The tragic true story of Titan: The OceanGate Disaster and the submersible implosion

Cosmopolitan

a day ago

On 18 June 2023, five passengers descended into the Atlantic Ocean in the hopes of seeing the famed wreckage of the doomed Titanic. They would have been prepared to see something incredible from the viewpoint of the Titan, the submersible they were travelling in. Instead, the ship's carbon fibre was struggling to uphold against the ocean's enormous pressure, and Titan imploded at supersonic speeds. All five passengers on board were instantly killed. A four-day search and rescue mission took place, with the remainder of what was left of the Titan found on the ocean floor, shredded.
Netflix's latest series, Titan: The OceanGate Disaster now looks to explore this tragedy in granular detail, focusing on billionaire Stockton Rush – the man behind the submersible, who also perished onboard his own creation. Here's everything you need to know.
The new Netflix documentary looks at the rise of OceanGate, an American company that wanted to launch deep sea tourism. Founded by Stockton Rush and Guillermo Söhnlein in 2009, the company built two submersible vessels – one of which being the infamous Titan. Söhnlein left the company in 2013. Rush, meanwhile, was the charismatic face of the brand.
'There's a huge demand for unique travel experiences,' he said in 2017. 'We will be profitable from the Titanic trips.'
Born into a wealthy family, Rush was an American businessman with a taste for adventure. He started scuba diving aged 12 and acquired a pilot's licence when he was 18. He initially thought about being an air force pilot, but was rejected for his eyesight not being good enough.
In 2006, after he went on his first submarine excursion, Rush began to toy with the idea of deep sea travel, and hoped to tap into the growing demand for adventure tourism. He wanted to build submersibles that went far deeper under the sea than other commercial submersibles.
Speaking to The Independent in 2017, Rush explained: 'Shallow dives equal shallow experience. The commercial subs out there are like a Disneyland ride versus paddling yourself through the Grand Canyon. Knowing you're there changes how you observe it.'
Understandably, there are strict regulations for submersible travel, which Rush previously criticised. He once decried the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993 as 'needlessly prioritis[ing] passenger safety over commercial innovation'.
Rush also spoke passionately about the 'move fast and break things' culture typically attributed to start-ups. At the 2022 GeekWire summit, he told audiences: 'If you're not breaking things, you're not innovating. If you're operating within a known environment, as most submersible manufacturers do, they don't break things. To me, the more stuff you've broken, the more innovative you've been.'
Speaking of his former co-founder, Guillermo Söhnlein told Vanity Fair: 'I think [Rush] did see himself in the same vein as these disruptive innovators. Like Thomas Edison, or any of these guys who just found a way of pushing humanity forward for the good of humanity — not necessarily for himself. He didn't need the money. He certainly didn't need to work and spend hundreds of hours on OceanGate. You know, he was doing this to help humanity. At least that's what I think was personally driving him.'
The deep-sea vessel, built by OceanGate, was to focus on diving as far as 3,800 meters below sea level to visit the wreckage of the Titanic.
What made it different to other submersibles, usually comprised of titanium or steel in order to withstand the extreme levels of external pressure that are attributed to deep-sea diving, was that the Titan had a filament-wound carbon fibre hull. This material made the submersible lighter and more cost effective – but was not as reliable and could fail when too much pressure was applied.
Rush was told this by numerous employees and experts in the field, who warned of potential 'catastrophic' issues, but nothing was done to amend the submersible. Titan was also not 'classed', which meant that it did not undergo formal safety inspections or meet the standards of established classification societies.
In 2019, OceanGate explained why this was the case. In a press release, the company said: 'Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.'
The submersible was also controlled by a modified video game controller, with the 'pilot' receiving instructions from the surface vessel above through a text-based messaging system.
No real training was required before getting on board, with any training needed to take part being provided online. However, those who paid for their seat on the submersible (a princely sum of up to $250,000, or £195,000), were expected to sign a detailed waiver that said that going on the Titan could 'result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death'.
Despite numerous warnings, Titan launched in 2021 with its first dive to the Titanic's wreckage. Between 2021 and 2022, the submersible made 23 dives, with 13 of these managing to reach the wreckage. On its final outing, the Titan was just 1600m away from the bow of the Titanic.
Onboard the Titan's final voyage on 18 June were:
Stockton Rush – 61 – OceanGate CEO
Paul-Henri Nargeolet – 77 – deep sea explorer and Titanic expert
Hamish Harding – 58 – businessman
Shahzada Dawood – 48 – businessman
Suleman Dawood – 19 – university student and Dawood's son
Originally Christine Dawood was meant to be going on the dive. However, she reportedly gave up her seat for her son, because he expressed an interest in going on the trip. He reportedly took a Rubik's cube on Titan, as he hoped he would be able to break a world record while seeing the wreckage.
Rear Admiral John Mauger explained in a press conference after the Titan was found that the wreckage was consistent with a 'catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.'
Effectively, the carbon fibre material could not withstand the external pressure of a deep sea dive.
When the submersible did not reemerge at its scheduled time, the US coast guard was notified. Titan only had 96 hours of breathable air supply for its five passengers when it set out, which added a time pressure to finding those onboard.
Four days later, on 22 June, debris from the Titan submersible was found by the US coast guard, near the Titanic's wreckage.
All planned excursions by the company were immediately cancelled, with its main office closed the day the Titan wreckage was found. On 6 July, all business operations were suspended, with OceanGate now only serving as a legal entity.
The family of French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against OceanGate in August 2024.
The US Coast Guard launched an investigation, which also led to a public hearing in September 2024. During this time, former employees testified saying they warned of the submersible's safety.
US court documents show OceanGate's former operations director David Lochridge had significant concerns with the Titan's design, including that it was made from carbon fibre which he warned would damage further with every dive.
Titan: The OceanGate Disaster is available to watch on Netflix now
Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper's Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.