Queen of Many Colours
On 18 June 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by the American tourism and expeditions company OceanGate, imploded during an expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean off…
Queen of Many Colours
On 18 June 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by the American tourism and expeditions company OceanGate, imploded during an expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Aboard the submersible were Stockton Rush, the American chief executive officer of OceanGate; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert; Hamish Harding, a British businessman; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani-British businessman; and Dawood's son, Suleman. The film examines the implosion of the Titan submersible during its 2023 expedition to the Titanic wreck site, and the events leading up to the disaster. It draws on whistle-blower accounts, archival footage, footage from U.S. Coast Guard hearings, internal audio recordings, and interviews to reconstruct OceanGate's development and the operational decisions that preceded the incident. The film features interviews from former OceanGate employees including David Lochridge, who was OceanGate's former Director of Marine Operations and the primary whistle-blower, former intern Emily Hammermeister who was the Asst. to OceanGate Lead Engineer. Tony Nissen is the OceanGate Director of Engineering. Sydney Nargeolet, the daughter of Paul-Henry Nargeolet was interviewed and provided testimony as a victim's family member. Additionally, Mark Harris, an investigative journalist for Wired who reported on the OceanGate disaster was also interviewed for the film. Communication between Titan and its mother ship, MV Polar Prince, was lost 1 hour and 33 minutes into the dive. Authorities were alerted when it failed to resurface at the scheduled time later that day. At first the search focused on finding the submersible and rescuing its passengers. One US Coast Guard plane picked up noises from the search area indicating the location of the submersible. The concern was that the air was running out. After the submersible had been missing for four days, a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) discovered a debris field containing parts of Titan, about 500 meters (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic. The search area was informed by the United States Navy's (USN) sonar detection of an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion around the time communications with the submersible ceased, suggesting the pressure hull had imploded while Titan was descending, resulting in the instantaneous deaths of all five occupants. Jason Neubauer is the U.S. Coast Guard Investigator assigned to the case. Numerous industry experts, friends of Rush, and OceanGate employees had stated concerns about the safety of the vessel. The United States Coast Guard investigation concluded that the implosion was preventable, and that the primary cause had been "OceanGate's failure to follow established engineering protocols for safety, testing, and maintenance of their submersible." The report also noted that "For several years preceding the incident, OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company's favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny." Stockton Rush was an arrogant scientist, and he knew he was smart. Stockton designed the submersible to commercialize access to deep sea oceans. He wanted to start by offering dives to the titanic from 2018 on-wards. The ticket for the voyage would be $105,129. Lochridge was the pilot of the submersible. The Titan was designed with a carbon fiber structure, which was the first of its kind. The Applied Physics Lab at University of Washington provided engineering expertise and resources, including computational fluid dynamics capabilities, for the design and construction of these submersibles. Nissen testified that Stockton had the habit of firing people who did not agree with him. Stockton could trace his ancestry back to 2 signatories of the declaration of Independence. Stockton wanted to class the vessel in the Bahamas and launch from Canada, to avoid the jurisdiction of the US Coast Guard. He tended to be very defensive when anyone asked pointed and direct questions. He would blame everything on everybody else. Stockton had already taken payments from customers to take them to the Titanic in the Titan submersible, and hence there was a sense of urgency in completing the vessel. The US rules for paying passengers were different to those for mission specialists, e.g. people who closed the submersible. To get around US legislation, Stockton made sure that everybody on the vessel was called Mission Specialist. Paul-Henri Nargeolet was already the most celebrated deep-sea explorer and had been to the Titanic 37 times. He was invited to be part of Oceangate by Stockton. The first dive to the Titanic took place in 2021 and the initial dives were successful. In 2016, the APL developed the carbon fiber hull and tested it for pressure depths of 4100 meters. Metal hulls are heavy and require big support ships to haul them around. A carbon fiber hull will be much lighter and could be operated by a much smaller support ship, thus with a much lower cost of operations. But the carbon fiber hull failed multiple times at pressure depths much less than where the Titanic sat. Oceangate had a partnership with Boeing who had shared an initial design of a carbon fiber hull in 2013. Boeing looked at the test results and concluded that the vessel had a major risk of failure much before 4000 meters, where Titanic sat. The partnership with Boeing fell through and Stockton decided to hire in-house Engineers to build the submersible. But even then, Stockton made most of the engineering decisions. Stockton took a test dive in submersible Cyclops 1 to the wreck of the ship Andrea Doria. Lochridge was supposed to pilot, but Stockton replaced him at the last minute and proceeded to jam the submersible in a debris field underwater. Lochridge also expressed his concerns over the parts for the Titan submersible to Nissen. He specifically did not feel excited about the carbon fiber hull, but Stockton would take it personally if anyone questioned the hull. Lochridge wanted the hull to be independently inspected and certified. Stockton asked Lochridge to conducted an inspection and Lochridge gave a detailed report on the risks which made Stockton very angry. Stockton fires Lochridge. Emily was asked to travel to the Bahamas where the Titan was being tested. The Titan was tested to a depth of 4000 meters and the carbon fiber hull popped and made noises all the way down. The intensity of the pops increased with depth. A crack was identified in the hull. Even though Nissen had warned Stockton about this exact possibility, he is fired from his post. Stockton hides the hull data from the public and in 2018 he declares that he would redevelop the hull. Lochridge complained to the US Department of Labor in 2018, but Oceangate sued him for theft and fraud. The US Government failed to protect Lochridge as a whistle-blower and Lochridge had to fight the lawsuits with his own money. The Government investigations were slow and went nowhere, and 8 months later, Lochridge was forced to give in and withdraw his complaint. The new hull underwent development in 2018 and again failed testing. The new hull would not be ready before 2021 and in that time COVID hit. The 3rd scale model was tested in July 2020, and it failed at 3000 meters. Regardless, Stockton starts building a full-scale hull. The press was invited to do a story in 2022, the 2nd season of Operations. Stockton manages to present a picture of a maniacal safety culture. The presence of Paul-Henry Nargeolet gave added credence, along with the fact that Stockton himself was the pilot on most of the dives, putting his own life on the line. On dive 80, there was a loud bang during ascent, and after that the pop sound data significantly increased on subsequent dives. Soon thereafter, the submersible failed.
Queen of Many Colours
Documentary
Film Details
On 18 June 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by the American tourism and expeditions company OceanGate, imploded during an expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Aboard the submersible were Stockton Rush, the American chief executive officer of OceanGate; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert; Hamish Harding, a British businessman; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani-British businessman; and Dawood's son, Suleman. The film examines the implosion of the Titan submersible during its 2023 expedition to the Titanic wreck site, and the events leading up to the disaster.
It draws on whistle-blower accounts, archival footage, footage from U.S. Coast Guard hearings, internal audio recordings, and interviews to reconstruct OceanGate's development and the operational decisions that preceded the incident. The film features interviews from former OceanGate employees including David Lochridge, who was OceanGate's former Director of Marine Operations and the primary whistle-blower, former intern Emily Hammermeister who was the Asst.
to OceanGate Lead Engineer. Tony Nissen is the OceanGate Director of Engineering. Sydney Nargeolet, the daughter of Paul-Henry Nargeolet was interviewed and provided testimony as a victim's family member.
Additionally, Mark Harris, an investigative journalist for Wired who reported on the OceanGate disaster was also interviewed for the film. Communication between Titan and its mother ship, MV Polar Prince, was lost 1 hour and 33 minutes into the dive. Authorities were alerted when it failed to resurface at the scheduled time later that day.
At first the search focused on finding the submersible and rescuing its passengers. One US Coast Guard plane picked up noises from the search area indicating the location of the submersible. The concern was that the air was running out.
After the submersible had been missing for four days, a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) discovered a debris field containing parts of Titan, about 500 meters (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic. The search area was informed by the United States Navy's (USN) sonar detection of an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion around the time communications with the submersible ceased, suggesting the pressure hull had imploded while Titan was descending, resulting in the instantaneous deaths of all five occupants. Jason Neubauer is the U.S.
Coast Guard Investigator assigned to the case. Numerous industry experts, friends of Rush, and OceanGate employees had stated concerns about the safety of the vessel. The United States Coast Guard investigation concluded that the implosion was preventable, and that the primary cause had been "OceanGate's failure to follow established engineering protocols for safety, testing, and maintenance of their submersible." The report also noted that "For several years preceding the incident, OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company's favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny." Stockton Rush was an arrogant scientist, and he knew he was smart.
Stockton designed the submersible to commercialize access to deep sea oceans. He wanted to start by offering dives to the titanic from 2018 on-wards. The ticket for the voyage would be $105,129.
Lochridge was the pilot of the submersible. The Titan was designed with a carbon fiber structure, which was the first of its kind. The Applied Physics Lab at University of Washington provided engineering expertise and resources, including computational fluid dynamics capabilities, for the design and construction of these submersibles.
Nissen testified that Stockton had the habit of firing people who did not agree with him. Stockton could trace his ancestry back to 2 signatories of the declaration of Independence. Stockton wanted to class the vessel in the Bahamas and launch from Canada, to avoid the jurisdiction of the US Coast Guard.
He tended to be very defensive when anyone asked pointed and direct questions. He would blame everything on everybody else. Stockton had already taken payments from customers to take them to the Titanic in the Titan submersible, and hence there was a sense of urgency in completing the vessel.
The US rules for paying passengers were different to those for mission specialists, e.g. people who closed the submersible. To get around US legislation, Stockton made sure that everybody on the vessel was called Mission Specialist.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was already the most celebrated deep-sea explorer and had been to the Titanic 37 times. He was invited to be part of Oceangate by Stockton. The first dive to the Titanic took place in 2021 and the initial dives were successful.
In 2016, the APL developed the carbon fiber hull and tested it for pressure depths of 4100 meters. Metal hulls are heavy and require big support ships to haul them around. A carbon fiber hull will be much lighter and could be operated by a much smaller support ship, thus with a much lower cost of operations.
But the carbon fiber hull failed multiple times at pressure depths much less than where the Titanic sat. Oceangate had a partnership with Boeing who had shared an initial design of a carbon fiber hull in 2013. Boeing looked at the test results and concluded that the vessel had a major risk of failure much before 4000 meters, where Titanic sat.
The partnership with Boeing fell through and Stockton decided to hire in-house Engineers to build the submersible. But even then, Stockton made most of the engineering decisions. Stockton took a test dive in submersible Cyclops 1 to the wreck of the ship Andrea Doria.
Lochridge was supposed to pilot, but Stockton replaced him at the last minute and proceeded to jam the submersible in a debris field underwater. Lochridge also expressed his concerns over the parts for the Titan submersible to Nissen. He specifically did not feel excited about the carbon fiber hull, but Stockton would take it personally if anyone questioned the hull.
Lochridge wanted the hull to be independently inspected and certified. Stockton asked Lochridge to conducted an inspection and Lochridge gave a detailed report on the risks which made Stockton very angry. Stockton fires Lochridge.
Emily was asked to travel to the Bahamas where the Titan was being tested. The Titan was tested to a depth of 4000 meters and the carbon fiber hull popped and made noises all the way down. The intensity of the pops increased with depth.
A crack was identified in the hull. Even though Nissen had warned Stockton about this exact possibility, he is fired from his post. Stockton hides the hull data from the public and in 2018 he declares that he would redevelop the hull.
Lochridge complained to the US Department of Labor in 2018, but Oceangate sued him for theft and fraud. The US Government failed to protect Lochridge as a whistle-blower and Lochridge had to fight the lawsuits with his own money. The Government investigations were slow and went nowhere, and 8 months later, Lochridge was forced to give in and withdraw his complaint.
The new hull underwent development in 2018 and again failed testing. The new hull would not be ready before 2021 and in that time COVID hit. The 3rd scale model was tested in July 2020, and it failed at 3000 meters.
Regardless, Stockton starts building a full-scale hull. The press was invited to do a story in 2022, the 2nd season of Operations. Stockton manages to present a picture of a maniacal safety culture.
The presence of Paul-Henry Nargeolet gave added credence, along with the fact that Stockton himself was the pilot on most of the dives, putting his own life on the line. On dive 80, there was a loud bang during ascent, and after that the pop sound data significantly increased on subsequent dives. Soon thereafter, the submersible failed..