Titan implosion testimony paints a picture of reckless greed and explorer passion

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This article was published 26/09/2024 (730 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two weeks of testimony suggested the company responsible for an experimental deep-water submersible that imploded, killing five people, either recklessly ignored warning signs in the name of profits or represented the nation’s explorer spirit in taking calculated risks to push humankind’s boundaries.

Those contrasting viewpoints emerged as the Coast Guard panel tasked with determining why the carbon-fiber Titan was lost 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) deep wrapped up testimony Friday with new information that could have changed how rescuers responded and more discussion of the company co-founder’s cavalier attitude.

Capt. Jamie Frederick, commander of the Coast Guard sector based in Boston, appeared surprised to learn that the crew of Titan’s support vessel, in hindsight, felt there was a slight shudder around the time the submersible imploded on its way to the wreckage of the Titanic last year.

Frederick said it was “unconscionable that they wouldn’t share that” and it could have changed the rescue response. “It certainly would’ve changed the equation,” he testified.

Also Friday, an OceanGate employee testified that he resigned after a “tense” conversation in which co-founder Stockton Rush told him the vessel would be flagged in the Bahamas and launched from Canada to avoid U.S. scrutiny — and arrogantly brushed aside U.S. regulatory concerns if it went to a U.S. port.

The worker, Matthew McCoy, said Rush told him: “If the Coast Guard became a problem, then he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away.”

The public hearing concluded in the afternoon with condolences from a lawyer for OceanGate, a representative from the National Transportation Safety Board and Marine Board of Investigation Chair Jason Neubauer, who asked all in attendance to stand for a moment of silence for “those who perished” in the tragedy.

Neubauer said the panel would complete its work and press for changes in the form of recommendations to Coast Guard leadership “to help ensure that nobody has to endure a future similar occurrence.”

He said his recommendations to the commandant will include safety proposals along with any criminal conduct. If the panel believes there was criminal conduct, then that recommendation would be handled through a separate process.

“My priority is to get this issue done expeditiously because I feel that there are global issues at stake,” Neubauer said.

Previous testimony painted contrasting images of greed and hubris with well-heeled clients paying to ride in a submersible made from carbon fiber — a material that was untested at such depths — versus modern-day explorers taking calculated risks to open the ocean’s deepest depths to more people.

Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Rush, described the lofty goal “to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean.” Using carbon fiber for the pressure hull was hardly a novel idea, he said, and noted 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 $250,000 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 Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who was director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, which holds the legal rights to salvage the wreck of the ship. Nargeolet’s family is suing for more than $50 million, accusing the sub’s operator of gross negligence.

The carbon-fiber pressure hull of Titan was the subject of much of the discussion. An expert witness, Roy Thomas, senior principal engineer at the American Bureau of Shipping, testified that carbon-fiber may be strong and light, but that it’s tricky to manufacture. Carbon fiber also is “susceptible to fatigue failure” under repeated pressurization and salt water can weaken the material in multiple ways, he said.

Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing, held in South Carolina, that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice.

Witnesses testified they had heard loud cracking sounds in past descents. And scientific director Steven Ross said that, on a dive just a few days before the Titan imploded, the vessel became unstable because of a ballast problem, causing passengers to tumble and crash into a bulkhead.

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 (700 kilometers) 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, Coast Guard officials said.

Frederick testified Friday about the massive effort to bring together experts and resources, while noting that OceanGate had no emergency backup plan. “We brought a team together, came up with a plan,” he said.

After receiving reports of noises from the ocean floor, the Coast Guard-led team operated under the possibility there could be survivors until several days after contact was lost with the Titan, when the Navy said its analysis was “100% certain” that the underwater sounds were not human in nature, Frederick said.

“As soon as we received that information, I shared it with the families before we released it to the media,” said Frederick, who personally handled the notifications to family members.

It took a massive effort to get a remote submersible capable of researching the ocean floor to the scene, he said.

Three C-17 military transport aircraft moved the submersible and associated equipment to Canada’s Newfoundland, where it was transferred to a ship and taken to the scene, Frederick said. Once there, Pelagic Research Services’ remote-operated submersible “Odysseus” quickly found the Titan’s debris field, he said.

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Sharp reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed.