THE BOSS of the doomed Titan submarine has been labelled a “psychopath” who was desperate for fame by ex-OceanGate employees.
Stockton Rush, aged 61, perished in the tragic incident of June 2023. He had previously criticized individuals who expressed safety concerns about the ill-fated submersible, accusing them of hindering progress and innovation.
Among those who also tragically lost their lives were Briton Hamish Harding, aged 58, the father and son pair Shahzada, 48, and Suleman Dawood, 19, as well as 77-year-old Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
A frantic search that captured the world’s attention was sparked after contact was lost with the sub.
While there was hope that the passengers might be found alive, it was later confirmed the vessel had imploded – killing all on board.
A groundbreaking Netflix documentary has brought to light the sequence of events leading up to the calamitous 2023 occurrence, featuring insights from those familiar with the expedition company and its wealthy leader, Rush, shedding light on OceanGate’s operations.
In 2018, OceanGate’s then chief pilot David Lochridge was fired after his inspection report laid bare a series of safety risks.
He has said that he believed Rush “wanted fame” to “fuel his ego”.
And a former engineering director at the firm Tony Nissen described the CEO as being “a borderline psychopath”.
Another ex-colleague to Rush, Bonnie Carl, also revealed a bizarre interaction she had with the OceanGate boss as she worked as a human resources and finance director at the firm.
She recalled her reaction after Rush randomly announced she would be the company’s next sub pilot.
Carl said: “Are you nuts? I’m an accountant.”
And despite there apparently being “no way of knowing” when the Titan would fail, there was “a mathematical certainty” that it would happen, another interviewee said.
Rob McCallum, who has led seven dives to the Titanic, told The Sun last June that the tragedy was “unavoidable” as OceanGate received repeated warnings their sub wasn’t safe.
Titan was never certified or classed, and McCallum implored Rush to let an independent agency test his vessel.
McCallum said the businessman refused to listen, however, and simply brushed aside warnings.
He told The Sun: “I run an expedition company that had delivered over 1,500 expeditions – we are not cavalier, we manage risk as far as we can.
“So when OceanGate say things like exploration involves risk, yes it does, but that doesn’t give you carte blanche to ignore obvious danger.”
Rush accused those trying to raise safety concerns of trying to stop innovation.
The engineer, who co-founded OceanGate in 2009, created Titan with an experimental design made up of a carbon-fiber pod with titanium rings bolted on.
McCallum, who founded expedition company EYOS, said carbon fiber material is not fit for submerging so deep underwater.
But McCallum’s warning that carbon fiber would not withstand such pressure, Rush informed him he was “going to carry on regardless”.
“He had a counter view, he figured he was being innovative,” McCallum added.
Rush had previously taken the sub down to sea off the Bahamas during testing four years earlier.
Just days ago, a haunting video was obtained by the BBC and presented to the US Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation.
It shows Wendy Rush – wife of Rush – staring at a computer used to receive messages from the Titan when a deep metallic thud rings out.
Wendy, visibly startled, freezes before glancing up and asking the crew: “What was that bang?”
Seconds later, a message arrives from the sub: “dropped two wts” – a reference to the Titan shedding weights to control its dive.
But the timing of the message was tragically misleading.
According to investigators, the sub had already imploded.
The sound reached the surface faster than the delayed text, giving the false impression all was well.
All five people onboard were killed instantly when the vessel collapsed under immense pressure at a depth of around 3,300m – just 90 minutes into the £195,000-a-head journey.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, a 20-second audio clip recorded 900 miles from the implosion site emerged, capturing what experts believe was the actual moment the Titan was crushed.
The eerie recording revealed the “acoustic signature” of the vessel’s final seconds.
Rescue hopes were initially high when Titan vanished from sonar on June 18, 2023.
But days later, its shattered remains were discovered scattered across the ocean floor – an area the size of six football pitches.
How the Titan tragedy unfolded
By Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)
FIVE men plunged beneath the surface of the North Atlantic in a homemade sub in a bid to explore the Titanic wreckage.
Four passengers paid £195,000 each to go on the sub, with the fifth member of the trip being a crew member.
But what was supposed to be a short trip spiralled into days of agony as the doomed Titan vanished without a trace on June 18, 2023.
The daring mission had been months in the making – and almost didn’t happen at the hands of harsh weather conditions in Newfoundland, Canada.
In a now chilling Facebook post, passenger Hamish Harding wrote: “Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.
“A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”
It would be his final Facebook post.
The following morning, he and four others – led by Stockton Rush – began the 12,5000ft descent towards the bottom of the Atlantic.
But as it made its way down into the depths, the vessel lost all contact with its mother ship on the surface, the Polar Prince.
It sparked a frantic four-day search for signs of life, with the hunt gripping the entire world.
There was hope that by some miracle, the crew was alive and desperately waiting to be saved.
But that sparked fears rescue teams faced a race against time as the passengers only had a 96-hour oxygen supply when they set out, which would be quickly dwindling.
Then, when audio of banging sounds was detected under the water, it inspired hope that the victims were trapped and signalling to be rescued.
It heartbreakingly turned out that the banging noises were likely either ocean noises or from other search ships, the US Navy determined.
Countries around the world deployed their resources to aid the search, and within days the Odysseus remote-operated vehicle (ROV) was sent down to where the ghostly wreck of the Titanic sits.
The plan was for the ROV to hook onto the sub and bring it up 10,000ft, where it would meet another ROV before heading to the surface.
But any hopes of a phenomenal rescue were dashed when Odysseus came across a piece of debris from the sub around 1,600ft from the Titanic.
The rescue mission tragically turned into a salvage task, and the heartbroken families of those on board were told the devastating news.
It was confirmed by the US Coast Guard that the sub had suffered a “catastrophic implosion”.
