As search teams race against the clock to find a tourist submersible that went missing during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, one man who knows the underwater terrain better than anyone has shared his knowledge of the site.

Dik Barton is a University of Sunderland guest lecturer, who has regularly shared his business and career experience over the last five years inspiring students on campus and at the university's global partner college sites.

He said: “This is incredibly sad news, and in light of recent events, sadly the Titanic exploration community always anticipated that this would be the case.

“The vessel is not designed to survive those depths for this duration, time sadly is running out. This is a hostile environment with no means of escape.”

The former Army officer, has a breadth of experience operating globally in corporate level risk management and a particular knowledge of working in the oil and gas and utilities industries operating at ministerial and board room management level, latterly owning and operating his own medical splinting device business.

During his time as Vice President (Operations), with RMS Titanic, Inc. working on the TITANIC Project, Mr Barton was the first Briton to ever dive to the wreck of the Titanic and has completed 22 dives to the wreck.

He managed ‘The Titanic Artefact Collection’ of over 6,500 recovered artefacts, ensuring the logistics of storage and shipping, installation and security at exhibition, supervising the installation and conservation team.

Read more:

Get more from The Northern Echo with a Premium Plus digital subscription from as little as only £1.50 a week. Click here for details.

An experienced diver, Mr Barton has worked as an underwater cameraman and the footage been used in numerous documentaries including those produced by the BBC, Channel 4, CBS, History Channel, Discovery and National Geographic.

The Northern Echo: University of Sunderland guest lecturer, Dik Barton, left, with Associate Professor in Cultural Management at the University, Dr Derek WatsonUniversity of Sunderland guest lecturer, Dik Barton, left, with Associate Professor in Cultural Management at the University, Dr Derek Watson (Image: UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND)

In addition, he was a consultant on the making of the 1997 movie Titanic with James Cameron and team and subsequent ongoing documentaries and operations.

Mr Barton, from Cumbria, is now an Innovator and Chief Operating Officer of Sunderland-based ArmaTrex, which has engineered and designed a unique splinting system utilising expanding foam chemistry, which when applied forms a supporting splint.