By Jonathan Edwards
September 17, 2024, 7:12 PM EDT
The CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, piloted a submersible that crashed into a shipwreck years before the Titan imploded, killing him and four passengers, a former company director revealed during a formal hearing on Tuesday.
David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, testified that in 2016, Rush took customers aboard Cyclops I to explore the wreck of the Andrea Doria, a ship that sank in 1956 off the coast of Massachusetts. Lochridge spoke at the U.S. Coast Guard's investigation into the Titan's catastrophic failure during a dive to the Titanic wreck in June 2023.
Lochridge was the sole witness on Tuesday, the second day of hearings by the Marine Board of Investigation. The inquiry could lead to new regulations or even criminal charges. On the first day, OceanGate's former engineering director expressed his refusal to pilot Titan missions, citing mistrust in Rush and the crew.
Lochridge described a culture at OceanGate where safety concerns were routinely dismissed to fuel Rush's ambition for unprecedented deep-sea exploration. “It was disgusting,” he stated, recalling how Rush labeled him “anti-project” for raising alarms, eventually leading to his firing for embarrassing the CEO during the 2016 dive.
“Rush displayed total disregard for safety, not just for himself, but for everyone else,” Lochridge testified. “He didn’t care.”
During the 2016 expedition, Rush aimed to take paying customers to the Andrea Doria to create 3D images of the wreck, which Lochridge opposed due to safety concerns. Despite his protests, Rush insisted on proceeding, allowing Lochridge to accompany the group.
The dive faced immediate challenges, including poor weather and deteriorating wreckage. Lochridge recounted how Rush mishandled the Cyclops, bending its drive skids and later colliding with the wreck itself. When the submersible became stuck, Lochridge offered to take control, but Rush initially resisted, throwing the control stick at Lochridge’s head during the chaos.
Lochridge managed to free the Cyclops and navigate back to the support ship. While Rush acknowledged his help, their relationship deteriorated as Lochridge continued to voice safety concerns. He was ultimately fired in January 2018, after which he reported his safety worries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
In a 2016 interview, Rush discussed the Andrea Doria trip without mentioning the crash, instead highlighting the success of the technology used. He proclaimed, “We’re going to take mankind to the bottom of the ocean and discover things that no one can even imagine.”
The hearings will continue for the next two weeks, with implications that could reshape the future of deep-sea exploration and its regulations.
Annabelle Timsit, Victoria Bisset, Ben Brasch, and Tamia Fowlkes contributed to this report.
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