In a reenactment of the voyage before the Titanic ruptured and killed all five crew members, one of the last words heard from a crew member of an experimental submersible heading for the sunken ship was, “We're OK.”
The US Coast Guard released the animation on Monday, the first day of a two-week hearing into the cause of the explosion, and it said crew members from the Titan had been communicating by text message with staff on the support ship Polar Prince.
As the submersible sank, after exchanging text messages about its depth and weight, contact with the crew was lost. Polar Prince then repeatedly messaged Titan on its onboard display, asking if it could still see the vessel. One of Titan's final responses, which became more staccato as it sank, was “We're good here.”
Titan exploded on June 18, 2023, sparking a global debate about the future of civilian undersea exploration.
Coast Guard representatives initially said the submersible had been exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023. They also said the hull had not been inspected by a third party, which is standard procedure. That, and its unconventional design, have drawn scrutiny from the undersea exploration community.
The first witness to testify at the hearing, Tony Nissen, former engineering director for the company that owned Titan, testified that during his time at the company he felt rushed to start operations. When asked if there was pressure to get Titan out to sea, he replied, “100 percent.”
The Ocean Board also asked Nissen whether he felt pressure from OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush had jeopardized safety decisions and testing, to which he responded after a long pause: “No… That's a hard question to answer, because if you have infinite time and an infinite budget, you can do infinite testing.”
Nissen also said Titan may have been struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018, causing damage to the hull. He was fired in 2019, but did not send the sub to the Titanic that year. He also told Rush that Titan “was not performing as we wanted it to.”
The former director of engineering said the submersible subsequently underwent other tests and adjustments before diving into the Titanic, but he said he did not trust the operations staff, and testified that when Stockton asked him to operate the submersible, he replied, “I'm not in it.”
Nissen testified that working for Rusch was tough, that he was very sensitive about costs, project schedules and other issues, that Rusch fought for what he wanted, which often changed from day to day, and that he tried to keep his conflicts with Rusch private so others at the company wouldn't find out.
“Most people end up moving back to Stockton,” he said.
The ongoing Marine Accident Investigation Board is the highest level of investigation conducted by the Coast Guard. Once the hearings are complete, recommendations will be submitted to the service commanders. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating.
“There are no words that can ease the pain experienced by the families of the victims of this tragic incident,” said Jason Neubauer of the Coast Guard's Investigative Service, which led the hearing, “but we hope this hearing will shed light on what caused the tragedy and help prevent something like this from happening again.”
Ocean Gate, which suspended operations after the explosion, was scheduled to speak at the event, along with its former financial director Bonnie Karl and former contractor Tim Catterson.
Several key representatives of Ocean Gate are not scheduled to testify, including Mr. Rush's widow, Wendy Rush, who served as the company's public relations director.
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Coast Guard spokeswoman Melissa Leake said the agency would not comment on why it had not called certain individuals to specific hearings during an ongoing investigation, saying it is “common for marine boards of inquiry to hold multiple hearings and/or present additional witness testimony in complex cases.”
Among those scheduled to appear at the hearing, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard, will be OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Zoneline, former director of operations David Lockridge and former director of science Steve Ross. Numerous Guard officials, scientists, government and industry personnel are also scheduled to testify. The Coast Guard has issued subpoenas to witnesses who are not government employees, Leake said.
Ocean Gate said in a statement that it does not currently have a full-time employee but will be represented by an attorney at the hearing. The company has cooperated fully with the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board investigations since they began, the statement said.
Also killed in the explosion were veteran Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Narjolet, Shahzada Daud of a prominent Pakistani family and her 19-year-old son Suleiman Daud, and British adventurer Hamish Harding.
The Titan lost contact with a support vessel about two hours after its final dive, and after reports of delays, rescuers rushed boats, planes and other equipment to the area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John's, Newfoundland.
The search for the submersible attracted worldwide attention as the possibility of any survivors from the explosion became increasingly slim. The wreckage of the Titanic was later discovered on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) from the ship's bow, Coast Guard officials said.
The investigation, originally scheduled to last a year, has taken longer than that, and the Coast Guard said in July that the hearings would look into “all aspects of the Titan's sinking,” including not only mechanical issues but also compliance with regulations and the qualifications of the crew.
Titan has been sailing to the Titanic wreck site since 2021.
