Video Shows Titanic Sub CEO Saying He 'Broken Some Rules To Make This'

A video has emerged of Ocean Gate CEO Stockton Rush, who went missing onboard his company's submersible Titan with four others while diving to the wreck of the Titanic, admitting he'd "broken some rules" to make the craft.

Rush made the comment in an interview with Mexican travel vlogger Alan Estrada, who made his own visit on Titan to see the Titanic in July 2021.

Contact with Titan was lost just one hour 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday afternoon, according to the American Coast Guard, with the vessel reported to have had just 96 hours of bottled oxygen supply onboard as of 6 a.m. local time on Sunday. Frantic search efforts against the clock are underway with sonar picking up banging sounds on Tuesday "indicating continued hope of survivors," though the submersible's exact location remains unknown.

Estrada posted videos from his 2021 Titanic wreck dive onboard Titan to YouTube. These included an interview with Rush, who also traveled on the mission.

During the conversation, Rush said: "I'd like to be remembered as an innovator.

"I think it was General MacArthur who said 'you're remembered for the rules you break' and I've broken some rules to make this, I think I've broken them with logic and good engineering behind me, the carbon fiber and titanium there's a rule you don't do that, well I did, it's picking the rules you break that are the ones that will add value to others and add value to society."

A 21-second clip of Rush's remarks was shared on Twitter by John Holowesko, a user based in the Bahamas, who added: "Confidence inducing stuff from #titan CEO."

Newsweek has contacted Ocean Gate for comment by email.

Also missing onboard Titan are British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani-British business tycoon Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, and French pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

According to OceanGate, Titan measures 22 feet by 9.2 feet by 8.3, and can dive to depths of 13,123 feet.

David Pogue, a CBS reporter who previously traveled on Titan, told the BBC there is "no way" to communicate with the submersible unless it is "directly over" its support ship.

He explained: "When the support ship is directly over the sub, they can send short text messages back and forth. Clearly those are no longer getting a response."

The Titanic wreck is located around 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at a depth of 12,500 feet deep. On 15 April 1912 the British passenger liner sunk after striking an iceberg, with more than 1,500 passengers and crew dying in the disaster.

In 2018 David Lochridge, a former OceanGate employee and submersible pilot, launched a lawsuit against the company claiming passengers were facing "potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible" as a result of "OceanGate's refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design of the hull." The case was later settled out of court.