For all his expertise in the Titanic — which famously went down in the North Atlantic in 1912, killing roughly 1,500 passengers and crew —Nargeolet has come to be known as “Mr. Titanic,” and is reportedly friends with James Cameron, who wrote and directed the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster film “Titanic” based on the catastrophe. According to Nargeolet’s editor, Mathieu Johann, “He is the world specialist on the Titanic … he is a superhero for us in France.”

In a 2019 interview with the Irish Examiner, Nargeolet mentioned the dangers of his trade. When you’re as deep underwater as the Titanic or an estimated 13,000 feet below the surface, he said, “if something bad happens, the result is the same. When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realize that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem.” When the Titan went missing, Nargeolet lived in Connecticut with his wife Anne.