‘Fame-hungry' Titan sub boss Stockton Rush ‘wanted to die at world's most famous shipwreck in high-profile disaster'

Scottish Sun

12 hours ago

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
TITAN sub boss Stockton Rush intended to die at the wreck of the Titanic, his friend has claimed.
The bombshell allegation suggests the OceanGate CEO wasn't simply chasing deep-sea glory, but allegedly orchestrating a high-profile mission designed to etch himself into Titanic legend.
Sign up for Scottish Sun
newsletter
Sign up
8
Stockton Rush allegedly wanted to die on the doomed 2023 diving expedition, his pal claimed
Credit: Becky Kagan Schott
8
The destroyed submersible pictured on the ocean floor in 2023
Credit: AP
8
Veteran sub expert Karl Stanley made the bombshell allegations about his longtime friend in a book
Credit: BBC
Karl Stanley, a veteran submersible expert and longtime friend of Rush, made the explosive claim in a new book called Submersed: Wonder, Obsession and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines.
He told author Matthew Gavin Frank: 'Rush's ego was so big, he was willing to die and kill to be pivotal to the character of this story.
'He wanted to go [die] at the wreck [of the Titanic].
'The more high-profile, the better. He didn't just murder four wealthy people and get paid a cool mill to do it — they are all part of the Titanic mythology now.'
According to Stanley, Rush meticulously planned the doomed voyage as a one-way trip.
The pal described it as a "death dive" in a "futile" submarine that was never intended to return, The Daily Mail reported.
Twelve days after the Titan's catastrophic implosion in June 2023, Stanley messaged Frank via WhatsApp, alleging Rush knew exactly what would happen - and intended for it to.
The friend further claimed the OceanGate boss deliberately named the sub after the fictional British liner Titan — the ship in the 1898 novella Futility, which famously sank in eerily similar circumstances to the Titanic.
The implication, according to Stanley, is that this was no coincidence, but allegedly part of a calculated bid to tie himself to maritime legends.
'What's that bang?' Chilling moment sound of doomed Titan sub imploding heard from support ship
8
In Frank's telling, Stanley claimed Rush 'needed to compel more than just his own death, and he needed to knowingly fabricate a 'futile' vessel, costumed in a titanic name, as his murder weapon.'
He even described the Titan as a 'mousetrap for billionaires.'
Asked point-blank if he believed Rush had knowingly killed the other four passengers, Stanley said: 'I know this is what happened.'
Those passengers — British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and renowned Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet — were all killed instantly when the Titan imploded just 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent.
This isn't the first time concerns have been raised about Rush's approach to safety.
In 2019, Stanley himself reportedly warned Rush about serious structural issues after a deep test dive in the Bahamas.
During that mission, Stanley recalled hearing ominous 'gunshot-like' sounds every few minutes — noises he believed were the sub's carbon fiber hull buckling under pressure.
'The sounds we observed yesterday sounded like a flaw/defect… being crushed/damaged,' he wrote in an email to Rush.
He urged OceanGate to pause operations until the problem could be investigated.
But Rush allegedly dismissed the warnings.
In an icy reply, he reportedly wrote: 'I value your experience and advice on many things, but not on the assessment of carbon fiber pressure hulls…
'I hope you, of all people, will think twice before expressing opinions on subjects in which you are not fully versed.'
8
The 61-year-old died alongside his four passengers on the doomed 2023 voyage
8
The OceanGate CEO, left, was previously branded a 'psychopath' by his employees
Credit: AP
In response, Stanley painted a chilling picture of what could happen: 'The worst-case scenario of pushing ahead… involves [Triton Submarines CEO] Patrick Lahey and some Russian oligarch tooling around a Russian nesting dolls version of a wreck site in a made-for-TV special, telling his version of how things went wrong.
'I hope you see option B as unacceptable as I do.'
The boss of the ill-fated submersible was also branded a 'psychopath' obsessed with fame by former OceanGate staff, according to a new Netflix documentary exposing the lead-up to the 2023 disaster.
He had reportedly dismissed safety concerns raised by his team, accusing critics of stifling innovation.
Veteran Titanic expedition leader Rob McCallum, who last year told The Sun that the disaster had been 'unavoidable,' is featured in the documentary.
8
The OceanGate expedition killed all five people on board after the sub dramatically imploded
8
McCallum said he repeatedly warned OceanGate that the Titan was unsafe.
The sub had never been certified or classed, and McCallum urged Rush to allow independent testing — advice he claims was ignored.
He said: '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, for his part, reportedly accused those voicing safety concerns of attempting to block technological progress.