15 months after the tragic events of the Titan submersible’s implosion, new details have been revealed from the United States Coast Guard hearing. A string of the Titan’s last messages to its support ship and a haunting image of its remains have been recently released to the public.
On June 18, 2023, a deep sea commercial leasing company by the name of OceanGate sent their submersible, the Titan, to explore the remains of the infamous Titanic wreckage for the 14 time. The voyage ended in tragedy as the vessel imploded killing five people after losing contact with the Polar Prince, its support ship.
The public hearing held by the Coast Guard began on Sept. 16. The purpose of these hearings is to find the exact cause of the implosion and how to avoid tragedies like these from happening in the future.
During the hearing, the Titan’s last messages were displayed saying, “All good here” less than an hour before the implosion, and the last message “dropped two wts” was sent just 6 seconds before losing contact.
“Wts” is the abbreviation for dropping the vessel’s weight in order to stop sinking. This indicated that the crew knew something was wrong and were trying to rise. However, this activity is normal for diving in these depths to avoid impact with the ocean floor.
A photograph was also revealed. The image was taken by a remotely controlled robot investigating the depth of the sea. It shows Titan’s broken tail cone and shattered debris around it.
Many employees and former employees attended the hearing to give their testimony. A majority expressed that the ship was not thoroughly tested, that it used controversial materials and that its construction was not prioritizing safety. This led to many of the engineers to refuse to get on the submersible.
Tony Nissen, one of the former engineering directors shared he “wouldn’t sign off on it, so [he] got terminated.”
David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations for OceanGate, shared a similar experience in which he was fired from OceanGate for raising concerns about the vessel’s manufacturing and piloting.
Marine scientist, Dr. Steven Ross, claimed the Titan had attempted the voyage 6 days prior but had undergone a malfunction where the vessel tilted and its tail started rising.
“The pilot crashed into the rear bulkhead, the rest of the passengers tumbled about, I ended up standing on the rear bulkhead, one passenger was hanging upside down, the other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow endcap,” said Ross.
The problem had allegedly been fixed but the issue was not checked before the actual voyage.
In the Titan’s previous voyages to the Titanic, it was reported that a loud banging noise could be heard when diving.
Ross reported that scientists and others at OceanGate believed this was the hull of the Titan being affected by the shift of pressure and that when the hull popped back into place, the metal made a sound. The Titan was already degraded from its previous trips, and its trip in June was the last one it could handle without incident.
The investigation at the hearing continues for another two weeks, and the Coast Guard continues to search for answers to prevent future events from ending like this voyage did.
