The tail of the Titan submersible was found a short distance from the rest of the imploded vessel, which claimed the lives of five people while attempting to reach the Titanic(Image: US Coast Guard / Pelagic Researc)

Doomed Titan sub boss 'purposely failed to register vessel to avoid regulations'

The boss of the doomed Titanic tourist sub in which five men were killed purposely failed to register the vessel in the US to avoid strict regulations, an inquiry has been told.

28 Sep 2024, 09:08 by Christopher Bucktin · Irish Mirror

The boss of the doomed Titanic tourist sub in which five men were killed purposely failed to register the vessel in the US to avoid strict regulations, an inquiry has been told.

Stockton Rush, the CEO of Oceangate, which owned the Titan submersible, told one employee that "if the Coast Guard became a problem, then he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away.”

Matthew McCoy, a Coast Guard veteran who served for several months as an operations technician for the company, today expressed his safety concerns. He told the panel that he learned the company broke ties with the University of Washington’s applied physics lab and that Boeing was no longer going to construct the carbon fibre hull, and its thickness had been reduced.

He also had concerns about the financial model when he learned there would be paying passengers. At a lunch meeting to raise concerns, Rush told McCoy the vessel would be flagged in the Bahamas and launched from Canada to avoid US regulations, he said.

McCoy said there could be US regulatory concerns if it went to an American port, and Rush told him, “If the Coast Guard became a problem, then he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away.”

He told the panel said it was a “tense” conversation and that he was “aghast.” McCoy resigned as a result. Witnesses have testified that Oceangate operated the experimental deep-water submersible that imploded putting profits over safety and ignored warning signs before the disaster.

Boss of the doomed Titanic tourist sub failed to register the vessel in the US to avoid strict regulations, inquiry told.(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Several company officials, meanwhile, spoke of the explorer spirit and taking calculated risks to push humankind’s boundaries. The differing viewpoints were the takeaway points as the US Coast Guard panel today wrapped up two weeks of testimony on the Titan disaster last year.

They are tasked with determining why the carbon-fibre submersible was lost 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) deep on the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic.

Boss of the doomed Titanic tourist sub, Stockton Rush, failed to register the vessel in the US to avoid strict regulations, inquiry told.(Image: AP)

Testimony painted contrasting images of greed and a cavalier attitude as OceanGate sought out wealthy clients for its carbon fibre submersible, a material that was untested at such depths. Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Rush, described the lofty goal “to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean.”
He said using carbon fibre for the pressure hull was hardly a novel idea and noted that Rush himself was the first human to test the design.

But former operations director David Lochridge said the company was committed only to profit making.“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” he testified. “There was very little in the way of science.” Witnesses could not even agree on what to call the wealthy clients who paid £200,000 for the experience.

Some said they were simply passengers, even though OceanGate called them “mission specialists” who were given tasks. Killed in the implosion were Rush and four others, including three Brits.

As well as Rush, the others killed were Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, father and son British-Pakistani Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood; and British adventurer Hamish Harding.

During its final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts as it descended. One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to the Polar Prince support ship before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here.” The crew of Polar Prince, meanwhile, grew increasingly concerned.

Ships, planes and other equipment assembled for a rescue operation about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic.

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