The man who co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush has revealed the answers to what really went wrong on the Titanic excursion may never be known.
Guillermo Sohnlein told a Coast Guard panel Monday that he can’t say what exactly led to the submersible implosion in June 2023 that killed five people.
‘I don’t know what happened. I don’t know who made what decision when and based on what information,’ he said.
‘And honestly, I don’t know if any of us will ever know this, despite all of your team’s investigative efforts.’
Sohnlein could only say that the incident, which claimed the lives of adventurer Hamish Harding, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, ‘was not supposed to happen.’
The man who co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush reveals that we may never know what truly went wrong on the Titanic excursion that killed five people
Guillermo Sohnlein told a Coast Guard panel Monday that he can’t say what exactly led to the submersible implosiond in June 2023
On Monday, he testified that the company wanted to create a fleet of four or five deep-diving submersibles capable of carrying five people to 6,000 meters deep.
The plan for the company was to have no dedicated mothership – which would’ve lowered costs substantially, he said.
‘We wanted to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean,’ Sohnlein said.
He presents himself as a radical optimist, hoping that people will be inspired by his and Rush’s original intent to explore the ‘magical’ deep ocean.
However, he said ‘it looks like OceanGate is not going to be a part of that effort.’
Sohnlein contradicted former director of marine operations David Lochridge, who said he frequently clashed with Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money.
‘The whole idea behind the company was to make money,’ Lochridge testified. ‘There was very little in the way of science.’
Sohnlein said Monday that neither he nor Rush was ever ‘driven by tourism’ and the idea of visiting the Titanic, which had already been explored by others, was not exciting to either of them.
Rush (pictured) was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded in June 2023
Sohnlein said Monday that neither he nor Rush was ever ‘driven by tourism’ and the idea of visiting the Titanic, which had already been explored by others, was not exciting to either of them
But Lochridge and other witnesses painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
It was revealed earlier Monday that Lochridge said Rush told staff he would not die on his Titan submersible five years before his ill-fated journey to the Titanic, newly released transcripts reveal.
The U.S. Coast Guard released a redacted transcript between Rush and Lochridge from January 19, 2018 as part of a high level investigation into the cause of the implosion.
The two men were discussing a quality inspect report on the sub’s design when the exchange became heated and Rush defended the vessel’s safety, reported BBC.
‘I have no desire to die, and I’m not going to die. I’m not dying. No one is dying under my watch – period,’ Rush said.
Lochridge was being interviewed by Rush over his issues with quality of the sub’s hull, which was made of carbon fiber, and how the vessel was being constructed and tested.
‘I am addressing what I view as safety concerns, concerns I have mentioned verbally… which have been dismissed by everybody,’ Lochridge said.
The CEO insisted he had listened to the directors concerns and offered solutions.
A transcript between Rush and his former director of marine operations David Lochridge (pictured) shows him doubling down on the vessel’s safety
Lochridge was being interviewed by Rush over his issues with quality of the sub’s hull , which was made of carbon fiber, and how the vessel was being constructed and tested
‘No, I have listened to them and I have given you my response to them and you think my response is inadequate,’ he said.
‘Everything I’ve done on this project is people telling me it won’t work – you can’t do that.’
Rush doubled down on insisting the Titan is safe and that he truly believes in the stability of submersible.
‘I’ve got a nice granddaughter. I am going to be around. I understand this kind of risk, and I’m going into it with eyes open and I think this is one of the safest things I will ever do,’ he said.
Lochridge was let go from OceanGate after that meeting for being what he described as ‘anti-project.’
He said he then informed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about the Titan’s safety problems.
After contacting them, Lochridge said he was then placed under the whistleblower protection scheme after they deemed his concerns serious.
‘I didn’t want anybody going in that submersible, it was dangerous,’ Lochridge told the Coast Guard committee on September 17.
Lochridge said that after raising his concerns with OSHA, him and his wife were served a settlement and release agreement from OceanGate’s lawyers.
Father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood (pictured) died on the Titan trip to the Titanic remains
Adventurer Hamish Harding and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet were on board the fateful trip
‘OceanGate wanted me to walk away from the OSHA claim. They basically demanded that I pay them money to settle with them because they had to hire an attorney to represent them in the matter with OSHA,’ he said.
‘They state that if I don’t they’ll contact previous employers, ex-spouses, US immigration, fraud, theft, everything is in this.’
He then decided to countersue OceanGate in federal court so as to allow information relating to his claims to be in the public domain as a matter of ‘public safety’.
After months of back and forth he was told by OSHA that his case was in a backlog of 11 cases and it was unclear when they would investigate his claims.
Lochridge said this was hard for him and his family and in November of 2018 he decided to drop his claim and lawsuit against his former employer.