Titan sub hearings live: Friend of OceanGate boss who said CEO ‘knew it would end like this’ testifies
The US Coast Guard is hearing testimony today from Stockton Rush’s friend, Karl Stanley
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A friend of the late OceanGate boss who said the CEO "definitely knew it was going to end like this" is testifying at the hearing into the Titan submersible disaster today.
Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Stockton Rush, went on the doomed submersible with his friend in 2019 and warned afterward how he heard a large cracking sound while on the dive.
The submersible imploded last June, killing all five people on board, including Rush.
Stanley was interviewed by 60 Minutes Australia last year where he said he’d warned Rush about taking customers on Titan.
“He definitely knew it was going to end like this," Stanley told the broadcaster. "He literally and figuratively went out with the biggest bang in human history that you can go out with."
In an email exchange with Rush, Stanley warned: “I think that hull has a defect near that flange, that will only get worse. The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not.”
Yesterday Guillermo Sohnlein, the co-founder of OceanGate, testified that the cause of the accident may never be known.
Final communications between the Titan crew and its support vessel, revealed
“All good here” were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023.
The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard’s Monday hearing into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible imploded, killing all five of its crew members. It was an incident that captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews made a mad dash to save the crew after the sub lost contact with the surface - with the world unaware that the lives had been lost.
The Coast Guard played an animated re-enactment of the Titan’s voyage that captured the submersible’s final, spotty exchange with the Polar Prince, during the Monday hearing that shed new light on the sub’s final mission.
Around 10am on June 18, Polar Prince asked the Titan crew whether they were able to see the support vessel on the submersible’s display. The support vessel asked the crew the same question seven times over the course of seven minutes. The Titan crew then sent “k,” meaning it was asking for a communications check.
Read the full story...
Final messages revealed from the Titan sub before tragic implosion
The anticipated two-week-long hearings kicked off with testimony from a former OceanGate engineer, who said he was fired after warning about the ship’s carbon fiber hull years before its catastrophic voyage
Coast Guard adds ‘new witness’ to schedule ahead of Friday’s hearing
‘This was not supposed to happen’ Sohnlein says during closing statements
“This was not supposed to happen,” Sohnlein said during his closing remarks on Monday. “Five people should not have lost their lives.”
Despite the efforts of the investigating panel, the former OceanGate CEO said he’s not sure the public will ever know want led to the tragedy.
Still, he’d like the memories of those who died to be preserved by continuing deep ocean exploration.
“Someday in the near future, we’ll look back on this time as a major turning point in human history when the general public took an active interest in our efforts to explore the deep ocean,” he said. “If that happens, then that’s probably the most fitting tribute for the memories of these five individuals.”
In photos: Key moments from the hearings so far
Monday hearing has concluded, proceedings to resume on Tuesday at 8.30am
Brooks has been released as a witness. Amber Bay, the former OceanGate director of administration, is the next person to testify at 8.30am Tuesday.
Brooks says OceanGate asked employees to go without payment
OceanGate ran out of money several times before the fatal implosion that killed five people, Brooks says, adding the company asked him to go without his paycheck on multiple occasions.
“They asked for volunteers,” he said. The “company was economically stressed.” Brooks says he’s unsure about whether the company successfully recruited volunteers.
The company promised employees they’d get us “caught up in paychecks after the 1st of the year.” he said.
Brooks says that no maintenance was done on Titan hull between 2022 and 2023
No testing or maintenance was done on the Titan submersible’s hull between 2022 and 2023. The vessel’s hull was made of carbon fiber which is susceptible to damage and failure, especially after repeated dives to extreme depths.
Who is Phil Brooks?
According to the former OceanGate employee’s LinkedIn, Brooks worked for the submersible company first as an embedded linux engineer in 2019. He was promoted to director of engineering in 2021.
He left OceanGate in March 2023. He’s now a senior hardware engineer in Seattle.
Hearing is back in session after break
Brooks is continuing his testimony, currently speaking about the process of collecting data for OceanGate.
Hearing taking a short break
The US Coast Guard’s hearing into the Titan tragedy is on a short break. It will reconvene momentarily.
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