The crew of submersible that vanished en route to the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic Ocean over the weekend were “excited” for their voyage — heading to a coffee shop just moments before heading out to sea, a barista who saw the explorers said.

The group – which includes renowned billionaire explorer Hamish Harding and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush – was seen grabbing fresh-ground coffee at Terre Restaurant shortly before the sub left St. John’s, Newfoundland on Friday.

The cafe was just steps from where the Polar Prince surface vessel was docked.

“Before leaving on their last expedition, a bunch of the crew came in here and ordered a bunch of coffees before going out,” barista James Law told The Daily Mail.

“It was about nine or 10 of them. I could tell who they were because they’re all literally wearing jackets that say ‘Titanic’ on them. Everyone was wearing that blue OceanGate Titanic jacket,” he recalled.

“Whenever we see guys wearing those expedition jackets, we just say, ‘’what are you guys up to?’ The group came down, and they’re like, ‘’we’re heading out.’”

Law also remembered that the group seemed a bit anxious to get underway after waiting out bad weather.

“They were saying they were excited for a good expedition. And a few of them seemed in a rush. They were a little behind schedule. That was the first day there was a break in the fog for a while. They were in a rush to go. They were excited to go,” he told the outlet.

Two days later, the Titan lost contact with the Polar Prince about one hour and 45 minutes into its descent to the Titanic wreck, which sits 12,500 feet down on the sea floor.

Despite a massive search effort culling resources from US and Canadian Coast Guards as well as volunteers from around the world, the sub and its five passengers have still not been located.

The vessel’s emergency oxygen is believed to have run out on Thursday morning.

“I recognized one of the faces, the CEO, Rush,” Law told The Daily Mail of his response to the news of the missing crew, which also includes Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son, Sulaiman, and French Titanic explorer Paul-Henri “PH” Nargeolet.

“And I also recognized that [Harding],” the barista added.

Law said the frantic search for the five men has brought back painful memories of his friend’s brother, Marc Russell, who died alongside his boatmate while fishing for cod in Sept. 2021.

“This whole Titanic situation has got me thinking about that, to be honest,” he admitted.

“Marc was a codfish captain, and they were just out fishing when the boat disappeared. The Canadian Coast Guard launched a massive search. Then after a few weeks when they called off the search, they sent sonar boats onto the ocean to see if they could find the ship.

“They couldn’t even find it. The only thing they found was a bait bin floating,” he lamented.

“The sad thing is that the last radar ping they got from that boat was three kilometers from the harbor. The parents would be able to see where the boat went down from their bedroom window, if the weather wasn’t completely fogged up that day,” he continued.

Law said that locals protested when the Coast Guard called off the initial search, prompting another week of efforts that nevertheless failed to find the bodies of Russell or his mate, Joey Jenkins.

Tragedy struck the St. John’s area again last year, he said, when a pair of boaters hunting for turr hit a shoal and flipped their vessel.

“They found the boat, but didn’t find the bodies,” Law explained.

Based on his past experience with maritime accidents, Law said he is not hopeful the Titan’s crew – which some are now calling the “Titanic Five” – will be rescued.

‘I think it’s extremely unlikely they’ll be found. I’m really, really hoping for the best, let me be clear. But it seems like the odds are something bad has already happened,” he admitted.

“And when you’re down that deep, with that much pressure, that far away, it looks like a really tough situation.”

Law added that he is well-acquainted with the reality of life on the water, but said that knowledge does not make the crew’s disappearance any easier to grapple with.

“You live on the ocean, there are a fair number of tragedies,” he said.

“But it doesn’t occur to you that something bad is going to happen, until afterwards. They all seemed quite cheery before they left.”

The OceanGate Expeditions Titan submersible lost contact with its mothership on Sunday morning. 

Like most of the public, Law is also troubled by the eerie connection between the sub’s disappearance and the Titanic, which claimed over 1,500 lives when it sank off the coast of Canada in 1912.

“I saw something on the internet saying something along the lines of, ‘the Titanic has taken more lives,’” he said.

“It’s insanely crazy to think that they stopped in here [at Terre]. It feels sad, eerie.”

As of Thursday morning, the status of the Titan and its crew remains unknown.

Less than two hours after the sub’s oxygen supply is believed to have run out, the US Coast Guard confirmed that a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) had reached the ocean floor as the search became more dire.

The French ship L’Atalante is also expected to launch its ROV shortly, officials said.

“Today will be a critical day in this search and rescue mission, as the sub’s life support supplies are starting to run low,” OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein said Thursday.

“I firmly believe that the time window available for their rescue is longer than what most people think,” he insisted.