Christine Dawood, whose husband and son died aboard the Titan sub, recounts her husband's eagerness to photograph the ocean floor: 'He was like a vibrating toddler'

• Christine Dawood recounted to The New York Times the excitement that her husband had for the Titan trip.
• "He was like a vibrating toddler," she told the Times of her husband, businessman Shahzada Dawood.

Shahzada Dawood had long been fascinated by the history of the Titanic, the famed passenger liner that sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean after hitting an iceberg during its maiden voyage in 1912.

So when the British-Pakistani businessman had an opportunity to take a voyage to the bottom of the ocean to view the wreckage last month, he was eager to embark on OceanGate's Titan submersible, taking along his son, Suleman Dawood.

Both men were killed — alongside Stockton Rush, the chief executive officer of OceanGate, explorer Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet — after the submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion on its way to the site of the shipwreck.

Even though the voyage ended tragically, Christine Dawood, the wife of Shahzada Dawood, recounted to The New York Times the excitement that her husband had at being able to explore the ocean.

While Suleman, who was just 19, carried a Rubik's Cube as he entered the submersible, Shahzada carried his Nikon camera and looked forward to snapping images of the ocean floor from the vessel's porthole.

"He was like a vibrating toddler," Christine told the newspaper of her husband. "It was a good morning."

Christine told The Times that she last saw Shahzada and Suleman as they were on a floating platform on June 18, which was Father's Day, and observed the pair as they entered the Titan submersible from a support ship.

Divers then sealed the five occupants inside the vessel before it was moved into the water, roughly 13,000 feet above the site of the Titanic's wreckage.

Christine then told The Times that she overheard an individual state that communication with the Titanic had ceased, which the US Coast Guard said had occurred an hour and 45 minutes into the vessel's descent.

She was told that the communication between the submersible and the ship could sometimes be spotty, and if there was a disruption that lasted for over an hour, the trip would end and the occupants would return to the surface, according to The Times.

The newspaper's report also noted that Shahzada and Suleman nearly missed their trip aboard the Titan after experiencing a flight cancelation, as well as a delay.

"We were actually quite worried, like, oh my god, what if they cancel that flight as well?" Christine told the Times. "In hindsight, obviously, I wish they did."