A friend of the late OceanGate boss who said the CEO "definitely knew it was going to end like this" testified at the hearing into the Titan submersible disaster today.
Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Stockton Rush, went on the doomed submersible with his friend in April 2019. The Titan sub imploded last June, killing all five people on board, including Rush.
Stanley testified hearing cracking noises on the submersible and that he could pinpoint where they were coming from. He told the board that Rush was scared during the 2019 dive.
“It was unnerving and then when it kept happening,” Stanley testified, referring to the noises. “I remember I was the one that was able to isolate the area where it was coming from and told them, ‘this, this is the area,’ and was listening right there.”
“It’s also a clue to me about Stockton’s psychology...he was scared. Because if he wasn’t scared, he would have already isolated where the noises were coming from him on his first dive,” he continued.
In an email exchange with Rush, Stanley warned about a hull defect: “The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not.”
Key points
- Stockton Rush’s close friend testifies former OceanGate CEO was scared during 2019 dive
- Titan sub implosion was expected, Stockton Rush’s friend says: ‘There was nothing unexpected about this’
- Former OceanGate director of administration gives emotional statement
Tuesday’s hearing ends
20:11
Katie Hawkinson
Today’s Titan submersible hearing has come to a close after testimony from Stockton Rush’s close friend, Karl Stanley, and OceanGate’s former director of administration Amber Bay.
Titan sub implosion was expected, Stockton Rush’s friend says: ‘There was nothing unexpected about this’
19:43
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Stockton Rush, said the tragic 2023 Titan sub implosion was expected.
“The definition of an accident is something that happened unexpectedly and by sheer chance,” Stanley testified. “There was nothing unexpected about this. This was expected by everybody that had access to a little bit of information.”
“And I think that if it wasn’t an accident, it then has to be some degree of crime,” he continued. “And if it’s a crime, I think to truly understand it, you need to understand the criminal’s motive. The entire reason this whole operation started was Stockton had a desire to leave his mark on history. “
“I think that’s why he kept diving, and he knew that eventually it was going to end like this and he wasn’t going to be held accountable, but he was going to be the most famous of all his famous relatives.”
Stockton Rush 'transparent’ with how deep sub was going, long-time friend says
19:37
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley said he was not aware that Stockton Rush had taken his sub more than 3,000 meters below the surface before their April 2019 dive.
Rush took Stanley and the others below 3,000 meters on their dive as well.
“Mr. Stanley, were you made aware that you were one of the first crew other than Mr. Rush to be in the submersible to a depth of over 3,000 meters?” a panelist asked.
“I’m actually surprised...to see all the dives before this,” Stanley responded. “He really wasn’t transparent kind of information.”
Karl Stanley emailed Stockton Rush about concerns
19:04
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley’s previously reported e-mails describing his concerns about Stockton Rush’s sub were read at today’s hearing.
“I think that hull has a defect near that flange, that will only get worse,” Stanley told Rush via e-mail. “The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not.”
Stanley also complained to Rush, saying he felt he was indirectly told not to discuss his concerns.
“The fact that you indirectly told me not to speak about the noises I heard on the dive, to me, says a lot,” Stanley wrote in the email. “As you know, my subs have had many issues and incidents over the years, at no point did I find it necessary to tell anyone not to speak of what I saw or heard.”
Karl Stanley says he would not have gone on 2019 dive in retrospect
18:50
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley, who went on a 2019 test dive with Stockton Rush, said he would not have gone on the dive in retrospect.
The comments came after a member of the panel asked Stanley if he was aware there was a lightning strike in the vicinity of the sub in the Bahamas just before the 2019 dive.
“The first time I heard of a lightning strike was reading about it..There’s a lot of things that, if I had known, I wouldn’t have gone,” Stanley said. “People have told me that I was stupid, naive. But really, what it came down to was, at that point, I had no reason to believe that Stockton was a liar, and I had no evidence of any lies on his part.”
Stanley earlier testified that the sub made noise when it dived in 2019. The sound happened so clearly and frequently, he said, that he could “localize where it was coming from.”
“It was unnerving and then when it kept happening, I remember I was the one that was able to isolate the area where it was coming from and told them, ‘this, this is the area,’ and was listening right there,” Stanley said.
“It’s also a clue to me about Stockton’s psychology...he was scared. Because if he wasn’t scared, he would have already isolated where the noises were coming from him on his first dive,” he continued. “When I isolated the area, that was new information to him, but he was down there by himself, scared, and he kept going.”
Karl Stanley went on dive with Stockton Rush in 2019: ‘There were a lot of red flags'
18:42
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley testified that he helped build a vehicle with Stockton Rush for free.
Rush then invited him on a dive in April 2019 in the Bahamas. Rush, Rush’s childhood friend, Stanley, and a sonar technician were on board.
“He told us to be prepared for noises. He had recently done the solo dive on his own, and basically just said, ‘this is going to make noise’ and ‘brace yourselves,’” he added.
Stanley said there were “a lot of red flags” during the dive.
“Another clue in retrospect, is he didn’t tow out,” Stanley said, adding that not towing out deeper showed Rush did not have “a lot of faith” in the sub.
Stanley also noted Rush did not drive the sub.
“He didn’t do any of the driving...I believe I was the first one to drive, but he basically insisted it was his idea,” he said. “Nobody asked to drive...I think that was his kind of sick way of if we had imploded, we were a little bit in control of our own destiny.”
Stockton Rush and Karl Stanley knew each other for at least a decade
18:33
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Stockton Rush, said he met the former OceanGate CEO at least 10 years ago.
“My relationship with Stockton goes back at least 10, possibly up to 15 years,” Stanley testified on Tuesday afternoon.
Stanley said he saw Stockton regularly at underwater intervention meetings.
“When I learned that he was making a carbon fiber sub, I was excited about it,” he added.
Stockton Rush was ‘playing the game,’ friend says
18:29
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley, a close friend of Stockton Rush, said the former OceanGate CEO was “playing the game” by bringing scientists on his Titan sub.
“It’s only recently that, now that these submersibles are mostly being operated by billionaires on their yachts, that the billionaires are courting scientists,” Stanley testified. “Because when you have a billionaire saying, ‘Hey, come on my yacht, my chef’s going to cook you food, you have a private cabin and a hot tub,’ because they want the tax breaks.”
“You could have a 500-foot yacht, and if you have a scientist on board that published the paper, now, all of a sudden everything was a tax write-off,” he continued.
“So to some extent, Stockton was really just looking around and seeing what other people were doing and playing the game. But I mean, obviously, the way he said ‘mission specialists,’ you know, I don’t agree with the terminology, mission specialist. But by giving scientists dive time, this is something that’s being done across the industry now, which is a relatively new phenomenon, but it’s not something that I do. I charge scientists. “
Karl Stanley begins testimony
17:57
Katie Hawkinson
Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Stockton Rush, has begun testifying to the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation.
Stanley went on an expedition in the Titan sub in 2019. He reportedly described concerns about the submersible to Rush afterward.
“I think that hull has a defect near that flange, that will only get worse,” Stanley wrote. “The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not.”
Amber Bay gives emotional statement as first half of hearing adjourns
15:39
Katie Hawkinson
Amber Bay, OceanGate’s former director of administration, gave an emotional and tearful statement at the end of her testimony on Tuesday morning.
“I had the privilege of knowing the explorers whose lives were lost: Stockton, P.H., Shahzada, Suleman and Hamish,” Bay said through tears. “There’s not a day that passes that I don’t think of them, their families and their loss. It’s been a difficult year for them, for all of us.”
“I would also like to thank the board for the work they’ve done and continue to do,” she added.
The hearing has adjourned and will resume at 1 p.m. EDT with testimony from Stockton Rush’s close friend, Karl Stanley.
Director of administration says former contractor who raised safety concerns was let go because she was ‘erratic’
14:54
Katie Hawkinson
Amber Bay, former director of administration for OceanGate, said a former contractor who raised safety concerns was released from her contract because Stockton Rush said she acted erratically.
“I was asked by Stockton to release her from her contract, as she had acted erratically, unprofessionally, and had disturbed our crew during a challenging situation in the communications pit,” Bay testified on Tuesday morning.
She was referring to Antonella Wilby, who testified last week that she reported a customer’s safety concerns following a dive in 2022, PEOPLE reports.
“I felt the customer’s concerns were not taken particularly seriously at that meeting,” Wilby said. “So, following the debrief, I went to Amber Bay, the director of administration, to raise my concerns about what I had just heard. I told her, ‘I am really concerned about what this customer just said and that there was a bang as loud as an explosion.’ I asked, ‘What’s being done?’”
Wilby claimed Bay responded with: “Yes, many people are concerned about you. You don’t seem to have an explorer mindset.”
“I was kind of taken aback by that because she didn’t acknowledge what I had just said and what was going to be done,” Wilby added.
OceanGate struggling financially, director of administration says
14:43
Katie Hawkinson
Amber Bay, former OceanGate director of administration, said CEO Stockton Rush would sometimes increase his own investment to help the company when it was struggling.
“He increased his investment by making a deposit, and we were able to meet payroll,” she said.
At one point, employees were also asked to defer their paychecks while the company struggled to meet payroll.
“We could delay our paychecks and be paid a small amount of interest and recaptured it at a specific time,” she said.
ICYMI: Final messages revealed from the Titan sub before tragic implosion
14:26
Katie Hawkinson
“All good here.”
Those were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023.
Read more on the chilling last messages from the Titan sub ahead of this afternoon’s testimony from Karl Stanley, a close friend of Stockton Rush:
Witness is asked to define a ‘mission specialist’
13:58
Rhian Lubin
Bay is asked to define “a mission specialist” by the panel and says she would not describe them as “passengers”.
She described a mission specialist as “somebody who was curious about deep sea exploration, who wanted to join, who understood this wasn’t a luxury trip.”
She added: “As Stockton put it, there was no chocolate on the pillow.”
The witness was also quizzed about OceanGate’s finances and how payments from investors were made.
Titan submarine relied on ‘idiotic’ Excel spreadsheet
13:40
Rhian Lubin
OceanGate used a hand-typed Excel spreadsheet to track its ill-fated Titan submersible, according to a former contractor for the firm.
The hearing on Friday heard that Titan’s navigation system allegedly relied on team members manually inputting the coordinate data into a spreadsheet in order to track the vessel.
“There were delays because there was this manual process of first writing down the lat-long coordinates and then typing them in,” Antonella Wilby, a former OceanGate contractor, told the hearing held by the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation.
“We tried to do that every five minutes, but it was a lot to do.”
She described the system as “absolutely idiotic”, adding that she had raised concerns about the method with OceanGate but was dismissed for not being “solution-oriented”.
Catch up with Anthony Cuthbertson’s report here.
Proceedings begin and first witness is sworn in
13:36
Rhian Lubin
The first witness, Amber Bay, has been sworn in.
Bay is OceanGate’s former director of administration. She joined OceanGate in 2018.
Key witness previously warned CEO of problems with Titan
13:21
Rhian Lubin
Karl Stanley, a friend of late OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, warned him against taking customers aboard the company’s Titan submersible four years before it tragically imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Stanley is due to give evidence to the hearing this afternoon.
He is the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and previously went aboard the Titan off the coast of the Bahamas in 2019, The New York Times first reported.
In emails obtained by Insider of an alleged exchange between the two deep-sea enthusiasts, Stanley told Rush that he had heard a large cracking sound while on the 12,000-foot-deep dive.
“I think that hull has a defect near that flange, that will only get worse. The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not,” Stanley wrote in a premonitory email, years before the Titan’s catastrophic implosion that killed all five of its passengers.
Catch up on our report from the time.
A recap of what happened on Monday
13:00
Michelle Del Rey
The investigative panel heard testimony from Guillermo Sohnlein, Roy Thomas and Phil Brooks.
Sohnlein co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush in 2009 but left the company in 2013. Despite the panel’s efforts, Sohnlein said the world may never know what led to tragedy.
Thomas, an engineer for the American Bureau of Shipping, one of the main classifying agencies for submersibles, spoke about complications with using carbon fiber materials. After repeated dives, the materials are susceptible to become “deformed” and “fail,” he said, adding OceanGate never tried to seek classification with the agency.
Rush designed the vessel with a carbon fiber hull. The agency would not have classified the sub using that material.
Brooks, a senior hardware engineer, spoke about his role analyzing data for OceanGate and the company’s lack of funds. The “company was economically stressed” and asked him to go without paychecks, he said.
Friend of OceanGate boss who said CEO ‘knew it would end like this’ to testify today
12:28
Rhian Lubin
Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Stockton Rush, is due to testify later today.
Stanley went on the doomed submersible with his friend in 2019 and is scheduled to speak at 1.30pm. He has previously said he believes Rush “definitely knew it would end like this.”
It’s possible Stanley could speak about his experience on the submersible during a dive and warnings he gave Rush about Titan. He said he doesn’t believe his friend did enough research into his carbon fiber design.
Amber Bay, OceanGate’s former director of administration, will begin testifying at 9am.
Bay might discuss her experiences with Rush. Prior witnesses have described Rush as someone who was difficult to deal with at times.
US Coast Guard releases video of salvage efforts to recover parts of Titan sub
11:00
Michelle Del Rey
#TitanMBI releases ROV footage of the submersible’s salvage from June 26, 2023, for the hearing. For the investigation, the wreckage was recovered and transported to a secure facility for detailed analysis. (Video courtesy of Pelagic Research Services) https://t.co/C1Xd2Xjvtx pic.twitter.com/dln2LYxoC1
— USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 23, 2024
What is the process for classifying submersibles?
08:00
Michelle Del Rey
To qualify for classification with the American Bureau of Shipping, submersible owners must:
1. Establish and maintain recognized technical standards
2. Check that the design of the submersible is in compliance with the standards
3. Certify material and equipment that will be incorporated into the vessel complies with standards
4. Ensure vessel is in compliance with ABS standards throughout lifetime
US Coast Guard releases exhibits ahead of hearing
06:00
Michelle Del Rey
Photos and exhibits pertaining to the investigation are available on Twitter. One set of documents shows the mapped location of the Titan’s debris on the seafloor. The other photo is of the submersible’s dome previously referenced in testimony.
#TitanMBI Exhibit CG-103, showing the mapped locations of the Titan submersible debris on the seafloor, is now available. Released ahead of tomorrow’s testimony, it aims to enhance understanding as the public hearing resumes at 8:30 a.m. EST Watch it here: https://t.co/Pn6vymtdLj pic.twitter.com/3s70MktuVb
— USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 22, 2024
#TitanMBI has released Exhibit CG-102, showing a photo of the forward dome that detached after Titan dive 61 on June 30, 2021—an incident noted in testimony from Mr. Hagan and Ms. Rojas, and also identified on Exhibit CG-52. Find more on the hearing ➡️https://t.co/YqgDikoekr pic.twitter.com/2iZZWFJgC4
— USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 22, 2024
WATCH: Titan crew's final three-word text revealed in haunting animation of submersible's journey
04:30
Michelle Del Rey
Final communications between the Titan crew and its support vessel, revealed
01:30
Michelle Del Rey
“All good here” were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023.
The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard’s Monday hearing into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible imploded, killing all five of its crew members. It was an incident that captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews made a mad dash to save the crew after the sub lost contact with the surface - with the world unaware that the lives had been lost.
The Coast Guard played an animated re-enactment of the Titan’s voyage that captured the submersible’s final, spotty exchange with the Polar Prince, during the Monday hearing that shed new light on the sub’s final mission.
Around 10am on June 18, Polar Prince asked the Titan crew whether they were able to see the support vessel on the submersible’s display. The support vessel asked the crew the same question seven times over the course of seven minutes. The Titan crew then sent “k,” meaning it was asking for a communications check.
Read the full story...
Coast Guard adds ‘new witness’ to schedule ahead of Friday’s hearing
Tuesday 24 September 2024 00:30
Michelle Del Rey
Tomorrow’s #TitanMBI hearing will include testimony from scheduled witnesses and a newly added witness. See today’s images on the Titan MBI DVIDS feature page: https://t.co/iTuhShNhBd pic.twitter.com/Hqc4WZNZLo
— USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 20, 2024
‘This was not supposed to happen’ Sohnlein says during closing statements
Monday 23 September 2024 23:30
Michelle Del Rey
“This was not supposed to happen,” Sohnlein said during his closing remarks on Monday. “Five people should not have lost their lives.”
Despite the efforts of the investigating panel, the former OceanGate CEO said he’s not sure the public will ever know want led to the tragedy.
Still, he’d like the memories of those who died to be preserved by continuing deep ocean exploration.
“Someday in the near future, we’ll look back on this time as a major turning point in human history when the general public took an active interest in our efforts to explore the deep ocean,” he said. “If that happens, then that’s probably the most fitting tribute for the memories of these five individuals.”
In photos: Key moments from the hearings so far
Monday 23 September 2024 22:30
Michelle Del Rey
Monday hearing has concluded, proceedings to resume on Tuesday at 8.30am
Monday 23 September 2024 21:37
Michelle Del Rey
Brooks has been released as a witness.
Brooks says OceanGate asked employees to go without payment
Monday 23 September 2024 21:00
Michelle Del Rey
OceanGate ran out of money several times before the fatal implosion that killed five people, Brooks says, adding the company asked him to go without his paycheck on multiple occasions.
“They asked for volunteers,” he said. The “company was economically stressed.” Brooks says he’s unsure about whether the company successfully recruited volunteers.
The company promised employees they’d get us “caught up in paychecks after the 1st of the year.” he said.
Brooks says that no maintenance was done on Titan hull between 2022 and 2023
Monday 23 September 2024 20:41
Michelle Del Rey
No testing or maintenance was done on the Titan submersible’s hull between 2022 and 2023. The vessel’s hull was made of carbon fiber which is susceptible to damage and failure, especially after repeated dives to extreme depths.
Who is Phil Brooks?
Monday 23 September 2024 20:24
Michelle Del Rey
According to the former OceanGate employee’s LinkedIn, Brooks worked for the submersible company first as an embedded linux engineer in 2019. He was promoted to director of engineering in 2021.
He left OceanGate in March 2023. He’s now a senior hardware engineer in Seattle.
Hearing is back in session after break
Monday 23 September 2024 19:37
Michelle Del Rey
Brooks is continuing his testimony, currently speaking about the process of collecting data for OceanGate.
Hearing taking a short break
Monday 23 September 2024 19:24
Michelle Del Rey
The US Coast Guard’s hearing into the Titan tragedy is on a short break. It will reconvene momentarily.
Watch: Coast Guard releases footage that provided ‘conclusive evidence’ that Titan passengers died
Monday 23 September 2024 19:05
Michelle Del Rey
Phil Brooks, former engineering director for OceanGate, currently testifying
Monday 23 September 2024 18:39
Michelle Del Rey
The hearing is back in session. Brooks is currently giving details on his background and career.
Who is OceanGate co-founder?
Monday 23 September 2024 18:30
Michelle Del Rey
Guillermo Sohnlein founded Titan owner OceanGate with CEO Stockton Rush in 2009.
Sohnlein left the company in 2013 but after the submersible’s implosion, he came to Rush's defense, asserting his former business partner was "committed" to safety.
He said: "[Rush] was very much focused on safety. I think the next regret he would have is the company not continuing operations and not being able to keep going and getting beyond Titanic because Titanic was really just a means to an end for business.
"It was really to get to a point where the subs would be chartered by people all over the world to do all sorts of interesting projects and learn more about our oceans."
Sohnlein has previously laid out plans to colonize the Moon and has hopes to send humans to Venus.
Hearing taking a lunch break will return at 1.30pm ET
Monday 23 September 2024 17:41
Michelle Del Rey
Phil Brooks, former OceanGate engineering director, is next to speak
OceanGate’s decision to store Titan outside could’ve led to materials degrading
Monday 23 September 2024 17:36
Michelle Del Rey
The American Bureau of Shipping recommends sub owners store vessels in controlled environments. The US Coast Guard stated that OceanGate stored the submersible outside during winter.
“To expose it to the elements could possibly lead to degradation of the materials,” Thomas, the engineer, said.
If the Titan submersible had been classified, ABS engineers would’ve needed to clear it after issues
Monday 23 September 2024 17:21
Michelle Del Rey
Following the incidents in which the Titan’s dome fell off and a customer heard a “loud banging” noise, an engineer for the ABS would’ve conducted extensive tests to ensure the vessel was safe, had it been classified.
The Titan submersible was not classified by the agency.
Carbon fiber hulls are susceptible to ‘deformation’ Thomas states
Monday 23 September 2024 17:16
Michelle Del Rey
The engineer from the American Bureau of Shipping has prepared a slideshow presentation for the panel detailing the challenges of carbon fiber materials.
He’s said carbon fiber is not an approved material for classification. Additionally, the Titan’s hull would have been susceptible to “deformation under applied external loading.”
Currently, there are no recognized national/international standards for carbon fiber pressure hulls for submersibles.
Stockton Rush once said ‘No-one is dying under my watch — period’
Monday 23 September 2024 16:49
Michelle Del Rey
A transcript of a meeting between Rush and the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, David Lochridge, was made public ahead of the Coast Guard’s hearing on Monday.
The discussion captures Rush stating “No-one is dying under my watch - period,” after Lochridge raised safety concerns.
Rush responded: “I have no desire to die... I think this is one of the safest things I will ever do.”
Carbon fiber composites are not included in the list of ABS approved materials
Monday 23 September 2024 16:44
Michelle Del Rey
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush infamously made the Titan’s pressure hull from carbon fiber but the material is not approved by the ABS for classification. Some of the concerns with carbon fiber included its ability to fail after repeated dives.
Additionally, it’s susceptible to damage, which can also cause it to fail.
ABS affiliation with OceanGate
Monday 23 September 2024 16:37
Michelle Del Rey
Thomas says OceanGate was not involved with the ABS, never requested classification and did not submit a design review or surveys.
Roy Thomas says OceanGate never reached out to the American Bureau of Shipping about classification
Monday 23 September 2024 16:13
Michelle Del Rey
A senior principal engineer with the American Bureau of Shipping has been sworn in as a witness.
Roy Thomas to be next witness
Monday 23 September 2024 16:00
Michelle Del Rey
A senior principal engineer with the American Bureau of Shipping is scheduled to speak next. The agency is one of the few in the country that classify deep sea submersibles.
‘I don’t know what the right way is to regulate this kind of activity,’ says Sohnlein
Monday 23 September 2024 15:29
Michelle Del Rey
After a Coast Guard official asks Sohnlein what he believes is the best way is to regulate submersibles, the co-founder says the topic is not in his “wheelhouse.”
He said dedicating resources to developing new regulations would be a “waste of taxpayer money” because there isn’t a current need. The submersible field is not an “industry,” Sohnlein said, adding there is currently at most 100 submersibles in the world.
Sohnlein says he left OceanGate because priorities switched
Monday 23 September 2024 15:09
Michelle Del Rey
The co-founder says he transferred his CEO title to Stockton Rush once it became clear the company wanted to transition from operations to engineering.
Sohnlein says Rush wanted him to stay on but “it didn’t make sense for me stay,” he says, adding that it was beneficial to make Rush the CEO because of fundraising needs.
Sohnlein says he made $120k as CEO. Leaving was “one of the hardest decisions I had to make.”
Sohnlein lays out early vision for OceanGate
Monday 23 September 2024 14:32
Michelle Del Rey
When the co-founder first met with Stockton Rush in 2009, he said the pair wanted at least four to five submersibles available to charter around the world.
Rush was going to put in money and Sohnlein was going to run the business. They bought a “training-wheel sub” in order to study it and understand the technology, he says.
“Initially, we weren’t even going to build our own subs.”
The company bought its first sub from the Azores in January 2013, which later became “Cyclops,” OceanGate’s first submersible.
Sohnlein sworn in as witness
Monday 23 September 2024 14:12
Michelle Del Rey
The OceanGate co-founder is testifying now.
What has OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein said about the tragedy?
Monday 23 September 2024 14:06
Michelle Del Rey
Sohnlein co-founded the company with Stockton Rush in 2009 and left in January 2013.
“We operated as safely as possible,” he said in an interview with CTV news. “We had a safety conscious culture.”
When asked if he agreed with more regulations surrounding submersible classification, he said: “That’s really not my purview. I’ll leave that to policy makers.”
He reiterated that the company took safety very seriously.
Former OceanGate employees have disagreed with that characterization. David Lochridge, a former OceanGate employee, had raised concerns about the sub since 2018. He was later fired and the company sued him for revealing confidential information. He then countersued for wrongful dismissal.
A recap of proceedings last week
Monday 23 September 2024 13:34
Michelle Del Rey
The US Coast Guard’s two-week hearing into the OceanGate Titan submersible tragedy is entering its second week.
During the first half of proceedings, the panel of the Marine Board of Investigation heard from OceanGate former employees, one of its rival competitors and marine experts.
David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, told investigators he had “no confidence” in the way the Titan submersible had been built. Antonella Wilby, the company’s former software contractor, said she felt “brushed to the side” after vocalizing safety concerns following an incident in which a customer reportedly heard a “loud bang.”
Patrick Lahey, the co-founder of Triton Submarines, said he encouraged Stockton Rush to classify the Titan, but said Rush called classification “an impediment to innovation”.
Proceedings to continue this morning
Monday 23 September 2024 12:18
Rhian Lubin
Welcome back as we restart our live coverage of the US Coast Guard’s hearing into the Titan submersible implosion.
Proceedings will start up again this morning at 8.30am ET as part of the Coast Guard’s investigation of the maritime disaster.
Three witnesses are due to give evidence to the panel.
Co-founder of Titan owner OceanGate, Guillermo Sohnlein, is up first and he is expected to give an insight into the inner workings of the company.
Other witnesses expected to testify today include former OceanGate engineering director Phil Brooks and Roy Thomas of the American Bureau of Shipping.
The hearing is expected to run through Friday.
What to expect as we enter day four of the Coast Guard’s hearing
Saturday 21 September 2024 08:34
Michelle Del Rey
Another mission specialist who worked with the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded last year while on its way to the Titanic wreckage is scheduled to testify before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday.
Mission specialist Fred Hagen is scheduled to be the first to testify Friday. Other witnesses have characterized mission specialists as people who paid a fee to play a role in OceanGate’s underwater exploration.
Find out more below.
MBI created an animated model of the Titan’s doomed voyage
Saturday 21 September 2024 03:34
Michelle Del Rey
The Marine Board presented an animation model in support of the Titan submersible hearing. The entire video can be viewed from the MBI website https://t.co/3TwwWq8TGt and downloaded from here: https://t.co/7lZwbu0dXZ#TitanMBI pic.twitter.com/PToLMpLFw0
— USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 16, 2024
The US Coast Guard has released exhibits relating to the hearing
Friday 20 September 2024 23:34
Michelle Del Rey
Exhibit CG-100 titled 'Interview Transcript - DIR of Marine Operations with CEO_Redacted’, and other exhibits from today’s #TitanMBI hearing are now available here: https://t.co/h3ySH0PhiA pic.twitter.com/pV8qhOY31x
— USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 20, 2024
WATCH: What happened to the Titan tourist submersible?
Friday 20 September 2024 22:34
Michelle Del Rey
Proceedings will resume again at 8.30am on Monday
Friday 20 September 2024 21:24
Michelle Del Rey
Antonella Wilby has been released as a witness. Friday’s hearing is now over and proceedings will resume next week.
Wilby says she wanted to go to the board of directors about safety concerns but was warned about being sued
Friday 20 September 2024 21:10
Michelle Del Rey
After the “loud bang” incident, Wilby says she wanted to approach the board of directors with concerns she had about OceanGate’s operations, but a colleague warned her that her NDA did not cover the board and she could be sued for speaking out.
She decided against raising her concerns.
Hearing taking a short break
Friday 20 September 2024 20:59
Michelle Del Rey
Proceedings will resume momentarily
Wilby compares OceanGate operations to ‘safety theater'
Friday 20 September 2024 20:37
Michelle Del Rey
The former tech contractor, who primarily worked with software navigation at OceanGate, expressed she did not think the Titan submersible or the comany’s actions were safe.
“No aspect of the operation seemed safe,” said Wilby, adding that parts of the vessel looked “thrown together.”
