‘Almost every deep-diving submarine makes a noise at some point’: how OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush downplayed ‘really loud bang’ during the previous voyage before his ill-fated voyage to the Titanic
- In a 2022 documentary, a crew member warned Rush that they heard about a bang
- “Almost every deep-sea submarine makes noise,” Rush replied
- Last month, five passengers, including Rush, were killed during a dive into the Titanic
Another clip of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush dismissing previous concerns about the deadly Titan submarine has emerged, with the exec filmed ignoring a “really loud bang” on a previous mission.
Five passengers, including Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood, 58, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, were killed in a dive into the Titanic last month.
In a BBC documentaryonly available for viewing outside the US, a crew member warned Rush on camera that they had heard, in Rush’s words, “a really loud bang” while the Titan was on the surface of the ocean.
Rush – who addressed his entire crew in the 2022 documentary – dismissed the concerns, even though he agreed it was “not a soothing sound, the Independent reported.
“Almost every deep-sea submarine makes noise at some point,” he said, pointing to Nargeolet and saying he “can confirm” this was normal.
Another clip of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush dismissing previous concerns about the deadly Titan submarine has emerged, with the exec filmed ignoring a loud boom on a previous mission
It was in that same documentary where Rush admitted that he “broken some rules to make” the Titan, comparing himself to US General Douglas MacArthur.
“I want to be remembered as an innovator. I think it was General MacArthur who says you are remembered for the rules you break,” he said.
“I broke some rules to make this. I think I broke them with logic and good technique behind me.’
The concerns of staff and employees have surfaced regularly in the days and weeks since the tragedy.
Just yesterday, a man who was once a passenger on the Titan claimed that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush suggested that the crew sleep on the ship overnight while trapped at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Jaden Pan’s 2021 expedition took a terrifying turn when the Titan’s battery died on the ocean floor just over two hours after its descent to the Titanic’s wreckage.
Speaking to the BBC last year, the videographer recalled the moment Rush told passengers the battery had gone ‘kaput’.
Rush reportedly told passengers to return to the surface when they were within two football fields of the legendary shipwreck.
“At first I thought he was joking because we were over two hours into our expedition and so close to the bottom,” Pan told the BBC.
The crew was pictured smiling arm in arm before boarding the submarine on the $250,000 per person voyage in which they and three others perished.
Pan’s story came to light after five passengers, including Rush, were killed during a dive into the Titanic last month
CEO Stockton Rush: “I broke some rules to make this. (¿) The carbon fiber and titanium there’s a rule that you don’t. Well, I did.”pic.twitter.com/4A7YAfDNUG
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) June 30, 2023
Rush – a self-confessed “innovator” trying to push the boundaries of passenger diving – was one of five who perished on what turned out to be the Titan’s final voyage, after the pressure chamber imploded near the 12,000-foot depth where the Titanic peace.
He reportedly believed going to the depths of the Atlantic in the Titan was “safer than crossing the street,” despite being warned in 2018 by dozens of experts that his company’s “experimental” approaches could be “catastrophic.” .
The submarine’s safety and OceanGate’s disregard for several warnings has led to much criticism after the Titan went missing during a dive to the seafloor on June 18.
The CEO – who considered himself more of a scientist than a salesman, despite the fact that much of his effort was focused on marketing the subtrips – was begged in 2019 to suspend operations after a submarine expert heard cracking noises during a of the Titan’s dives in the Bahamas.