“The OceanGate Titan Submersible: A Preventable Tragedy,” is a 2-part podcast available now on all podcast platforms, and at shipwrecksandseadogs.com.

On June 18, 2023, OceanGate’s Titan submersible catastrophically imploded while on a dive to the Titanic, killing all five people on board, including OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush. Also on board were renowned French ocean explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British entrepreneur and adventurer Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani business executive Shahzada Dawood, and his 19 year old son Suleman Dawood.

Stockton Rush formed OceanGate in 2009 with the goal of building an underwater submersible to take paying passengers to the wreck of the Titanic. He viewed innovation as mandatory, and he would defy convention, skirt regulations, and ignore industry experts, wearing his lack of conformity as a badge of honor.

OceanGate moved quickly, often ignoring standard engineering principles, safety protocols, and industry regulations. Many experts warned Rush that using carbon fiber for Titan’s pressure hull was dangerous, and reminded him that the material was untested and unproven for deep sea exploration. Rush scoffed at these warnings, once saying, “I have grown tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation and new entrants from entering their small existing market. Since starting OceanGate we have heard the baseless cries of ‘you are going to kill someone’ way too often.”

Employees from within OceanGate also voiced concerns, including Director of Marine Operations David Lochridge, Directors of Engineering Tony Nissen and Dan Scoville, contractor Antonella Wilby, and Project Manager Emily Hammermeister. All of them either were fired for voicing their concerns, or left the company citing a lack of safety protocols.

The United States Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation determined that OceanGate was riddled with problems from a complete lack of any safety culture, to deliberately misleading its customers and the general public. Stockton Rush specifically would have been prosecuted for negligence, had he survived.

The story of the Titan submersible is tragic and frustrating. Families are left grieving for their loved ones, knowing this tragedy was entirely preventable.

For the full story of Stockton Rush, the founding of OceanGate, the development of the Titan submersible and its eventual demise, please listen to “The OceanGate Titan Submersible: A Preventable Tragedy,” wherever you get your podcasts, or at shipwrecksandseadogs.com.