Safety warnings about OceanGate Expeditions began FIVE years ago…

Laid bare – FIVE YEARS of safety warnings about OceanGate Expeditions: Damning records reveal the catalogue of claims made about Titanic submarine firm… that were ALL ignored

• OceanGate’s maverick bosses were able to skirt around industry regulations 
• The firm’s risk-taking CEO Stockton Rush showed open distaste for safety rules  

It is not known what caused the ‘catastrophic implosion’ which killed the five Titanic explorers.

But a closer look at OceanGate Expeditions, which sold the £195,000 deep-sea tours, reveals that the Titan tragedy was an accident waiting to happen.

Because the submersible operated in international waters above the Titanic’s wreckage – 400 miles off the coast of Canada – its maverick bosses were able to skirt around industry regulations.

But damning records show that former employees, industry leaders and deep-sea explorers had all tried to raise safety fears as long ago as 2018.

The warnings were ignored by risk-taking entrepreneur Stockton Rush, who made no secret of his distaste for safety protocols. 

OceanGate’s Titan submersible (pictured) imploded on a trip to the bottom of the Atlantic to see the wreck of the Titanic 

His cavalier attitude ended in tragedy on Sunday when he perished alongside three British tourists and his pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Here, the Mail lays bare the firm’s reckless ‘cutting of corners’:

WHISTLEBLOWER

David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations at OceanGate, warned that passengers might be endangered when Titan reached extreme depths.

A complaint filed by Mr Lochridge claims the craft’s porthole was certified to reach depths of only 4,000ft – while the Titanic lies at more than 12,500ft. Mr Lochridge said OceanGate refused to pay for a new porthole.

He was also concerned that it relied on sensitive acoustic monitoring – cracking or popping sounds made by the hull under pressure – to detect flaws instead of scanning.

The acoustic analysis was said to only show when a ‘component was about to fail – often milliseconds before an implosion’ – and would fail to pick up a flaw before a disaster.

David Lochridge (pictured), a former director of marine operations at OceanGate, warned that passengers might be endangered when Titan reached extreme depths

When he raised his concerns in a 2018 report, Mr Lochridge said he was sacked. OceanGate sued Mr Lochridge, accusing him of breaching a confidential agreement and he filed a counterclaim alleging he was wrongfully fired for raising the alarm. The case was settled out of court.

COST-CUTTING

While charging £195,000 a head for tours, OceanGate appeared to prefer cutting costs over meeting industry standards. 

Instead of using solid metals – such as steel or titanium – which are traditionally used to make hulls for submersibles, the firm opted for a mix of carbon-fibre and titanium. Carbon-fibre, which is not as strong as steel, is said to be ‘fundamentally unsuitable’.

Mr Rush said he chose the five-inch-thick carbon-fibre hull because it was more cost-effective. James Cameron, Titanic director turned deep-sea explorer, said it was a ‘horrible idea’.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush (pictured) chose to use carbon-fibre over solid metals because it was more cost effective

Critics have warned that a carbon-fibre and titanium hull would enable delamination and microscopic water ingress, leading to progressive failure over time. 

Former marine and deepwater salvage expert Robert Mester said he had turned down a seat on the Titan because of the material used.

‘[The Titan] has a carbon-fibre hull, which… it’s not a material that’s ever been successfully used at great depths,’ he said.

OceanGate also opted for a cylinder design – which is not as secure as the traditional sphere shape – to make more room for wealthy tourists.

‘JERRY-RIGGED’

The doomed Titan was steered with a modified plastic PlayStation controller which was just one of many ‘off-the-shelf’ items on the ship.

The £42 wireless Logitech F710 pad – complete with thumbsticks and colourful buttons – can be found in most electronic stores.

The submersible was steered using a modified plastic PlayStation controller (pictured) 

Mr Rush admitted some of interior parts were bought ‘off the shelf’, such as the LED overhead lighting, while the cameras used were standard security cameras. 

A friend of Titan victim Hamish Harding said he had signed up to join him on the ill-fated voyage – but pulled out after finding out about its ‘computer game-style controller’. Chris Brown, 61, said he cancelled over concerns that the organisers were ‘cutting too many corners’.

CBS reporter David Pogue – who went on a dive in the Titan – said some of the ballasts used to control buoyancy were old rusty construction pipes that are sitting on shelves on the side.

He said the Titan got lost for five hours during his dive last summer, adding: ‘There were certain things that looked like cut corners.’ In a broadcast in November 2022, he put it to Mr Rush that the vessel had the feel of a ‘MacGyver jerry-rigged’ invention.

Mr Rush said that ‘once you’re certain that the submarine isn’t going to collapse on everybody, everything else can fail. It doesn’t matter.’

The vessel also lacked basic emergency features, including a location beacon.

RULE-BREAKING

Mr Rush had bragged about ‘breaking rules’ while building the Titan.

In an interview with CBS last year, he said of his Titanic voyages: ‘I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.’ 

He said there came a point when safety measures were ‘pure waste’, adding: ‘You know, there’s a limit… I mean if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed.’

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush bragged about ‘breaking rules’ while building the Titan

In a separate interview, he said opting to use carbon-fibre and titanium to make the craft’s hull was one of the rules he had broken.

‘I’d like to be remembered as an innovator. I think it was General (Douglas) MacArthur who said: “You’re remembered for the rules you break.” And you know, I’ve broken some rules to make this.

‘I think I broke them with logic and good engineering behind me. The carbon-fibre and titanium, there’s a rule you don’t do that – well, I did.’

In a 2019 blog post entitled ‘Why Isn’t Titan Classed?’ the company claimed that its level of ‘innovation’ fell outside the classing system which was not ‘sufficient to ensure safety’ anyway. Mr Rush spoke extensively about his view that regulatory red tape stifled innovation.

FALSE CLAIMS?

Boeing, Nasa and the University of Washington have all distanced themselves from the Titan despite OceanGate claiming they had helped it.

Boeing, Nasa, and the University of Washington have all distanced themselves from Titan despite OceanGate’s claims they helped it

Last year, Mr Rush said OceanGate had worked with all three institutions to develop the Titan’s pressure vessel – which appears to have failed. He said: ‘There are certain things that you want to be buttoned down.

‘The pressure vessel is not MacGyver at all, because that’s where we worked with Boeing and Nasa and the University of Washington.’

OceanGate also described Boeing as its ‘partner’ and stated that Titan was ‘designed’ in collaboration with experts from the aviation company. However, Boeing said this week it was ‘not a partner on the Titan and did not design or build it’.

Nasa said it had provided only some remote consultation on the project via Zoom.

The university said it had worked with the firm on steel-hulled Cyclops 1, but was not involved in the ‘design, engineering or testing’ of Titan.

‘SUICIDE MISSION’

Several former passengers have come forward to criticise the haphazard nature of the Titanic voyages.

German Arthur Loibl, 60, (pictured) who went on the craft to visit the Titanic wreck two years ago, claimed he was ‘incredibly lucky’ to survive

German Arthur Loibl, 60, who went on the craft to visit the Titanic wreck two years ago, claimed he was ‘incredibly lucky’ to survive. He said the trip, which was repeatedly delayed due to battery problems, was a ‘suicide mission’.

During the descent and ascent, he said a fluorescent glow stick was used instead of the lights to save energy.

Producer Mike Reiss said communication failures happened on each of the three dives he went on last year. He described the sub as ‘a car that you drunkenly drove into the ocean’ steered by a ‘video game controller’.

DISCLAIMER

Passengers on the Titan are asked to sign a disclaimer in which they must acknowledge that it is an ‘experimental vessel’ that had ‘not been approved or certified by any regulatory body’. 

They are warned that their ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trip may ‘result in physical injury, disability, motion trauma or death’.

THE 2018 WARNING

Thirty-eight industry leaders and experts warned in 2018 that the Titan was heading for ‘catastrophe’ and called for the vessel to be properly tested. 

In an open letter to Mr Rush, they said OceanGate’s ‘experimental approach’ could result in ‘negative outcomes’.

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