Stockton Rush Was Warned Sub Was Following Titanic's 'Unsinkable' Mistake

Former OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was one of five passengers aboard the Titan submersible who were declared deceased on Thursday, reportedly dismissed repeated safety concerns years before the recent deep-sea expedition.

The Titan went missing Sunday after communication was lost with the vessel's control center after traveling some 13,000 feet deep to visit the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912. He was joined by Captain Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, who were all killed by what officials called a "catastrophic implosion."

Rob McCallum, a deep-sea expedition expert, originally showed the BBC an email exchange he had with Rush in which he told the CEO that he was potentially putting his clients at risk. McCallum urged him to stop using the submersible until it had been classified by an independent body.

"I think you are potentially placing yourself and your clients in a dangerous dynamic," McCallum wrote in March 2018. "In your race to [the] Titanic you are mirroring that famous catch cry: 'She is unsinkable.'"

Rush responded that he was "tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation."

The emails, sent back and forth in the latter part of March 2018, were later shared by McCallum with Newsweek. Another email sent by McCallum to Rush mentioned an industry "slagging" he purportedly received due to Rush talking to other industry experts.

"I have been getting countless calls over the last 12 months from your clients, agents, media etc asking for my advice on the Titanic Expedition," McCallum wrote to Rush. "I have given everyone the same honest advice which is that until a sub is classed, tested and proven it should not be used for commercial deep dive operations. That's the very same consistent advice I have always given you; 4000m down in the mid-Atlantic is not the kind of place you can cut corners."

Rush replied by saying he had not "slagged" McCallum to industry colleagues. He did admit expressing discontent with McCallum appearing to warn people about working with OceanGate.

"I appreciate all the advice and support you have generously offered me and OceanGate over the years," Rush replied. "However, I do disagree on the topic of the value of certification. I'm not silent on this issue. I'm clearly an advocate for a different path. I feel strongly that a once-a-year paperwork check and a piece of paper from ABS or DNV/GL does not make a submersible or expeditionary operation safe.

"As you clearly know, the biggest expedition risks come from a lack of safety focus and/or poor skills and experience in the operations and execution - not vessel certification."

McCallum responded by saying it was not about attacking OceanGate but rather pointing out the company's safety protocols, or lack thereof.

"I have not personally detected any negativity from the industry to new players; quite the contrary," McCallum said. "Naturally the industry is worried about the consequences of any catastrophic failure which could impact everyone and that always (quite naturally) raises concerns. ... The nervousness I hear is from established industry members who have collectively built hundreds of vehicles and conducted tens of thousands of dives observing unsettling and somewhat alarming trends."

The exchange ended, according to McCallum, when OceanGate's lawyers threatened legal action. McCallum provided no additional comment to Newsweek.

An OceanGate spokesperson declined to comment on the email exchange between McCallum and Rush and pointed Newsweek to the company's previous statement about the deaths of the five Titan passengers.

McCallum, the founder of the expedition service provider EYOS Expeditions, made similar statements to Bloomberg in 2017. After commending Rush's attitude and wanting to take chances in the field of exploration, he expressed concerns about Rush's working style and equipment.

"He's a full-speed-ahead, damn-the-torpedoes kind of guy, and in the submersible industry, extreme depth is all about precision and control," McCallum said at the time. "Nothing can be left to chance."

Newsweek reached out to McCallum and his expedition service via email for comment.

In 2017, Rush told CBS News correspondent Chip Reid, "By the time we're done testing it, I believe [Titan is] pretty much invulnerable."

There were other warnings given to Rush and OceanGate, as well as potential passengers on future expeditions.

David Lochridge, a former OceanGate employee and submersible pilot, filed a lawsuit against the company in 2018, alleging that passengers were being subjected "to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible" due to "OceanGate's refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design of the hull."

The suit was later settled out of court.

The Manned Underwater Vehicles committee of the Marine Technology Society sent a letter to Rush that same year, warning Rush that his refusal to allow an outside entity to test the safety of his vessel was ignoring "a critical component in the safeguards that protect all submersible occupants," according to a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times.

Questions remain about apparent death waivers signed by the passengers. Mike Weiss, a former Titan passenger and a writer-producer on The Simpsons, said he signed one himself prior to his own trek to the wreckage site in July 2022.

"Before you even get on the boat, there's a long, long waiver that mentions death three times on page one," Weiss told the New York Post.

Update 6/26/23, 9:57 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional shared emails between McCallum and Rush, as provided to Newsweek.