By now you’ve surely heard the twelve boys and one adult trapped in Thailand’s Tham Luang Nang Non cave system have all been rescued. What you may not have heard is that the rescue operation was offered assistance from the flamethrower-selling boyfriend of Grimes with a penchant for launching a car into outer damn space. That’s right, Elon Musk — whose full name may or may not be Elongated Muskrat — went to Thailand with a team of engineers and built this small submarine to possibly help with the rescue effort:
Got more great feedback from Thailand. Primary path is basically a tiny, kid-size submarine using the liquid oxygen transfer tube of Falcon rocket as hull. Light enough to be carried by 2 divers, small enough to get through narrow gaps. Extremely robust.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2018
Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids’ soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future. Thailand is so beautiful. pic.twitter.com/EHNh8ydaTT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2018
The boys and their coach were ultimately saved by scuba divers who taught them how to scuba dive and guided them out of the cave, and Narongsak Osatanakorn, a leader of the rescue operation, told The Guardian, “Although [Musk’s] technology is good and sophisticated, it’s not practical for this mission.”
That doesn’t mean the submarine can’t find other uses (Musk floated ideas about an escape pod and exploring Europa), but people on Twitter nonetheless made fun of the little submarine having gone unused. There was also a backlash against Musk for getting involved, though, to be fair, Musk was asked to keep working on the submarine and didn’t take credit for the rescue. That’s not going to stop us from laughing at submarine jokes, however.
Some people on Twitter couldn’t help but be a wee bit sarcastic about the submarine plans:
I've seen like a hundred tweets thanking Elon Musk for helping save the Thai kids and not a single one thanking me even though we contributed the exact same amount to the rescue effort
— Wild Geerters (@steinkobbe) July 9, 2018
feeling so incredibly lucky that i exist on earth at the same time as elon musk, the greatest human to ever live
— Shaun (shaunvids on bsky) (@shaun_vids) July 10, 2018
Fun morning online name searching Elon Musk and replying to anyone making fun of him, but it’s time to get some actual work done. (I open Amazon on my Lenovo laptop, and order a gaming chair called The Glutton’s Folly)
— mike ginn (@shutupmikeginn) July 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/jrhennessy/status/1016081187733815296
https://twitter.com/bea_ker/status/1016621396049313798
https://twitter.com/daveanthony/status/1016738760996806656
https://twitter.com/camh/status/1016764304987709440
why didn't elon just buy the cave
— FRO VO (@fro_vo) July 10, 2018
Some people waited until all of the kids were safe before making jokes:
Elon Musk didn’t save the Thai soccer team, but he will put them on a Tesla waitlist.
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) July 10, 2018
Elon Musk immediately shoots all 12 rescued boys into space
— Alpha Male (real) (@SortaBad) July 10, 2018
elon musk when the kids get out of the cave: pic.twitter.com/Ns6B6fL8nD
— illy bocean (@IllyBocean) July 9, 2018
Others spun conspiracy theories:
I remain convinced that Elon Musk didn’t build an underwater kiddie coffin he already had one on hand
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) July 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/SamGrittner/status/1016736709579505665
Elon Musk: … and this dial here controls the mood lighting, for when I’m having sex with Grimes in the submarine
Reporter: How will that help free the trapped children?
Elon Musk: What children?— pixelatedboat aka “mr tweets” (@pixelatedboat) July 9, 2018
Some people made requests or general observations:
i just want to make it clear that if i'm ever trapped miles deep in a flooded cave and elon musk's oculus equipped tomb is the only way to save me just leave me down there. just let me go
— 🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌 (@immolations) July 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/HumansOfLate/status/1016994639990149120
If you ever meet Elon Musk it is your solemn duty to say “nice to meet you, Alan!” and then ask him what he does
— Marcia Belsky (@MarciaBelsky) July 10, 2018
Elon👏🏻Musk👏🏻should👏🏻give👏🏻me👏🏻1100👏🏻dollars👏🏻for👏🏻being👏🏻a👏🏻good👏🏻boy👏🏻
— Dan Sheehan (@ItsDanSheehan) July 11, 2018
TFW the answer’s right there in the question. pic.twitter.com/rAjuYc6cgZ
— Telepathy Test Human #3 (@cuneform) July 10, 2018
And many folks helpfully proposed other uses for the little submarine:
I hope Elon Musk doesn't throw that kiddie submarine away because it'd make a killer giant hot dog mould.
— Amanda Mancino-Williams (@Manda_like_wine) July 10, 2018
Elon Musk's submarine would work in my cave ;)
— NOT A METH LAB (@jenlaw_11) July 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/scntfc/status/1016755455891161088
Hey, at least he tried.
live footage of elon musk leaving thailand pic.twitter.com/h30PDLeodt
— sarah m 🇵🇸 (@sazza_jay) July 10, 2018