OceanGate
American submersible company / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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OceanGate Inc. is an American privately owned company based in Everett, Washington, that provided crewed submersibles for tourism, industry, research, and exploration. The company was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush and Guillermo Söhnlein.
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Tourism, expeditions, underwater diving |
Founded | 2009; 15 years ago (2009) |
Founders | Stockton Rush |
Headquarters | Everett, Washington, U.S. |
Website | oceangate Archived June 21, 2023, at the Wayback Machine |
The company acquired a submersible vessel, Antipodes, and later built two of its own: Cyclops 1 and Titan. In 2021, OceanGate began taking paying tourists in Titan to visit the wreck of the Titanic. As of 2022, the price to be a passenger on an OceanGate expedition to the Titanic shipwreck was US$250,000 per person.[1]
On June 18, 2023, Titan imploded during a voyage to the Titanic wreck site, killing all five occupants on board, including Rush.[2] An international search and rescue operation was launched,[3] and on June 22 the wreckage was found on the seabed about 500 meters (1,600 ft) from the Titanic wreck site. On June 21, it was announced that Oceangate's Everett office was closed indefinitely, and on July 6, OceanGate suspended all operations.[4][5][6] Since August 2023, Gordon Gardiner has led the company as CEO.[7] Until official investigations and the company's shutdown is completed, the company is "out of business".[8]