At least four people have now revealed how they decided not to join Titan’s doomed voyage, MailOnline can reveal today.
Diver Chris Brown checked in with tragic friend Hamish, 68, after a ‘few beers’ while on holiday on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island – today stating he was ‘deeply saddened’ for the ‘lost souls’ who had perished in the Atlantic Ocean.
Today, MailOnline revealed that Vegas financier Jay Bloom and his son Sean also declined a trip with his son Sean — even when they were offered a $100,000 discount off the $250,000 price by OceanGate CVEO Stockton Rush.
And another explorer, David Concannon, was supposed to join the trip, but had to cancel at the last minute.
Mr Brown, 61, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, paid his £80,000 deposit for the £80,000 trip to the wreck, but later backed out over safety concerns, including learning that scaffolding poles were being used as ballast.
He said today: “I am deeply saddened by the tragedy of the Titan. The world of exploration has lost some amazing individuals. And my thoughts are with the families of all lost souls.’
Jay Bloom and his son Sean (pictured together) were about to embark on the doomed voyage to the Titanic – and were even offered a last-minute discount, but declined due to safety concerns
Chris Brown has spoken of his grief at the deaths of the five men – and said he was asking for his money back for security reasons
David Concannon was supposed to be on the dive but couldn’t go at 11am due to another customer issue
Titan imploded near the Titanic wreckage
Debris from their subversive was found by a robotic submarine at the bottom of the Atlantic after a “catastrophic failure.”
Oxygen on the submarine also ran out yesterday and any hope of finding them alive ended.
Fellow Brits Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman, plus OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, were also on board.
Chris – who signed up in 2016 – claimed: ‘I found out they used old jetty piles for the submarine’s ballast.
“And the controls were based on computer game-style controllers. If you’re trying to build your own submarine, you can probably use old scaffolding posts.
“But this was a commercial craft. Finally I emailed them and said “I can’t go on with this any longer”. I asked for a refund after not being convinced.”
Jay Bloom has shared text messages between himself and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush revealing that he and his son have been awarded a ‘last minute prize’ of $150,000 per head (£120,000) – a discount from the usual $250,000 (£195,000) fee .
Mr Bloom, a Democrat supporter pictured with Joe Biden, has described his grief over the death of Mr Rush and his grief that Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who was just 19, had their place taken and killed with French naval veteran Paul-Henri Nargeolet and British billionaire Hamish Harding.
In a Facebook post, he said: “I raised my safety concerns and Stockton told me, ‘While there are risks of course, it is much safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving'”.
‘He was firmly convinced that it was safer than crossing the road. I’m sure he really believed what he said. But he was completely wrong.”
Jay Bloom, pictured with Joe Biden, revealed he was first offered the seats on the Titan but was concerned about safety
Mr. Rush speaks to Mr. Bloom about participating in one of his company’s trips to the Titanic wreck
Mr Bloom’s Facebook post showing his grief that Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who had just turned 19, had taken his and his own son’s places
Stockton Rush shows off the controller used to control the Titan – which has been compared to something like an XBox or PS5
In February of this year, Stockton Rush asked Mr Bloom and his son Sean to dive the Titanic in May. Both dives in May were postponed due to weather and the dive was postponed to June 18, the date of the ill-fated trip.
Mr Bloom said: ‘I told him we can’t go until next year due to scheduling. Our seats went to Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood, two of the other three who lost their lives on this excursion, the fifth being Hamish Harding.
RIP Stockton and crew. As for Sean and I… we’re going to take a moment to stop and smell the roses. Tomorrow is never promised. Make the most of today’.
Texts between Mr. Rush had repeatedly tried to reassure Mr. Bloom about the safety of the Titan and heading to the Titanic’s wreckage.
He said his son was very concerned about the risks after talking to a friend. Mr. Rush said, “I’m glad to have a video call with him. Wondering what the uninformed would say the danger is and whether it’s real or imagined.”
They discussed how the hull would handle pressure, or even if it came into contact with a whale or squid.
Mr Rush said: ‘While there are risks of course, it is much safer than flying in a helicopter or even diving, but there has not even been an injury to non-military submarines in 35 years’.
David Concannon was supposed to be on a nosedive, but couldn’t go due to another client issue.
Concannon said in a statement shared by Titanic Book Club: ‘As I posted last week I was supposed to be on this expedition and indeed on this dive, but I had to cancel to attend to another urgent customer matter.
A satellite image shows ships participating in the search and rescue operations associated with the missing submarine Titan near the wreckage of the Titanic
OceanGate Expeditions was reported to have been repeatedly warned about safety concerns
Five people were on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who was just 19
French Navy veteran Paul-Henri Nargeolet (left) and Mr Rush (right), CEO of OceanGate Expeditions
Titanic director and submarine expert James Cameron said he predicted Titan’s implosion days before the debris of the missing submarine was found, calling the search a “prolonged nightmarish charade.”
Mr Cameron, who has visited the world’s most famous seawreck 30 times, said this week’s tragedy has parallels with the 1912 disaster, where the captain repeatedly ignored warnings about an incoming iceberg but continued at top speed.
The five on Titan died instantly when the submarine suffered a “catastrophic implosion” just 1,600 feet from the bow of the wrecked ocean liner, the U.S. Coast Guard announced yesterday. A Canadian ship’s remote-controlled submarine found debris on the ocean floor.
But officials say the men probably died on Sunday — before military planes using sonar buoys detected what they say could be SOS sounds in the water. The US Navy said they heard a noise consistent with an implosion when communications failed about two hours after the dive. The Navy passed that information on to the Coast Guard, an insider said.
Mr Cameron told BBC News that the Coastguard search ‘felt like a lengthy and nightmarish charade with people running around talking about popping noises and talking about oxygen and all that other stuff’.
“I knew that submarine was exactly below its last known depth and position. That’s exactly where they found it,’ he said.