CT man talks about stepfather that is presumed dead in sub ‘implosion'

One of the men presumably killed on the submersible that went missing on Sunday once lived in Kent, Connecticut.

Paul Henry Nargeolet spent time surveying the remains of the Titanic as a researcher and owned a firm that had salvage rights to the wreckage.

His step son, John Paschall, said he was someone that people always enjoyed talking with.

"He's the type of person that everyone kind of wanted to be around to, you know, listen to stories, but also, you know, just make jokes. I think what people maybe don't know is he's a big prankster. He told us plenty of pranks he played when he was in the Navy. But there's just so much joy and humor in his life that he shared," Paschall said.

Paschall said the ocean was his step dad's home away from home.

"He was always so comfortable out there, no matter what ocean or lake he was in, you know, diving for shipwrecks or research, whatever. He was just so comfortable out there," Paschall said.

All 5 aboard Titan submersible presumed dead and debris shows evidence of ‘catastrophic implosion'

Paschall recalled a memory of his stepfather's selflessness.

"I was in for my college graduation, he and my mother were going to fly out from New York to Chicago. And they were going to fly out the night before, but their flight got canceled due to the weather. And the rebooking situation was bad, it was probably only going to be middle of the day, the next day. And they were likely going to miss the big ceremony, which would have broken my mother's heart, we went to the same college, I'm an only child, this was, you know, [a big] moment. And so what he did was, they got into his tiny blue Mini Cooper and drove 16 hours across the country overnight to make it to graduation, and made it with probably about an hour to spare. He did a lot of the driving, but it meant so much to me," Pashcall said.

He said he was made aware of the situation on Monday, and he and his family have been hopeful ever since.

"You hold your breath, and you hope that there's some kind of silly technical difficulty," Paschall said. "And, you know, we just kept thinking, look, if there's someone who could get lost at the bottom of the ocean, and one of the deepest parts in the world and could get out of it, it would be him."

"I'm still, you know, heartbroken. I think I'm still a little bit in shock. I just can't believe that this is happening," Paschall continued.