Stockton Rush, the co-founder and chief executive of OceanGate behind the doomed Titan submersible, knew it would eventually kill him but went ahead with his project because he knew he wouldn't be held accountable, his friend told authorities this week.
Karl Stanley of the Honduras-based Roatan Deepwater Exploration Institute testified Tuesday before a U.S. Coast Guard panel investigating the ship's June 2023 implosion.
The disaster occurred as the ship was heading to the site of the Titanic wreck. Five people died, including Rush.
The Titan imploded less than two hours after beginning its descent toward the wreck site on June 18, 2023.
SPECTACULAR VIDEO SHOWS THE TAIL CONE OF THE TITAN SUBMERSIBLE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN
General view of the Titan submersible in the Bahamas in May 2018. The Titan imploded during a mission to observe the Titanic on Monday, June 19, 2023. (Becky Kagan Schott)
“He knew that eventually it was going to end this way and that he wasn't going to be held accountable,” Stanley, a longtime friend of Rush's, testified Tuesday during the Coast Guard's investigation into the disaster.
“But he was going to be the most famous of all his famous relatives,” Stanley said of Rush, a descendant of a pair of signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Stanley, a submersible expert who had known Rush for 10 years, said he heard creaking noises during an April 2019 sea test dive on a Titan prototype, as well as other issues such as weights falling off, in the Bahamas.
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Rush's longtime friend Karl Stanley testified during the hearing. (United States Coast Guard)
Stanley emailed Rush with his concerns but was ignored, he said.
“I also felt that this email exchange had upset our previous relationship,” she said. “I felt that I had taken things as far as I could without him telling me to shut up and never talk to him again.”
He added that Rush wanted to “leave his mark on history,” which led him to possibly ignore key issues with the submersible.
“The definition of an accident is something that happened unexpectedly and by pure chance,” he said at the end of Tuesday's inquest. “There was nothing unexpected about this. This was something that everyone who had access to a bit of information expected.”
Coast Guard board of inquiry members for the Titan Marine Board formal hearing are sworn in inside the Charleston County Council Chamber on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
“And I think if it wasn't an accident, then there has to be some degree of foul play. And if it is a foul play, I think to really understand it, you have to understand the motive of the offender. The main reason this whole operation was started was because Stockton had a desire to make his mark on history,” Stanley said.
Stanley also said he viewed OceanGate's characterization of paying passengers as “mission specialists” as an attempt to avoid accountability.
“It's clearly an evasive maneuver to try to evade U.S. regulations with passengers,” he said.
Furthermore, “the entire business plan for the company made no sense,” Stanley said. He also said he felt the implosion was ultimately due to Rush's desire to make his mark on history.
OCEANGATE CEO CRASHED SUBMERSIBLE INTO SHIPWRECK IN 2016, THROWING CONTROLLER INTO CREW: FORMER EMPLOYEE
The Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) released remotely operated vehicle images of the Titan submersible's aft dome, stern ring, hull remains, and carbon fiber debris on the seafloor ahead of upcoming technical testimony for the Titan MBI hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina. (U.S. Coast Guard video courtesy of Pelagic Research Services)
Amber Bay, OceanGate's managing director, said the company would not “do dives that would be risky just to meet a need.”
But he agreed that the company wanted to provide services to those who paid $250,000 and were encouraged to participate as “mission specialists.”
“There was definitely an urgency to accomplish what we had offered and a dedication and perseverance toward that goal,” he told the Coast Guard panel.
The Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) releases remotely operated vehicle images of the aft dome, stern ring, and hull remains of the Titan submersible. (U.S. Coast Guard video courtesy of Pelagic Research Services)
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Last week, the Coast Guard released a video showing the Titan's wreckage scattered across the ocean floor. The footage captured by a remotely operated vehicle shows the submersible's aft dome, stern ring, hull remains and carbon fiber debris resting on the ocean floor off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Greg Wehner of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
