Stockton Rush Was Issued a Dire Warning on Submersible, Titanic Expedition

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was warned about the potentially "catastrophic" outcome of ignoring safety concerns years before his Titan submersible was reported lost during a dive to visit the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.

Rush and four other occupants of the 22-foot vessel were reported missing on Monday, hours after losing contact with a surface ship during a North Atlantic dive to the final resting place of the iconic ocean liner. Worrying details about potential safety issues regarding the submersible have since emerged, including a dire warning from experts that was apparently dismissed.

David Lochridge, 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.

During the same year, the Manned Underwater Vehicles committee of the Marine Technology Society sent a letter to Rush, warning the CEO 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.

The letter, which was reportedly signed by more than three dozen experts in the field, alleged that Rush was "misleading" his potential customers over the safety of the "experimental" submersible and breaching "an industry-wide professional code of conduct" by refusing tests to meet the safety standards of marine classification societies like DNV or ABS.

"We recommend that at a minimum you institute a prototype testing program that is reviewed and witnessed by DNV-GL (or ABS)," the 2018 letter reads. "While this may demand additional time and expense, it is our unanimous view that this validation process by a third-party is a critical component in the safeguards that protect all submersible occupants."

Rush reportedly called the chairman of the committee after reading and rejecting the letter, explaining that he was ignoring the recommendations of the experts in favor of the company's own safety standards because "industry regulations were stifling innovation."

A 2019 blog post from OceanGate made a similar argument, asserting that "bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation," while touting the vessel's "real-time hull health monitoring" system for being able to determine "if the hull is compromised well before situations become life-threatening."

Rush also touted the benefits of "breaking the rules" while arguing that there was "a limit" to the safety during a podcast interview with CBS News correspondent David Pogue, who was a passenger on OceanGate's surface "mothership" during one of Titan's successful earlier Titanic "expeditions."

"You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste," said Rush. "I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed. Don't get in your car. Don't do anything. At some point, you're going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules."

Despite OceanGate selling seats on its Titanic expeditions for $250,000 each, the Titan submersible features at least some remarkably low-cost, off-the-shelf components, such as a $25 Logitech video game controller used to steer the vessel.

The lawsuit from Lochridge also alleged that Titan's viewport—the sole window on the submersible—had only been certified to withstand pressure of 1,300 meters of depth. The Titanic wreckage is around 3,800 meters under the ocean's surface.

Newsweek has reached out to OceanGate and the Marine Technology Society via email for comment.