First photo of OceanGate Titan submarine on seabed revealed amid bomb threat, along with chilling final texts of perished crew

The U.S. Coast Guard will hold a long-awaited hearing on Monday into the deadly Titanic submarine disaster, as the investigation into the ship’s implosion continues.

The experimental submarine Titan imploded as it sailed toward the ruins of the Titanic, killing all five aboard, including OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, in June 2023.

Ten former OceanGate employees will testify at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, investigating whether criminal activity led to the tragedy.

One of the last words heard by the crew of an experimental submarine en route to the wreck of the Titanic was “all is well here,” according to a visual reconstruction of the Titan’s journey before it imploded shown at the hearing.

An analysis of the Titan’s history has already revealed a pattern of safety problems, including multiple issues with the drop weight and batteries.

Last words from the crew of Titan

• One of the last words heard by the crew of an experimental submarine bound for the wreck of the Titanic was, “All is well here.”
• According to the presentation, the crew aboard the Titan communicated with support personnel aboard the Polar Prince via text messages.
• The Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard screen.
• The last message from the Titan said it had dropped two weights to help it descend.

Hearing shows images of Titan wreckage

• During the hearing, an image of Titan’s tail cone on the seafloor was shown.
• The images were taken on June 22, 2023 by a remotely controlled vehicle.

Engineer’s Warning About the Titan

• Nissen told the hearing that before he was fired from OceanGate, he had issued a warning about the ship
• He is reported to have said, ‘This submarine, what we’re doing has never been done before… We don’t know what good it should look like. But what I do know is that it shouldn’t look like this.’

Titan found ‘partially sunken’ weeks before deadly expedition

• The Titan was found “partially sunken” after a night at sea, less than four weeks before its tragic final mission.
• A few days before the tragedy, five people were thrown against the side of the ship when it surfaced after a mission.

Anatomy of the Titan

OceanGate promotional video released weeks before tragedy

Nissen was fired after he refused to sign the hull

• Tony Nissen said he was fired after he refused to accept the damaged hull for the 2019 Titanic expedition.
• Nissen said Rush took him out to lunch and after a meeting with board members said, “Either he or I had to go.”
• Rush is said to have added, “It’s not going to me.”

Stockton Rush was difficult to work with, says former employee

• Tony Nissen testified Monday that Rush was difficult to work with and that he often worried about costs and project scheduling, among other issues.
• Nissen said Rush would fight for what he wanted, which often changed from day to day.
• He said he tried to keep his conflicts with Rush secret so that others within the company would not know about them.

Titan was struck by lightning in 2018

• Tony Nissen said the submarine was struck by lightning in the Bahamas in 2018.
• He said he told Stockton Rush that the hull was probably damaged.
• Nissen said Rush responded, “It’ll be OK.”

How long does the OceanGate hearing last?

• The U.S. Coast Guard unveiled the animation Monday, on the first day of an expected two-week hearing into the causes of the implosion.
• The Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, killing all five people aboard, sparking a global debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
• The hearing is expected to resume shortly.

Pilot fired over concerns about Titan’s carbon fiber hull

• Tony Nissen said pilot David Lochridge filed a report in 2018 raising concerns about the carbon fiber fuselage and was subsequently fired.
• OceanGate eventually filed a lawsuit against Lochridge, who in turn filed a lawsuit.
• Lochridge claimed his report “revealed numerous problems which presented serious security risks” but he was met with “hostile reactions and denied access”.

Carbon fiber fuselage manufacturer refused to change design

• Nissan said he and Stockton were concerned about the carbon-filled fuselage because the scale model showed it would implode.
• But according to Nissa, Brian Spencer, the hull manufacturer, was “not willing to change the design.”

Stockton ‘made most of the technical decisions’

• According to OceanGate’s former chief technical officer, it was CEO Stockton Rush who made most of the technical decisions.
• “If it mattered enough, I would fight for it,” Nissan said of the technical decisions.
• “Stockton would fight for what he wanted and what he wanted, even if it changed from day to day, and he wouldn’t give an inch,” Nissan said.
• “Most people would eventually return to Stockton anyway, it was death by a thousand cuts,” Nissan added.

Former OceanGate employee says evidence is ‘disturbing’

• Former technical director Tony Nissen said of the presentation shown at the hearing: “There are a number of things I saw in this presentation that are disturbing.”
• He added: “There are a number of things that bother me professionally and personally.”

First Former OceanGate Employee Testifies

• Tony Nissen, former OceanGate Technical Director Tony Nissen, is the first to give his testimony on Monday.
• Nissen joined the company in 2016 and said he felt like an outsider on the team and “it was hard to keep up.”
• He said he was OceanGate’s first employee and was never told the company was conducting a mission to the Titanic wreck.

Witnesses who will speak at the hearing

• Witnesses scheduled to testify Monday include OceanGate’s former chief technical officer Tony Nissen; the company’s former chief financial officer Bonnie Carl; and former contractor Tym Catterson.
• OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein; former COO David Lochridge; and former COO Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard.
• Some key OceanGate officials will not testify. Among them is Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, who was the company’s communications director.

Titan remained uncovered for months

• Following the 2022 expedition, Titan was reportedly left uncovered in a Newfoundland parking lot for months, without any protection from the elements.

Shocking final exchange with the Titan

• During the hearing, an animation was shown of the Titan’s final dive, including the text exchange between the submarine and the Polar Prince, the support ship.
• The Polar Prince repeatedly sent the same message to the Titan, the first time at 10:49 a.m., stating “trackin lost.”
• The Arctic Prince never received an answer.

Who died in the Titan tragedy?

• A moment of silence was held during Monday’s hearing for the victims of the experimental submarine implosion, including OceanGate founder Stockton Rush and clients Shahzada and Suleman Dawood

History of Titan problems

• The Titan has a documented history of problems since 2017.
• The pressure was tested at 1.09x operating pressure, but the industry standard is 1.25x.
• During the 2021 expedition, there were 70 equipment issues that needed to be resolved.
• During the 2022 expedition, 48 problems occurred, including dead batteries, damage to the platform during recovery and defective drop weights.

Hearing begins in South Carolina

• The Coast Guard began a public hearing on the deadly Titanic submarine disaster in June 2023
• Coast Guard officials said in a statement that the purpose of the hearing is to “review evidence related to the loss of the Titan submarine.”

Major updates

• Last words from the crew of Titan

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• Witnesses who will speak at the hearing

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• History of Titan problems

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