied the ship was still intact and hopefully savable.

"The first job is to find them, but with robotic arms and cables [...] hopefully we can affect some kind of rescue," added Virts.

"The odds are definitely not zero per cent and so as long as that is true we are going to do anything we can.

Skiers in Austria make the most of the little snow left as slopes melt

"And I know that Hamish is going to stay calm."

Virts added: "If they can be rescued, they will be. It's a dangerous job to dive the Titanic and the folks that did that know that.

What we know:

• Frantic rescue mission to find the missing Titan submarine which vanished while exploring the Titanic
• US Coast Guard fear sub only has oxygen to last until 12pm on Thursday
• Five people on board the submarine have all been named - including Brit billionaire Hamish Harding
• OceanGate boss Stockton Rush, French sub-pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman have been named
• Ships and planes combing the area around the wreck using sonar to find the sub
• US and Canada leading rescue mission with UK teams on standby
• Fears the tourist submarine could be "tangled" in wreck of the Titanic
• Pal of Hamish reveals his final text message talking about bad weather ahead of the mission
• Timeline reveals the last movements of the Titan before she went dark

"I am staying optimistic and I am not going to give up hope. One per cent is a lot more than zero per cent."

Harding - CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai - posted on Facebook about poor weather conditions shortly before he took to the seas on Sunday.

He said he would be sharing more updates soon, but only if the weather held strong.

Harding said: "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.

"A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.

"We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning.

He added: "More expedition updates to follow IF the weather holds!"

The 58-year-old is known as one of the leaders of the record-breaking mission to orbit the Earth via both poles in 2019.

His stepson wrote on Facebook: "Thoughts and prayers for my Mom and Hamish Harding."

He added: "Hamish Harding my stepfather has gone missing on submarine thoughts and prayers."

OceanGate, one of few companies offering trips to see the ruins, confirmed a major search mission has been launched to "bring the crew back safely".

Tickets for tourists to see the wreckage - which is around 600km off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada - cost up to £195,000.

The company previously revealed it uses Elon Musk's Starlink to communicate with the vessel, however it's not clear what has gone wrong with the network.

OceanGate's sub - Titan - has the capacity for one pilot and four others and an oxygen supply able to last 96 hours.

A spokesman for OceanGate said: "We are exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely.

"Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families.

"We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.

"We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers."

The Sun has approached OceanGate for comment.