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By Germania Rodriguez Poleo, Chief U.S. Reporter
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The US Coast Guard is holding a long-awaited hearing on the deadly Titanic submersible disaster on Monday as it continues its investigation into the implosion of the vessel.
The experimental Titan submersible imploded as it was heading down to the ruins of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, including OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, in June 2023.
Ten former OceanGate employees will give testimony in the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, which is probing whether any criminal activity led to the tragedy tragedy.
Witnesses scheduled to testify on Monday include OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen; the company’s former finance director, Bonnie Carl; and former contractor Tym Catterson. Also scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein and former operations director, David Lochridge.
Some key OceanGate representatives are not scheduled to testify at all. They include Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, who was the company’s communications director.
OceanGate has no full-time employees at this time but will be represented by an attorney during the hearing
A review of the Titan’s history has already shown a pattern of safety failures including multiple drop weight and batteries issues.
Among the last words heard from the crew of an experimental submersible headed for the wreck of the Titanic were ‘all good here,’ according to a visual re-creation of the journey of the Titan before it imploded shown in the hearing.
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History of issues with the Titan
- The Titan suffered more than 100 equipment issues in the years before the 2023 tragedy.
- It was struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018, and that might have compromised its hull.
- The submersible was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.
- The hull was also never reviewed by any third parties as is standard procedure, Coast Guard representatives said in their initial remarks.
Hearing sees images of Titan wreckage
- The hearing was shown an image of Titan’s tail cone on the sea floor.
- The images were taken by a remotely operated vehicle on June 22, 2023.
This concludes DailyMail’s coverage of Monday’s OceanGate hearing
Contractor says there were ‘no red flags’ on day of fatal expedition
- Catterson said the mission had been repearedly postponed because of the weather.
- It was sunny on June, 18, 2024, with Catterson describing the weather as ‘blessed.’
- Catterson said OceanGate had an ‘extensive pre-dive’ checklist that started at 4am – fuor hours before the vessel was to launch.
- He was in charge of checking the dive checks, and said ‘there were no red flags… it was a good day.’
Contractor says testing was not done in the right conditions
- Catterson said they trained in Everett, which is ‘like a bathtub compared to the North Atlantic,’ where the mission to the Titanic would take place.
- ‘I think training and operations at sea could have been better,’ he added.
Contractor recalls issues with drop weights
- Catterson said he did two test dives with the Titan
- He said of the drop weights: ‘They were only able to drop 70 pounds. That’s not enough to do what they needed to have happen.’
Rush did not seem worried about classifying the Titan
- Contractor Catterson said the Titan was the first submersible he worked on that had not been ‘classed’ – a process that certifies vessels are safe.
- He recalled telling Rush the vessel should be classified because it is ‘proof of due diligence.’
- Catterson added: ‘I had explained this to him and I guess this wasn’t as big of a worry for him as it would be for most people… I said my piece and that’s as far as it went.’
Former contractor Tym Catterson testifies
- Catterson said he started working with manned submersibles in the 1980s.
- He said he began workng with OceanGate around 2003.
What happens when the hearing ends?
- The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard.
- When the hearing concludes, recommendations will be submitted to the Coast Guard’s commandant.
- The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation.
Second witness testimony concludes
- Former HR/ finance director Carl has finished her testimony.
- The last witness on Monday will be former contractor for OceanGate Tym Catterson.
Employee noticed several red flags before quitting
- Bonnie Carl said she never saw anyone sign a waiver and assumed they would before the missions happened.
- She said the company was taking money from potential clients before the Titan was even built.
- Carl was also training to be a pilot for OceanGate and said that, as a scubadiver, she noticed several things that ‘gave her pause.’
- She said Nissen would not let her see the paperwork for the acrylic dome, and that the O-ring groove ‘looked odd.’
- In February 2018, Carl decided to leave the company over its ‘attitude towards safety.’
‘Stockton made the decisions’
- Carl said that it was CEO Rush Stockton who made all the decisions in board meetings.
- She said that paying clients were called ‘mission specialists.’
- When asked if there were any qualifications clients had to meet, Carl said they just had to be able to pay and fit into the vessel.
Most shareholders were friends or family of Rush
- Carl told the hearing that OceanGate shareholders were mostly friends and family of CEO Rush and his wife.
- Carl’s background is as an accountant.
Former OceanGate Human Resources/Finance director takes the stand
- Bonnie Carl is the second former OceanGate employee to speak in the hearing, appearing virtually.
Engineering director said he wouldn’t get on the Titan
- Tony Nissen said OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush asked him to be the pilot on the missions to the Titanic
- Nissen said he told Rush, ‘I’m not getting in it.’
- He added that he did not ‘trust Stockton’ and ‘We didn’t have the standards we set forth.’
Two more former OceanGate employees to testify Monday
- OceanGate’s former Human Resources/Finance director Bonnie Carl will testify after the break
- She will be followed by former contractor Tym Catterson
Tony Nissem’s testimony concludes
- Hearing will resume at 1.55pm
- The hearing’s first witness was OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen.
The Titan was never certified
- The hull was never reviewed by any third parties as is standard procedure, Coast Guard representatives said.
- There were no efforts to seek classification or certification for the Titan.
- ‘There was no desire by Stockton to go do it,’ Nissen testified.
Engineer’s warning about the Titan
- Nissen told the hearing that before he was terminated from OceanGate, he gave a warning about the vessel
- He reportedly said: ‘This submersible, what we’re doing has never been done before….We don’t know what good is supposed to look like. But what I do know is it shouldn’t like that.’
Titan was found ‘partially sunk’ weeks before deadly expedition
- The Titan was found ‘partially sunk’ after a night of high seas less than four weeks before the tragic last mission.
- A few days before the tragedy, five people were slammed against the vessel’s wall as it was resurfacing after a mission.
Anatomy of the Titan
OceanGate promo video released weeks before tragedy
Nissen was fired after refusing to sign off on hull
- Tony Nissen said he was terminated after he would not sign off on the damaged hul for the 2019 Titanic expedition.
- Nissen said Rush took him to lunch and said ‘either he or I had to go’ after a meeting with board members.
- Rush allegedly added, ‘it’s not going to me.’
Stockton Rush was difficult to work with, says former employee
- Tony Nissen testified Monday that Rush could be difficult to work for and was often very concerned with costs and project schedules, among other issues.
- Nissen said Rush would fight for what he wanted, which often changed day to day.
- He said he tried to keep his clashes with Rush behind closed doors so that others in the company wouldn’t be aware.
Titan was struck by lightning in 2018
- Tony Nissen said the submersible by struck by lightning in the Bahamas in 2018.
- He said he told Stockton Rush the hull had probably been compromised.
- Nissen said that Rush replied, ‘It’ll be okay.’
How long will the OceanGate hearing last?
- The U.S. Coast Guard presented the animation Monday on the first day of what is expected to be a two-week hearing on the causes of the implosion.
- The Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, killing all five on board and setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
- The hearing is expected to resume shortly.
Pilot was fired after concerns about the Titan’s carbon fibre hull
- Tony Nissen said pilot David Lochridge provided a 2018 report detailing concerns about the carbon fiver hull and was fired afterwards.
- OceanGate ended up suing Lochridge, who sued back.
- Lochridge claimed his report ‘identified numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns’ but he was ‘met with hostility and denial of access.’
Carbon fiber hull’s maker refused to change design
- Nissan said he and Stockton were worried about the carbon filler hull because the scale model showed the model imploding.
- But, according to Nissa, Brian Spencer, the manufacturer of the hull, was ‘unwilling to change’ the design.
Last words from Titan’s crew
- Among the last words heard from the crew of an experimental submersible headed for the wreck of the Titanic were ‘all good here.’
- Crew aboard the Titan were communicating with support staff aboard the Polar Prince via text messages, according to the presentation.
- The Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
- The last message from the Titan said it had dropped two of the weights that were helping it descend.
Stockton ‘made most engineering decisions’
- OceanGate’s former director of engineering says CEO Stockton Rush was actually the one to make most of the engineering decisions.
- ‘If it mattered enough, I’d fight for it,’ Nissan said of engineering decisions.
- ‘Stockton would fight for what he wanted and what he wanted, even if it changed from day to day, and he wouldnt give an inch much at all,’ Nissan said.
- ‘Most people would eventually back down to Stockton, it was death by a thousand cuts,’ Nissan added.
Former OceanGate employee says evidence is ‘disturbing’
- Former engineering director Tony Nissen said of the presentation shown in the hearing: ‘There are some things I saw in this presentation that are disturbing.’
- He added: ‘There’s some things that bother me professionally and personally.’
First OceanGate former employee takes the stand
- Tony Nissen, former OceanGate engineering director Tony Nissen, is the first to give his testimony on Monday.
- Nissen started at the company in 2016 and said he felt like an outsider in the team and that ‘it was hard to catch up.’
- He said he was the first OceanGate employee and was never told the company was working on a mission to the Titanic wreck.
Witnesses that will speak at hearing
- Witnesses scheduled to testify on Monday include OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen; the company’s former finance director, Bonnie Carl; and former contractor Tym Catterson.
- OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein; former operations director, David Lochridge; and former scientific director, Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard.
- Some key OceanGate representatives are not scheduled to testify. They include Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, who was the company’s communications director.
Titan was left uncovered for months
- Following the 2022 expedition, the Titan was reportedly left uncovered in a parking lot for months in Newfoundland with no protection from the eleements.
Harrowing final exchange with the Titan
- The hearing saw an animation of the Titan’s last dive, including the text exchange between the submersible and the Polar Prince, its support ship.
- The Polar Prince repeatedly sent the same message to the Titan, first sent at 10.49am, saying ‘lost trackin.’
- The Polar Prince never received a reponse.
Who died in the Titan tragedy?
- On Monday the hearing held a moment of silence for those who died in the implosion of the experimental submersible, including OceanGate founder Stockton Rush and clients Shahzada and Suleman Dawood
History of issues with the Titan
- The Titan had a documented history of issues since 2017.
- It was tested at 1.09x the operating pressure, but the industry standard is 1.25x.
- In the 2021 expedition, there were 70 equipment issues that required correcting.
- In the 2022 expedition, there were 48 issues including batteries that died, the platform was damaged during recovery, and the drop weights malfunctioned.
Hearing kicks off in South Carolina
- The Coast Guard has started a public hearing about the deadly Titanic submersible disaster in June 2023
- Coast Guard officials said in a statement that the purpose of the hearing will be to ‘consider evidence related to the loss of the Titan submersible.’
Key Updates
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What happens when the hearing ends?
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History of issues with the Titan
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Witnesses that will speak at hearing
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History of issues with the Titan
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