ON June 18 2023, five passengers entered the deep sea submersible Titan on a mission to reach the final resting place of the Titanic.
Two miles down beneath the ocean’s surface, it suffered a catastrophic failure and imploded in a split second.
AFPOceanGate’s Titan submersible imploded on June 18 2023, killing all five on board[/caption]
BBCThe mission was the brainchild of American businessman Stockton Rush[/caption]
ReutersA new documentary set to air on BBC Two retraces the build up to the disaster[/caption]
Those on board – which included 19-year-old British teenager Suleman Dawood – were crushed to death instantly.
All around the world, people waited with baited breaths for news of the missing sub, which now lay on the seabed just like the ship it was trying to visit.
It was seen as a devastating accident, a terrible engineering failure.
But new evidence reveals it may have not simply been the result of bad luck.
Instead, a string of safety failures and inaction in the lead up to the implosion made disaster a question of when, not if.
And to many, the blame lies with one man and his ego – that of Stockton Rush, the American businessman who not only created Titan, but would go on to become one of its victims.
Now, shocking new evidence reveals that the sub was already disintegrating long before that fateful day, as revealed in the upcoming BBC documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster.
“We all know who the culprit is,” said Christine Dawood, whose son and husband were killed by the disaster.
“The culprit died with them. So who am I to blame?”
A US coastguard investigation is now underway.
The businessman Stockton Rush since a kid had felt the explorer’s’ urge, harbouring dreams of being the first person to step foot on Mars.
With two ancestors having signed the Declaration of Independence, he was the closest you could get to American Royalty.
And it wasn’t long before he set his sights on the deep ocean.
Experimental danger
Using his status and connections, he was able to convince a handful of other businessmen to invest hundreds of thousands into his plan to regularly send people on trips to view the Titanic with their own eyes with his company OceanGate.
But unlike other subs, which are built out of steel or titanium, Stockton was determined to make his out of carbon fibre, which was lighter and cheaper.
Yet this material – combined with Stockton’s hubris – would prove to be its downfall.
Early in the project, Stockton decided to avoid registering his sub, ensuring that no one was able to regulate the sub or monitor its operations.
To him, the rules and regulations were over the top and unnecessary.
British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman both lost their livesAFP
PAThe Titan sub was built out of carbon fibre, rather than the usual titanium or steel[/caption]
BBCChristine Dawood, Suleman’s mother, is still struggling with the loss of her family[/caption]
This was despite the fact it was planned to carry five passengers more than two miles beneath the ocean’s surface.
But for Stockton, the risk was part of the fun, as revealed by a question he asked to underwater technician, Petros Mathioudakis.
“I was aware this was extremely risky and Stockton was very clear,” Petros recalled.
“He said: ‘Do you have a wife, do you have kids?’ I said nope. He said, ‘Alright, you’re in.’”
Shockingly, this was far from the only time others noticed serious concerns with Stockton’s callous attitude.
With a second season of dives in the North Atlantic now underway, Antonella Wilby joined the OceanGate team in 2022.
“From the moment I stepped onto the ship, I had to sign a liability waiver,” she said.
I’d be walking around and cables would be loose or unplugged
Antonella Wilby
“Stockton was there in a room full of people, some of whom had paid a lot of money to be there.
“He said, we’re registered in the Bahamas, and they don’t do punitive damages, so don’t even bother trying to sue me.”
“I wasn’t even aware of how ridiculous and unsafe the operation was,” Antonella added.
“Even just the level of attention to detail in inspecting or prediving the sub – I’d be walking around and cables would be loose or unplugged.
“It felt like watching some really bizarre surrealist movie or something and I was the only one going, this is insane, right?”
But Antonella was far from the only person to have serious concerns.
Cracking carbon
Back in 2019, Stockton was testing whether the carbon fibre hull would be able to withstand the pressure of the deep ocean at the depth of the Titanic – equivalent to two and a half tonnes bearing down on every square inch of the hull.
Submersible pilot Karl Stanley was on this trip when he heard a concerning bang.
Then, the lights went out.
The Mega AgencyStockton Rush avoided registering his sub in order to skip round regulation[/caption]
BBCAntonella Wilby was immediately concerned with the attitude of those in the company[/caption]
APStockton repeatedly ignored concerning sounds coming from the vessel[/caption]
“The supposed goal of the trip was to test it to the exact depth of the Titanic. We got 96 per cent of the way there,” he said.
“The cracking sounds were continuing, so we came to a decision to call it a day.
“I’m sure we were within a few percentage points of implosion.”
On the surface, a crack was found – evidence that the carbon fibre hull was ripping itself apart.
Stockton was forced to completely replace the hull.
Yet once again, he chose carbon fibre, convinced that only minor modifications were needed to make the sub safe.
Though further test dives were still plagued by numerous bangs and pops – the sound of the hull gradually breaking apart – Stockton confessed to one documentary maker that he solved this problem by putting in earplugs.
Come 2021, and dives were once again underway.
Anybody who went down in it either knew, or should have known, how risky it was
Alfred Hagen
Businessman and adventurer Alfred Hagen was on board dive 61 when an even more serious incident occurred.
“Anybody who went down in it either knew, or should have known, how risky it was,” he said.
“They were either embracing that reality, or delusional.”
The dive had been abandoned at just seven metres when, as the sub was hauled up the ramp, the end dome came clean off.
Only four out of a possible eighteen bolts had been used to secure it on, and they had all sheared.
Desperate to keep the incident quiet, Stockton tried to get hold of any photos taken of the broken sub.
Yet despite these setbacks, OceanGate were able to celebrate six successful dives to Titanic depths that summer – and returned for a second season the year after.
BBCSubmersible pilot Karl Stanley tried to warn Stockton numerous times[/caption]
AFPThe vessel was supposed to be able to reach the Titanic, more than 2.4 miles deep[/caption]
APStockton was convinced that the strange bangs were normal[/caption]
Then, something would happen that doomed the sub once and for all.
Alfred was once again back on board for Dive 80.
This time, they made it to the Titanic.
Death trap
“We were ascending, and we were fairly close to the surface,” he remembered.
“And then we heard a loud crack. It sounded like the ship breaking apart.”
Stockton again insisted that such bangs were normal, and that every deep diving sub makes a noise like that at least once.
But coastguard analysis of that moment shows that this could not have been further from the truth.
What the sub was in fact going through was a process called delamination – or in layman’s terms, the layers of carbon fibre were ripping themselves apart.
Everybody that stepped on the Titan after dive 80 was risking their life
Lt. Commander Katie Williams
“Their systems said there had been a fundamental change in the material of your carbon fibre and it was no longer structurally sound,” Lt. Commander Katie Williams of the US Coast Guard told the documentary.
“Delamination at dive 80 was the beginning of the end. And everybody that stepped on the Titan after dive 80 was risking their life.
“After then, every time you were going down to depth, you were further damaging that hull – eventually something was going to happen.”
But when team members tried to raise concerns, they were laughed out the room, as Antonella found.
“I wanted to say something. I went to Amber Bay, the director of the administration, and I told her I was really concerned that they were going to continue diving,” she says.
“Her initial response was: ‘Yes, people are really concerned about you too – you don’t have an explorer’s mindset.’
“I also talked to Phil Brooks, the director of engineering. He said ‘We’ll do the next dive and we’ll visually inspect it.’
APA recovery mission eventually found the crushed sub on the ocean’s surface[/caption]
Among the dead was French Titanic expert Paul-Henri NargeoletAP
“I said, something’s gone really wrong here. They offered to send me home, and I said yes.”
“People wouldn’t even make eye contact with me,” she added.
Amber Bay denies dismissing these safety concerns and claims she told Antonella to report her concerns to Brooks.
Brooks says he has no recollection of Antonella expressing any concerns to him following dive 80.
Stockton, as ever, was undeterred.
Catastrophic implosion
“I think he pinned himself into a corner,” said Karl.
“If he admits defeat and failure, and then has to tell this to people that had given him so much money, what’s the rest of his life going to look like?
“There’s no possible way that Stockton didn’t know how this was going to end,” he added.
“It was just a matter of is it going to fail with me in it, or other people?”
What was that bang?
Wendy Rush
And fail it did.
On June 18 2023, OceanGate were back for a third season and, with the weather finally breaking, prepared to launch dive 88.
Aboard was British explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and British-Pakistani businessman Shahzeda Dawood and his 19-year old son Sulema.
Launching at 9.14am in the morning, the Titan began to descend for 90 minutes.
Then, just 500 metres from the ocean floor, all communication was lost.
Shocking new footage shows the very moment those onboard the support ship – which included Stockton’s wife Wendy – heard, without realising, the moment the sub imploded.
“What was that bang?” she can be heard saying.
UnpixsNew footage has revealed the moment Wendy Rush hears what we now know to be the sound of the sub imploding[/caption]
AFPBritish explorer Hamish Harding also lost his life[/caption]
APThe recovery effort also uncovered items of clothing belonging to those onboard[/caption]
A message comes through from the sub. But it had been sent just moments before the implosion, taking longer to reach the surface than the sound itself.
A whole seven hours after communication was lost, OceanGate finally notified the coastguard and a search and rescue mission was launched.
Eventually they found the crushed remains of the doomed sub.
Chillingly, they also find items of clothing – a piece of Stockton’s sleeve, and business cards and Titanic expedition badges.
With the coastguard’s investigation set to be released later this year, many are beginning to wonder if the string of failures and oversights in the run up to the disaster could lead to criminal prosecutions.
The irony is not lost on me that the Titanic sunk for the same reason
Kristine Dawood
“When people are spending a quarter of a million dollars to spend time in a death tube, controlled by a game controller, that wasn’t tested, by a guy that’s telling you how he wants to be remembered for breaking rules, it’s a message to the super wealthy that your money can’t buy everything,” said Kyle.
In response to the allegations, OceanGate have said they are fully cooperating with the official investigation and added that it would be inappropriate to comment before it reached its conclusion.
But nothing will be able to bring back the victims to their families.
“The arrogance of the people in charge, when they think they’re above everything – that’s what really gets me,” reflected Kristine Dawood.
“Why is ego and arrogance more important than safety?
“The irony is not lost on me that the Titanic sunk for the same reason.”
Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster will air on Tuesday May 27 at 7pm on BBC Two