NDA threat stopped contractor from raising safety concerns after ‘loud bang’ incident

Patrick Lahey, the co-founder of Triton Submarines, OceanGate’s rival, told Stockton Rush about concerns he had with the Titan’s prior glass dome design when he saw the submersible in 2019, and stressed the importance of certifying the vessel.

Rush called classification “an impediment to innovation,” Lahey told US Coast Guard panelists. Classification is not a requirement for operating a deep sea vessel, but Lahey, who has built several submersibles for clients, said he’d never sell one without classification.

Other witnesses raised concerns about the submersible’s design, including Antonella Wilby, a former OceanGate operations and engineering tech contractor, who said she wouldn’t go inside Titan. Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington’s applied physics lab, said he also had concerns about the vessel’s design in 2017.

But former OceanGate mission specialist Fred Hagen told panelists that climbing aboard the Titan submersible for a trip to view the Titanic wreckage up close “wasn’t supposed to be safe.”

“It was supposed to be a thrilling adventure,” he said, adding, “Anyone that wanted to go was delusional if they thought it wasn’t dangerous.”

Proceedings will resume on Monday at 8.30am ET.

Key points

• Fred Hagen says OceanGate thought ‘hull had cracked’ after hearing ‘loud bang’ on 2022 dive

• OceanGate employee reveals Titan sub malfunctioned days before disaster voyage

• University of Washington engineer says OceanGate’s designs were not complete

• If something went wrong on Titan dive, former mission specialist says ‘we were all going to die’

• Former contractor wanted to go to the board of directors but was warned about being sued

• Proceedings will resume again at 8.30am on Monday

Proceedings will resume again at 8.30am on Monday

21:24 , Michelle Del Rey

Antonella Wilby has been released as a witness. Friday’s hearing is now over and proceedings will resume next week.

Wilby says she wanted to go to the board of directors about safety concerns but was warned about being sued

21:10 , Michelle Del Rey

After the “loud bang” incident, Wilby says she wanted to approach the board of directors with concerns she had about OceanGate’s operations, but a colleague warned her that her NDA did not cover the board and she could be sued for speaking out.

She decided against raising her concerns.

Hearing taking a short break

20:59 , Michelle Del Rey

Proceedings will resume momentarily

Wilby compares OceanGate operations to ‘safety theater’

20:37 , Michelle Del Rey

The former tech contractor, who primarily worked with software navigation at OceanGate, expressed she did not think the Titan submersible or the comany’s actions were safe.

“No aspect of the operation seemed safe,” said Wilby, adding that parts of the vessel looked “thrown together.”

‘I felt brushed to the side’ former contractor says

20:18 , Michelle Del Rey

During a dive in 2022, Wilby says a customer reported a “loud bang.”

The noise heard during one of OceanGate’s expeditions has become a frequent talking point throughout the hearings.

While debriefing following the incident, Wilby says customer reported hearing a “loud bang” that was “as loud as an explosion.” Stockton Rush “shut it down” she said.

The OceanGate team later discovery the carbon fiber hull had moved.

Antonella Wilby is being sworn in to testify

20:03 , Michelle Del Rey

Antonella Wilby, another contractor for OceanGate, is now testifying about her experience with the company.

Lahey released as witness

19:51 , Michelle Del Rey

The co-founder of Triton Submarines has been released as a witness. The panel is taking a quick break and will reconvene at 3pm ET.

Stockton Rush called classification ‘an impediment to innovation’, Lahey says

19:19 , Michelle Del Rey

Patrick Lahey says he made it clear to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush that he was against his company’s decision to not certify the Titan submersible.

In one conversation, Lahey says Rush called classification “an impediment to innovation.”

Triton Submarines co-founder calls incident where Titan front dome fell off ‘ridiculous’

19:09 , Michelle Del Rey

During one of the Titan’s 13 dives to the Titanic, the front dome fell off when the submersible was brought out of the sea.

Lahey called the incident “ridiculous.” If it had happened to one of his vessels, he would’ve barred the machine from operating, he said, and reported the issue to the classifying agency.

Titan experienced 118 equipment issues in 2021 and 2022.

Lahey says he wasn’t ‘impressed’ by Titan sub

18:49 , Michelle Del Rey

Lahey, the co-founder of Triton Submarines, says he managed to see the Titan sub while in the Bahamas in 2019.

“I wasn’t impressed by what I saw,” he said of the submersible. “A lot of things I thought had not been executed appropriately.”

OceanGate bought two submersibles from Lahey, he says

18:39 , Michelle Del Rey

Lahey says that the company bought two submersibles from him. Both of the submersibles had been classified when they were bought.

“I don’t know what happened to the certification,” he said.

Lahey testifies about the importance of certification

18:30 , Michelle Del Rey

“Certification is a process that never ends,” Lahey says. “It continues through the lifetime of the vehicle.”

There are specific requirements that need to be met every year, Lahey says. Submersibles could be certified by the US Navy or American Bureau of Shipping, but there is no agency specifically tasked with clearing the vessels.

Stockton Rush decided against having the Titan submersible certified, which brought OceanGate much criticism from the deep-diving community.

Patrick Lahey, co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines, is being sworn in

18:03 , Michelle Del Rey

Lahey and entrepreneur Larry Connor began planning their own deep sea expedition about a year after the Titan tragedy.

Dyer released as witness

16:53 , Michelle Del Rey

The university engineer has been released as a witness from the hearing. The panel is currently on a lunch break and will return at 1pm ET with testimony from Patrick Lahey, the CEO of Triton Submarines.

Dyer says OceanGate’s designs were not complete

16:36 , Michelle Del Rey

The “carbon fiber hull design was not complete,” Dyer says, explaining failures that happened while testing the Titan around 2017.

“They had not figured out what had happened on those failures from my perspective, and I had not seen an effort to modify or change the design.”

Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington, is currently testifying

16:27 , Michelle Del Rey

Dyer was sworn in moments ago.

Hearing scheduled to resume soon

16:08 , Michelle Del Rey

Proceedings on day four of the Titan submersible tragedy are scheduled to resume momentarily.

Hagen released as witness. Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington scheduled to speak next

15:49 , Michelle Del Rey

Fred Hagen, the former mission specialist has been released as a witness during the hearing.

The next person due to speak is Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington. The university partnered with OceanGate to produce the Titan submersible.

Former mission specialist Hagen criticized the government for not conducting swift recovery operation

15:35 , Michelle Del Rey

Fred Hagen says governments should have used the Titan tragedy as an opportunity to test machines capable of rescuing individuals at the depths of the ocean.

“We should have pursued every possible avenue until we knew definitively that my friends were dead,” he said. Officials launched a sprawling rescue-and-recovery operation that included several countries, including the US, Canada, France, Germany and Britain.

If something went wrong on Titan dive, Hagen says ‘we were all going to die’

15:02 , Michelle Del Rey

When asked about what he knew about rescue operations, Hagen explained that there were limited resources on earth that could be utilized to save people on board the Titan sub.

If something went wrong, Paul-Henri Nargeolet told him “we were all going to die.”

“That was the paradigm you had to be comfortable with,” he said.

Renata Rojas, former mission specialist, said ‘Neil Armstrong didn’t ask somebody, ‘Is this vessel classed?’

15:00 , Michelle Del Rey

Speaking during her emotional testimony on Thursday, a former mission specialist for OceanGate spoke about some of the dangers associated with the voyage down to the Titanic wreck.

Titan, OceanGate’s submersible, was experimental in nature and therefore not classified.

“It was similar to the Apollo program,” she said. “They tested by doing… Neil Armstrong didn’t ask somebody, ‘Is this vessel classed?’ before he went to space. He just got in and went.”

NTSB begins questioning Hagen

14:54 , Michelle Del Rey

A representative from the National Transportation Safety Board is now examining Hagen about his background and experience with OceanGate.

Hagen speaks on ‘loud bang’ during dive

14:48 , Michelle Del Rey

During a dive in 2022, Hagen says he heard a ‘loud bang’ come from the vessel. After the incident, OceanGate team members discussed what may have happened to the Titan’s hull.

The crew was concerned the “hull had cracked,” he told the hearing’s panelists. “We determined the hull had jumped in the carriage.”

Hagen speaks about safety concerns

14:27 , Michelle Del Rey

“Anyone that wanted to go was delusional if they thought it wasn’t dangerous,” he says. “It wasn’t supposed to be safe.”

Fred Hagen sworn in as witness

13:50 , Michelle Del Rey

Fred Hagen, a former mission specialist for OceanGate, is recounting his experience. He says he paid OceanGate to be a mission specialist on the company’s first trip to the Titanic wreckage.

Day four of Titan sub hearing commences

13:32 , Michelle Del Rey

Day four of the Titan Submersible Marine Board of Investigation’s hearing commenced at 8.30am ET.

OceanGate mission specialist Fred Hagen is due to give testimony at 8.30am.

Schedule: Who is testifying during today’s hearing?

11:30 , James Liddell

The hearing will return at 8.30am ET this morning before first testimony is given from OceanGate mission specialist Fred Hagen at 9am.

The Coast Guard’s panel will then hear from Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab, at approximately 10.45am.

Co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines Patrick Lahey will testify at 1.30pm with a final break down of the day’s events taking place at 5.15pm.

The hearing break over the weekend and will then return on Monday at 8.30am.

Ex-contractor recalls drop weight problems

09:42 , Michelle Del Rey

Catterson recalled drop weight issues on the two test dives he was a part of years before the ill-fated Titan set sail.

He described how drop weights work. “The sub became neutral so the sub became neutral…They were only able to drop 70 pounds. That’s not enough to do what they needed to have happen,” Catterson told the panel.

‘Like a bathtub compared to the North Atlantic’: Catterson said the training wasn’t reflective of the conditions the Titan would see on its mission

07:42 , Michelle Del Rey

When asked whether OceanGate staffing in Expedition 2023 was “sufficient to ensure safety,” Catterson paused before responding: “I think training and operations at sea could have been better.”

They did their training out of Everett which is “like a bathtub compared to the North Atlantic,” he said. They didn’t have practice in rougher conditions, like fog. “The training probably didn’t reflect as good as a base of knowledge for out there,” referring to where the Titan set sail.

Lochridge forced to sign new contract after ‘embarrassing’ Rush in front of client, he testifies

03:42 , Michelle Del Rey

He said that he and Stockton Rush “pretty much stopped talking to me rationally” after the Andrea Doria incident.

At the end of the summer 2016, Rush and others told him OceanGate was “no longer willing to pay” for his wife and daughter’s permanent residence. Lochridge believed it was because he “embarrassed him in front of clients,” referring to the Andrea Doria crash, which was a “turning point” in his and Rush’s relationship.

The following day, Rush presented him with a new contract that he sign a new contract that stipulated he would have to reimburse the company if he left within the next 12 months. Rush instructed him not to tell his immigration attorney about the new arrangement.

Catterson said he had ‘doubts’ — and voiced them

Thursday 19 September 2024 23:42 , Michelle Del Rey

“I had my doubts,” Catterson said about the carbon fiber hull.

“I think that when you put it under compression, they can buckle, they can shift, they can move all these directions three-directionally,” he added.

When aksed if he had voiced his concerns about the hull to any OceanGate employees, Catterson said he told Stockton Rush, Tony Nissen, the first witness today who is an engineer, and David Lochridge, who was terminated shortly after detailing his concerns with the Titan’s design in an inspection report.

Hearing has concluded for the day

Thursday 19 September 2024 19:48 , Michelle Del Rey

The US Coast Guard’s hearing on the Titanic submersible tragedy has concluded for the day and will resume at 8.30am on Friday.

Former scientific director says OceanGate CEO thought Titan would be good for ‘indefinite’ dives

Thursday 19 September 2024 19:27 , Michelle Del Rey

Steven Ross says that he once asked Stockton Rush how long the Titan would be good for until it needed refurbishments. Typically, subs need to be refurbished after a certain number of dives because of the pressures at deep levels.

But, Rush told Ross he thought his design would be good for “indefinite” trips to the Titanic wreckage.

Steven Ross is avoiding making direct answers

Thursday 19 September 2024 19:00 , Michelle Del Rey

Testimony from the former scientific director is vague. He is avoiding giving direct answers to questions presented to him by the panel.

Ross describing a dive that was aborted in June 2023

Thursday 19 September 2024 18:56 , Michelle Del Rey

During one dive Ross was on, the platform malfunctioned.

Five people were inside the Titan and the seas were not calm. It took an hour to let those on board get out of the water.

“There’s nothing to hold onto inside the submersible really. It’s a fairly smooth tube,” he said.

“The pilot crashed into the rear bulkhead. The rest of the passengers tumbled about. I ended up standing on the rear bulkhead. One passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap.”

He spoke to Stockton Rush about the issue, but could not recall OceanGate conducting an assessment of the Titan hull after the incident.

Steven Ross says he aware of a theory about a ‘loud noise’ during dive

Thursday 19 September 2024 18:44 , Michelle Del Rey

During one OceanGate dive, the crew heard a “loud noise” that the crew speculated came from the shifting of the pressure steel its metal cradle when it popped back into place.

Ross says OceanGate had “multiple agendas”

Thursday 19 September 2024 18:22 , Michelle Del Rey

During most of his scientific career, the focus on expeditions primarily focused on science, but Ross says OceanGate had “multiple agendas,” notably going to see the Titanic shipwreck.

Dr Steven Ross, former scientific director of OceanGate, testifying

Thursday 19 September 2024 18:14 , Michelle Del Rey

Dr Stephen Ross is currently describing his background and his role working with the company.

Renata Rojas went down to see Titanic wreckage

Thursday 19 September 2024 17:35 , Michelle Del Rey

Renata Rojas, a mission specialist went to see the Titanic. She said it had been her dream as a child to see the wreckage. She visited it with OceanGate in 2021.

Renata Rojas delivers emotional closing statement

Thursday 19 September 2024 16:57 , Michelle Del Rey

“What we’ve all gone through is still very raw. Nothing is ever going to bring our friends back,” she said. “I hope that this investigation creates an understanding that with exploration, there’s risks. And without taking that risk and exploration, the world would still be flat.

“I hope that innovation continues so we can make the oceans accessible to people like me who got to fufill a dream.”

Rojas recalls losing communications with Titan submersible

Thursday 19 September 2024 16:28 , Michelle Del Rey

Mission specialist Renata Rojas says she had just finished her lunch when the team lost communications with the Titan submersible.

She said Stockton Rush’s wife, Wendy Rush, usually sat at the communications table.

Mission specialist breaks down describing collecting belongings of Titan crew members

Thursday 19 September 2024 16:00 , Michelle Del Rey

Shortly before crew members stepped into the Titan submersible, Rojas says she was tasked with storing the belongings of crew members.

“As mission specialist, people get inside the sub, they have to take their hat off, their lifejacket off, and we place that into each individual bags so they know it’s their belongings,” she said. “I was the one holding that bag for them as they got in the sub.”

Rojas describes reaction of crew notifying authorities

Thursday 19 September 2024 16:00 , Michelle Del Rey

“It didn’t seem to be anything of concern until 6pm,” the mission specialist said, explaining when OceanGate employees thought something was wrong. “I don’t think we got concerned until it was really overdue.”

She says she believes the Canadian Coast Guard was first notified once the vessel did not resurface.

Rojas says passengers slept inside sub during one trip

Thursday 19 September 2024 15:40 , Michelle Del Rey

Instead of coming back to the surface, Rojas said that weather during one dive was so dangerous that OceanGate made a decision to let passengers sleep on the vessel in the ocean for five hours.

“The weather when they came back to the surface was very rough,” she said. “It was safer for them to sleep and wake up five hours later and get them back on the platform.”

She added that one of her colleagues, Tim Catterson, a former OceanGate contractor, expressed that he would never get inside the submersible.

Rojas breaks down describing demeanor of passengers

Thursday 19 September 2024 15:27 , Michelle Del Rey

Rojas broke down as she continued to describe what happened on the day of the tragedy. She said all of the passengers were excited to embark on their expedition.

“I saw five people smiling on the way to their journey,” she said. “Excited. We had wonderful weather.”

Rojas says she never felt ‘unsafe’ on OceanGate vessel

Thursday 19 September 2024 15:02 , Michelle Del Rey

“I knew what I was doing was very risky,” she said. “I never at any point felt unsafe by the operation.”

Rojas says she gave OceanGate a deposit once she knew they wanted to build a submersible

Thursday 19 September 2024 14:42 , Michelle Del Rey

The OceanGate mission specialist said she paid OceanGate a deposit in April 2017 for a trip in 2018. The trip was delayed until 2021 because of ongoing testing. Some of the ongoing issues included making a new carbon-fiber hull.

“It had a lot of noise,” she said. “Stockton was very verbal about the dives he did. It was noisy and the noise was not calming down. The sub was probably not strong enough.”

Renata Rojas says she disagrees with David Lochridge’s account of one of OceanGate’s dives in 2016

Thursday 19 September 2024 14:19 , Michelle Del Rey

“He must have gone on a different dive,” she said. “Nobody was panicking. Nobody was crying. There was definitely no swearing or yelling.”

Earlier this week, David Lochridge said Stockton Rush, OceanGate CEO, threw the vessel’s controller at him during a voyage after a passenger began to cry over alleged concerns that Rush was driving recklessly.

“He hit me on the side of my head,” Lochridge said during testimony. Rojas said she was on the vessel during the dive but did not witness the interaction.

James Cameron says he should not have weighed in on Titan sub disaster in new interview

Thursday 19 September 2024 14:02 , Michelle Del Rey

Speaking to The New York Times, filmmaker James Cameron has said that he shouldn’t have discussed what might’ve happened to the Titan submersible after the vessel imploded.

Cameron is a prominent figure in the deep-diving community. He has taken 33 dives to the wreckage of the Titanic. Following the incident, Cameron was publicly critical of OceanGate, the company that operated the Titan submersible.

When asked about his response to the hearing this week, Cameron told the outlet: “I should not have passed on hearsay information about the weights on national TV. We have enough intentional disinformation in our world today, without adding to it with undisciplined rumor mongering.”

Renata Rojas, an OceanGate mission specialist, takes the stand

Thursday 19 September 2024 13:56 , Kelly Rissman

Rojas is a New York City banker. She said she was “obsessed” with the Titanic, even before the wreckage was found in 1985. So she became a scuba diver.

“I wanted to find the wreck but someone beat me to it,” she said, adding that she had been interested in finding a way to see the wreck. That’s how she found OceanGate.

Day three of hearing begins with OceanGate as witness

Thursday 19 September 2024 13:31 , James Liddell

Thursday’s hearing began with its daily opening at 8.30am ET.

Renta Rojas, OceanGate’s mission specialist, will begin her testimony at approximately 9am.

OceanGate mission specialist to testify this morning

Thursday 19 September 2024 12:30 , James Liddell

A mission specialist for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded in 2023 is scheduled to testify before the US Coast Guard on Thursday.

Renata Rojas is the latest person to testify who is connected to Titan owner OceanGate after an investigatory panel has listened to two days of testimony that raised questions about the company’s operations before the doomed mission.

Find out more below.

Mission specialist for Titan sub owner to testify before Coast Guard

Remnants of Titan sub’s hull scattered on floor revealed in newly released footage

Thursday 19 September 2024 11:30 , James Liddell

Two more OceanGate employees to testify as hearing returns this morning

Thursday 19 September 2024 10:36 , James Liddell

Two more OceanGate employees are expected to testify as witnesses today, as the US Coast Guard’s public hearing returns after a break on Wednesday.

Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the company that owned the Titan submersible, will be first up to speak in front of Titan Marine Board of Investigations panel at approximately 9.00am ET this morning. She will address the panel until about 12.30pm, with a 10 minute recess at 10.30am.

After lunch, Dr Dr Steven Ross, OceanGate’s former scientific director, will testify at approximately 1.30pm. The hearing is expected to conclude after a break down at 3.00pm before returning on Friday morning.

Wednesday 18 September 2024 14:24 , James Liddell

Hearings will resume on Thursday at 8.30am ET.

Our blog will be paused until then.

Newly-released footage of Titan sub wreckage surfaces

Wednesday 18 September 2024 09:37 , James Liddell

David Lochridge is released as witness

Tuesday 17 September 2024 21:01 , Kelly Rissman

Hearings will resume on Thursday at 8.30am.

Our blog will be paused until then.

Lochridge testifies that OceanGate took safety shortcuts

Tuesday 17 September 2024 20:07 , Kelly Rissman

“The way this company was going about this project, bypassing all the standardized rules and regulations that are set in place by people with experience…they bypassed it all,” Lochridge said.

It was inevitable something was going to happen. It was just a [question of] when,” he continued.

Witnesses discuss the ‘push’ to launch the vessel

Tuesday 17 September 2024 19:30 , Kelly Rissman

Lochridge told the panel that there was a “push” to launch the Titan.

“They were very push push push to get this out the door as fast as possible so they could start making profit,” he said on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Lochridge said he “had no confidence whatsoever” with how the Titan was being built. “There was a big push to get this done and a lot of steps along the way were missed,” including safety concerns.

The day prior, Tony Nissen, the director of engineering, also remarked on the force felt to get the vessel to set sail.

When asked if there was “pressure” to start operations, Nissen told the panel: “100 percent.”

‘It screams like a mother before it implodes’: Rush told Lochridge, the witness recalled

Tuesday 17 September 2024 16:45 , Kelly Rissman

When he submitted the inspection report to senior management, Lochridge said he received a message about a meeting in the board room.

“That meeting turned out to be a two-hour discussion about my termination and how my disagreements with the organization with regards to safety didn’t matter,” he told the panel.

“It doesn’t just implode. It screams like a mother before it implodes,” Rush said about carbon fiber, according to Lochridge.

The witness said the company exhibited a “total disregard for safety.”

‘A lot of steps along the way were missed’ in the building of Titan

Tuesday 17 September 2024 15:29 , Kelly Rissman

“I had no confidence whatsoever” with how the Titan was being built, he said.

“There was a big push to get this done and a lot of steps along the way were missed,” including safety concerns, Lochridge said.

“Stockton had no experience building submersibles. No one did,” he said.

Speaking about OceanGate’s social media that boasted photos of its previous missions, Lochridge said: “It was all smoke and mirrors.”

He reiterated that no one should be launching a submersible without proper safety precautions — or with “faulty, deficient equipment.”

Lochridge also revealed his note attached to his January 2018 inspection report to the directors. He wrote: “It is my opinion that until suitable corrective actions are in place and closed out, Cyclops 2 (Titan) should not be manned during any of the upcoming trials.”

Lochridge says Rush threw a controller at his head

Tuesday 17 September 2024 14:43 , Kelly Rissman

David Lochridge said he was hired by OceanGate in 2015 as a contractor. He later became the director of marine operations.

“They were selling me as part of this project,” he said, adding that he was “responsible” for the training.

“They wanted to be able to qualify a pilot in a day,” Lochridge said of OceanGate. “It was a huge red flag,” since it is usually a “long process.”

“I don’t like being bullied into anything. I don’t tolerate liars. If I see something that’s a risk, I will put my hand up,” he said.

Lochridge also mentioned a dive on the Cyclops I to the Andrea Doria wreckage site that went awry. The test submersible “smashed” into the wreck, but Rush refused to hand over the “Playstation controller” to Lochridge. A “paying client” insisted he hand over control.

That’s when Rush threw the controller at Lochridge’s head, he said.