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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.
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. In 2022, the price to be a passenger on an OceanGate expedition to the Titanic shipwreck was $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 served as the company's CEO.[7] Gardiner was appointed "to lead OceanGate through the ongoing investigations and closure of the company's operations," as the company still exists as a legal entity;[8] however, Gardiner has stated that OceanGate has "permanently" ceased all business operations.[9]
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Background
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Stockton Rush had an interest in aviation and space travel as a child, and obtained a commercial pilot's license when he was 18 years old.[10] As an adult, his interests pivoted to undersea exploration. Rush built a fortune by investing his inheritance in technological businesses and decided to purchase a submarine, but discovered that he was unable to, as there were fewer than 100 privately owned submarines worldwide.[10][11] He instead built one from plans in 2006, a Kittredge K-350, which he named Suds.[12][13]
Rush believed that undersea exploration was an underserved market, due to, in his opinion, an unwarranted reputation of submersibles as dangerous vehicles. He criticized the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993 as "needlessly prioritiz[ing] passenger safety over commercial innovation".[10][14] In an address before The Explorers Club in 2017, he termed submersibles "the safest vehicles on the planet".[15] Non-certified vehicles were more dangerous, as demonstrated by at least one fatality involving a homemade submersible in 1990.[16]
Rush commissioned a marketing study that concluded there was sufficient demand for underwater ocean tourism.[15][16][17]
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History
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2009–2013: Founding and acquisition of Antipodes
OceanGate was initiated by Guillermo Söhnlein and Stockton Rush in Seattle in 2009.[18][19][20][21] According to Söhnlein, the company was founded with the intention of creating a small fleet of 5-person commercial submersibles that could be leased by any organization or group of individuals. In 2023 he told Sky News, "The whole intent was to create a small fleet of work submersibles. And in that way, as our tagline was in the early days, 'Open the oceans for all of humanity'."[22]
The company's first submersible was Antipodes, a used 5-person vessel with a steel hull. Between 2010 and 2013 the company performed an estimated 130 dives with Antipodes. The company's business model involved renting out its submersible to researchers, and taking tourists—whom the company referred to as "citizen scientists"—on underwater excursions. Söhnlein estimated in 2012 that passengers typically paid between $7,500 and $40,000 per person, depending on the excursion.[23]
OceanGate's first tourist excursion was conducted in 2010 when the company began transporting paying customers. The company took tourist groups to Catalina Island off the coast of California. To improve the experience, the company began bringing expert guides aboard the dives. According to Rush, "People would ask me about a fish, and I wouldn't know anything about it." The company first included marine biologists as expert guides and, according to Rush, "The difference was night and day. Their excitement permeated the sub."[10]
In 2010 OceanGate worked with the University of Washington for the first time. The university utilized Antipodes to perform trials of novel sonar equipment and robotic arms.[24] The following year, Antipodes was used to survey and map the wreckage of the SS Governor, a ship that had sunk in Puget Sound in 1921.[25]
In 2012 and 2013 OceanGate operated for a year in Miami, Florida. Collaborating with Miami-Dade Artificial Reefs Program, researchers aboard Antipodes investigated the spread of lionfish.[23][26]
2013–2016: Construction of Cyclops and Söhnlein's departure
In 2013, the company began to design its own submersibles with unique designs that were allegedly cost effective. Söhnlein quit the company that same year, saying that OceanGate had transitioned from its initial phase to Rush's specialty of engineering. Söhnlein retained a minority stake.[27]
OceanGate worked on the design of its first custom-built submersible Cyclops, later named Cyclops 1, in collaboration with the University of Washington and Boeing.[28][29] The hull was planned to be a carbon fiber hull, but OceanGate instead acquired a 12-year-old vessel Lula from a company in Azores. It extracted the cylindrical steel hull of the Lula and used it to create Cyclops 1.[24][30] Cyclops was unveiled in 2015.[31] The same year, the company relocated its headquarters to the Port of Everett's Waterfront Center office space in Everett, Washington.[32][33]
2016–2023: Expansion of fleet and dives to the Titanic
OceanGate ordered the first titanium components for Cyclops 2 in December 2016,[34] and let a contract to Spencer Composites in January 2017 to design and build the cylindrical carbon fiber hull.[35] In March 2018, Cyclops 2 was renamed to Titan;[36] Rush described it as "an amazing engineering feat" during its launch in 2018.[37] Testing of Titan to its maximum intended depth of 4,000 m (13,000 ft) occurred in 2018 and 2019.
In 2019, OceanGate said they were planning to develop the successor submersibles Cyclops 3 and Cyclops 4 with a targeted maximum depth of 6,000 m (20,000 ft),[38] and in early 2020 announced that the development and manufacturing of the hulls would be performed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.[39] The submersibles would be funded by a new round of investments by "100% insiders" totaling $18.1 million, as announced in January 2020.[40] NASA's participation was by a Space Act Agreement intended to further "deep-space exploration goals" and "improve materials and manufacturing for American industry" according to John Vickers.[41] A NASA spokesperson stated in 2023 that NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center had a Space Act Agreement with OceanGate, but it "did not conduct testing and manufacturing via its workforce or facilities".[42]
In spring 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, OceanGate applied for, and received, a PPP loan for approx. $450,000, based on 22 jobs.[43]
In 2021 and 2022, OceanGate conducted dives to the Titanic aboard its submersible Titan.
2023–present: Implosion of Titan, death of Rush, and suspension of operations
Titan imploded during an expedition to the Titanic in June 2023, killing all five occupants including CEO Stockton Rush. After a four-day search and rescue operation by an international team led by the United States Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, and Canadian Coast Guard,[44] a debris field was discovered containing parts of Titan, about 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic.[45]
Upon news of the fate of Titan, the company closed its Everett office indefinitely.[4] Soon after the implosion, its subsidiary OceanGate Expeditions also suspended operations.[46] In July 2023, OceanGate's websites defaulted to a message advising: "OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations."[47]
Industry experts, friends of Rush, and OceanGate employees had stated concerns about the safety of the vessel.[48] The subsequent investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard highlighted serious safety concerns, criticizing OceanGate's operational practices and identifying a "toxic workplace culture" in which safety warnings were suppressed. The report concluded that Rush "exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths" and created a false impression of the submersible's safety.[49]Documentaries about the implosion primarily examine a number of issues, such as Rush, OceanGate's manufacturing and operating practices prior to the Titan implosion as well as the cause, response, and aftermath to the Titan implosion.
Prior safety concerns
While performing market research for OceanGate, Rush determined that the private market for underwater explorationhad floundered due to a public reputation for danger and increased regulatory requirements for the operation of tourist submarines and submersibles. He believed these reasons were "understandable but illogical", and that the perception of danger much exceeded the actual risk. In particular, he was critical of the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, a United States law which regulated the construction of ocean tourism vessels and prohibited dives below 150 feet (46 m), which Rush described as a law which "needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation".[50]
In 2016, exploring the sunken Andrea Doria on the Cyclops I, David Lochridge reported how Rush "smashed straight down" into the wreckage of the sunken ocean liner, an episode recounted during a Coast Guard hearing in 2024.[51]
In 2018, Rush piloted an expedition with researchers and scientists in the San Juan Islands to observe the red sea urchinand the habitat of the sand lance.[52] In 2021, after several delays, Rush finally started his deep submergence business.[53]Prior to the June 2023 dive, Rush was sued for $210,000 by a couple in Florida concerning a planned 2018 dive to the Titanic that they claim was repeatedly canceled and postponed. The couple claimed that they were unable to get a refund due to Rush's actions.[54][55] After Rush's death, the couple dropped the lawsuit out of respect for the lives lost on the Titan.[56][57]
Industry experts, friends of Rush, and OceanGate employees had stated concerns about the safety of the vessel.[58] In a 2022 podcast with CBS reporter David Pogue, Rush discussed his views on the balance between risk and safety:
You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed, don't get in your car, don't do anything. At some point, you're going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.[59]
In 2018, OceanGate's director of marine operations, David Lochridge, composed a report documenting safety concerns he had about Titan. In court documents, Lochridge said that he had urged the company to have Titan assessed and certified by the American Bureau of Shipping, but OceanGate had refused to do so, instead seeking classification from Lloyd's Register.[60] He also said that the transparent viewport on its forward end, due to its nonstandard and therefore experimental design, was only certified to a depth of 1,300 m (4,300 ft), only a third of the depth required to reach the Titanic's wreck.[61] According to Lochridge, RTM would "only show when a component is about to fail – often milliseconds before an implosion" and could not detect existing flaws in the hull before it was too late.[62] Lochridge was also concerned that OceanGate would not perform nondestructive testing on the vessel's hull before undertaking crewed dives and alleged that he was "repeatedly told that no scan of the hull or Bond Line could be done to check for delaminations, porosity and voids of sufficient adhesion of the glue being used due to the thickness of the hull".[61][63][64]The viewport was rated to only 650 m (2,130 ft), and the engineer of the viewport also prepared an analysis from an independent expert that concluded the design would fail after only a few 4,000 m (13,000 ft) dives.[65]
OceanGate said that Lochridge, who was not an engineer, had refused to accept safety approvals from OceanGate's engineering team and that the company's evaluation of Titan's hull was stronger than any kind of third-party evaluation Lochridge thought necessary.[66] OceanGate sued Lochridge for allegedly breaching his confidentiality contract and making fraudulent statements. Lochridge counter-sued, stating that his employment had been wrongfully terminated as a whistleblower for stating concerns about Titan's ability to operate safely. The two parties settled the case a few months later, before it came to court.[67][61][68] He filed a whistleblower complaint with Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but withdrew it after the lawsuit was filed.[65]
Later in 2018, a group organized by William Kohnen, the chair of the Submarine Group of the Marine Technology Society, drafted a letter[69] to Rush expressing "unanimous concern regarding the development of 'TITAN' and the planned Titanic Expedition", indicating that the "current experimental approach ... could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry". The letter said that OceanGate's marketing of the Titan was misleading because it claimed that the submersible would meet or exceed the safety standards of classification society DNV, even though the company had no plans to have the craft certified formally by the society. While the letter was never sent officially by the Marine Technology Society, it did result in a conversation with OceanGate that resulted in some changes, but in the end Rush "agreed to disagree" with the rest of the civilian submarine community.[70] Kohnen told The New York Times that Rush had telephoned him after reading it to tell him that he believed industry standards were stifling innovation.
Another signatory, engineer Bart Kemper, agreed to sign the letter because of OceanGate's decision not to use established engineering standards like ASME Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy (PVHO) or design validation.[71][72] Kemper said the submersible was "experimental, with no oversight". Kohnen and Kemper stated OceanGate's methods were not representative of the industry.[73] Kohnen and Kemper are both members of the ASME Codes and Standards committee for PVHOs, which develops and maintains the engineering safety standards for submarines, commercial diving systems, hyperbaric systems, and related equipment.[74] Kemper is an engineering researcher who has published a number of technical papers on submarine windows,[75] including the need to innovate.[76]
In March 2018, one of Boeing's engineers involved in the preliminary designs, Mark Negley, carried out an analysis of the hull and emailed Rush directly stating, "We think you are at high risk of a significant failure at or before you reach 4,000 meters. We do not think you have any safety margin." He included a graph of the strain of the design with a skull and crossbones at a red line of 4,000 meters.[65]
Also in March 2018, Rob McCallum, a major deep sea exploration specialist, emailed Rush to warn him he was potentially risking his clients' safety and advised against the submersible's use for commercial purposes until it had been tested independently and classified: "I implore you to take every care in your testing and sea trials and to be very, very conservative." Rush replied that he was "tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation ... We have heard the baseless cries of 'you are going to kill someone' way too often. I take this as a serious personal insult". McCallum then sent Rush another email in which he said: "I think you are potentially placing yourself and your clients in a dangerous dynamic. In your race to Titanic you are mirroring that famous catch cry: 'She is unsinkable'". This prompted OceanGate's lawyers to threaten McCallum with legal action.[77]
In 2022, the British actor and television presenter Ross Kemp, who had participated previously with deep sea dives for the television channel Sky History, had planned to mark the 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic by recording a documentary in which he would undertake a dive to the wreck using Titan. Kemp's agent Jonathan Shalit said that the project was cancelled after checks by production company Atlantic Productions deemed the submersible to be unsafe and not "fit for purpose".[78][79]
Memes and investigations
Rush's career and reputation were inextricably linked to the Titan submersible implosion, which became widely discussed on social media as the story developed, and inspired grimly humorousInternet memes that ridiculed the submersible's deficient construction, OceanGate's perceived poor safety record, and the individuals who died.[80] The memes were criticized as insensitive, with David Pogue regarding such media as "inappropriate and a little bit sick".[81] On 23 June 2023, both the Canadian and the United States federal governments announced that they were beginning investigations of the implosion.[82][83] They were joined by authorities from France (Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer, BEAmer) and the United Kingdom (Marine Accident Investigation Branch, MAIB) by 25 June; the final report will be issued to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).[84] The investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard highlighted serious safety concerns, criticizing OceanGate's operational practices and identifying a "toxic workplace culture" in which safety warnings were suppressed. The report concluded that Rush "exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths" and created a false impression of the submersible's safety.[85]
Documentaries
The 2024 American Broadcasting Company (ABC) special Truth and Lies: Fatal Dive to the Titanic examined the submersible implosion of the Titan.[86] In February 2024, a movie inspired by the events of the Titan submersible incident, titled Locker, was announced.[87] In March 2024, a two-part documentary by ITN Productions, Minute by Minute: The Titan Sub Disaster, was broadcast by UK's Channel 5.[88] The documentary included interviews with the Canadian air crew that searched the surface, Edward Cassano of the Pelagic remotely-operated vehicle team that found the wreckage, and members of the Marine Technology Society William Kohnen and Bart Kemper. Kohnen and Kemper had warned OceanGate about their deviation from accepted engineering practices in 2018.[58] Analysis of the mysterious "banging" sounds that seemed to indicate the occupants were still alive was a main feature of the first part.[89] In May 2025, the BBC and Discovery Channel aired Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster, a documentary co-produced along with other international broadcasters.[90][91] It features exclusive access to the U.S. Coast Guard's investigation, previously unseen footage, expert interviews, and archive footage of an interview with Rush and of a Titan dive filmed for a possible TV feature under consideration by Discovery Channel host Josh Gates.[92] The film includes a video recorded aboard the Titan's support vessel that appears to capture the sound of the implosion, during which Wendy Rush, Stockton's wife, is heard asking, "What was that bang?" The documentary questions OceanGate's safety practices and whether the tragedy could have been prevented.[93][94]
On June 11, 2025, Netflix released the documentary Titan: The OceanGate Disaster.[95] The documentary primarily examines a number of issues, such as Rush, OceanGate's manufacturing and operating practices prior to the Titanimplosion as well as the cause, response, and aftermath to the Titan implosion. The documentary includes interviews with former OceanGate employees, whistleblowers, and government officials. A central point made in the documentary is Rush's repeated refusal to have the Titan submersible officially certified by an independent third party, a process known as "classing". Former employees explain that Rush viewed regulation as stifling innovation and an obstacle to his vision. Despite issuing legal disclaimers, Rush marketed the Titanas "safer than flying in a helicopter" to potential customers, a claim directly contradicted by internal warnings and engineering flaws. The documentary details how Rush fired employees who challenged his decisions or raised safety issues. The most prominent example was the firing of David Lochridge, OceanGate's Director of Marine Operations, after he submitted a scathing report on the submersible's dangerous, unproven carbon fiber hull. The documentary uses internal records to show that the Titan's carbon fiber hull experienced a "loud bang" on a previous dive, and subsequent dives revealed increasing instances of fiber breakage. Rush, however, ignored these alarms and told passengers to "not worry about it" if they heard them. The documentary highlights Rush's decision to build the hull out of carbon fiber, a lighter and cheaper material than the industry-standard titanium or steel. Experts who spoke in the documentary condemned this choice, calling the material "highly unstable" for deep-sea use. Rush had passengers sign extensive waivers and classified them as "mission specialists" rather than tourists. The documentary explains this as a legal maneuver to circumvent safety regulations that would apply to paying passengers.[96][97][98][99]
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Submersibles
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OceanGate owned three submersibles. The Cyclops 1 and Titan submersibles were launched and recovered from a dry dock-like "Launch and Recovery Platform" that could be towed behind a commercial vessel.[100] Once the platform and submersible reach the target location, the platform's flotation tanks are flooded and it sinks below the surface turbulence to a depth of 9 m (30 ft).[101] The submersible then lifts off for its underwater mission. Upon the submersible's return to the platform, the flotation tanks are pumped out and the platform can be taken back into tow or brought aboard the host vessel. That allows OceanGate to use vessels without human-rated cranes.[102] The platform is approximately 11 m (35 ft) long and 4.6 m (15 ft) wide and can lift up to 9,100 kg (20,000 lb);[103] it is based on a concept developed by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory.[15]
Antipodes
Antipodes is a steel-hulled submersible capable of reaching depths of 300 meters (1,000 ft), acquired by OceanGate in 2010.[104] OceanGate transported its first paying customers in the vessel in 2010 off the coast of Catalina Island in California. The submersible was later contracted to expeditions to explore corals, lionfish populations in Florida, and a former oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.[10] By 2013 OceanGate had made over 130 dives with the vessel.[10][24][105]
Cyclops 1
In March 2015, OceanGate unveiled the Cyclops 1, a 5-person steel-hulled submersible capable of diving up to 500 meters (1,640 ft) under water. It measures approximately 6.7 m (22 feet) long and 2.7 m (9 feet) wide, and weighs about 9,100 kg (20,000 pounds).[31] Its name was inspired by its strengthened acrylic window. The submersible is steered by a modified wireless game controller, and the vessel has a battery life of up to eight hours.[106][107] The vessel has been used for various commercial and academic expeditions.[31]
OceanGate created Cyclops 1 in collaboration with the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory; Boeing worked with OceanGate and the University of Washington for initial design analysis.[29][28] In the initial design, the hull was to be made of carbon fiber, but this idea was abandoned in favor of a steel hull. OceanGate acquired the steel hull for Cyclops 1 in 2013, after it had been used for 12 years, and fitted it with a new interior, underwater sensors, and gamepad pilot control system.[10]
In June 2016 Cyclops 1 was used to survey the wreck of SS Andrea Doria 73 m (240 feet) below the surface. The survey data were intended to build a computer model of the wreck and its surroundings to improve navigation.[34] In 2019 the craft was used to transport researchers to the bottom of Puget Sound to perform marine biology surveys.[31][108]
Titan
Titan (known as Cyclops 2 until 2018) was the second submersible designed and built by OceanGate, the first privately owned submersible with an intended maximum depth of 4,000 m (13,000 ft).[109] The viewport was rated to only 650 m (2,130 ft), and the engineer of the viewport also prepared an analysis from an independent expert that concluded the design would fail after only a few 4,000 m dives.[110] It also was the first completed crewed submersible that used a hull constructed of titanium and carbon fiber composite materials, as most other human-carrying submersibles are designed with an all-metal pressure vessel.[35] It was designed and developed originally in partnership with UW and Boeing, both of which put forth numerous design recommendations and rigorous testing requirements, which Rush ignored, despite prior tests at lower depths resulting in implosions at UW's lab. The partnerships dissolved as Rush refused to work within quality standards. A new hull was built in 2021 after the original had cracked after 50 dives, just three of which reached 4,000 m. The new submersible salvaged and reused parts from the failed submersible, and added lifting rings against the advice of engineers, who stated that the Titan could not handle any tension or load.[110]
On June 18, 2023, OceanGate lost contact with Titan during its dive to the Titanic. Loss of contact had occurred multiple times during previous test and tour dives, so OceanGate did not alert authorities until the submersible was overdue for its return. A massive international search and rescue operation ensued and ended on June 22, 2023 when debris from Titan was discovered about 500 meters (1,600 ft) in front of the bow of Titanic, revealing that the submersible had imploded catastrophically, killing all five occupants.
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Associated entities
At the time of Titan's implosion OceanGate had three associated entities: its main headquarters in Everett, Washington; a subsidiary located in the Bahamas named Argus Expeditions Ltd (which trades as OceanGate Expeditions);[111] and an independent nonprofit organization known as the OceanGate Foundation which provides financial support to scientists who participate in missions. Documents filed with the State of Washington list Stockton Rush as the treasurer of the nonprofit and his wife Wendy Rush as the director and president.[112][113]
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External links
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