Titanic Mission: OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is descended from two American Founding Fathers

The multi-millionaire owner of the company behind the missing Titan submarine is a lifelong adventurer who dreamed of being the first man on Mars – and is descended from two American Founding Fathers.

Stockton Rush, full name Richard Stockton Rush III, is the CEO of OceanGate and is one of five people who boarded the Titan submarine to visit the Titanic wreck site.

Mr Rush, 61, has always been ambitious. At age 19, he became the youngest jet pilot in the world before graduating from Princeton with a degree in aerospace engineering. During his summer vacation he flew for Saudi Arabian Airlines.

This was all part of his dream: to become the first human on Mars.

He worked on F-15s and anti-satellite missile programs, all hoping to eventually join the space program. He also served as president of Remote Control Technologies for 20 years, as a director of Entomo, Inc. and director of BlueView Technologies.

But at the age of 44, Rush, who counts Founding Fathers Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton both as his ancestors, decided that the last frontier was, in fact, the ocean. Mars, he said, was simply not economically viable.

In a 2017 interview, he said, “I realized that discovering what I really wanted to do was. I wanted to be Captain Kirk, and in our lifetime the ocean is the last frontier.”

Wendy Rush, wife of Stockton Rush and also Director of Communications at OceanGate

At age 19, he became the world’s youngest pilot with a jet transport rating, before graduating from Princeton with a degree in aerospace engineering.

Rush, whose net worth is unclear, founded OceanGate in 2009, starting with a five-person submarine he bought from a private owner.

That led to his Titanic missions – the unique selling point of Mr. Rush’s ambitious company, which was recently valued at $66 million.

Mr. Rush grew up in a wealthy family, with his maternal grandparents Ralph K. Davies, President of the United States President Lines, and Louise M. Davies, who paid $5 million for a San Francisco concert hall named after her.

Going back further, he descends from Annis Stockton, a celebrated poet and friend of George Washington, who was one of the most prolific and widely published female writers in 18th century America.

She also hid vital documents during the Revolutionary War.

Later ancestors include U.S. Attorney General Richard Rush and U.S. Civil War Commander Richard Henry Rush.

The younger Mr. Rush has done his best to live up to the family name by founding OceanGate Expeditions after failing to buy explorer and businessman Steve Fossett’s submarine after the adventurer died in a plane crash in 2007.

Mr. Rush grew up in a wealthy family, with his maternal grandparents Ralph K. Davies, President of the United States President Lines

Stockton Rush, who counts Founding Fathers Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton both as his ancestors, is the CEO of OceanGate

Rush, whose net worth is unclear, founded OceanGate in 2009, starting with a five-person submarine he bought from a private owner

OceanGate has been offering tourists the opportunity to explore the Titanic wreck for several years now

He then bought his first submarine from a private seller in 2009 and added the Antipodes submarine a year later.

With the two ships he was able to complete 130 dives within two years and he soon started making his own ship, a submarine.

They differ from submarines in that they require a mother ship. Soon Mr. Rush created the Cyclops.

The ship would serve as a prototype for what eventually became the Titan.

Since the creation of the Cyclops, OceanGate has completed dozens of dives around the world, attracting the world’s rich, including rappers and billionaire businessmen.

However, the company’s crowning glory came in 2021 and 2022 when Titan completed expeditions to the Titanic wreck site.

Discussing his determination to reach the Titanic, Mr. Rush said in 2019, “If you ask people to name something underwater, it’s going to be sharks, whales, the Titanic.”

Titanic trips have also proven to be OceanGate’s most lucrative dives.

The company charges $250,000 per seat and Mr Rush said in 2017 that his first customers were all travelers on Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, a board member of the charity Prince’s Trust, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, (pictured together) are aboard the missing submarine

One of the participants in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted on social media that he was there on Sunday

Paul-Henry Nargeolet is considered the world’s leading expert on the Titanic

The missing OceanGate submarine, the Titan, lost contact with the mother ship on its descent to the shipwreck on Sunday morning

Popping sounds have been detected during the massive search for the missing submarine Titanic

TIMELINE OF EVENTS: The Titan lost contact with the surface, causing a panic. All times are in BST, five hours ahead of EST.

The so-called “adventure travel market” is OceanGate’s main target, Rush previously said.

“There is a huge demand for unique travel experiences,” he added.

The 22ft OceanGate Expeditions ship is running out of oxygen. The five on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, remain in the dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean, which experts have likened to “being in space.”

Shahzada Dawood, 48, his son Suleman, 19, and French submarine pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, as well as Mr Rush, are also trapped inside.

Speaking of his company’s signature undersea journey, Mr Rush said in 2017: ‘It’s a really life-changing experience and there’s not a lot of that sort of thing.

“Instead of spending $65,000 to climb Mount Everest, maybe die, and live in a miserable base camp for a month, you can change your life in a week.”

The words now take on a terrifying edge as his friends and family – including wife Wendy – pray for his salvation.