A paid passenger on an expedition to the Titanic with the company that owned the Titan submersible testified before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday that the mission he took part in was aborted due to apparently mechanical failure.
The Titan last year while on another trip to the Titanic wreckage site. A Coast Guard investigatory panel has listened to four that raised questions about the company鈥檚 operations before the doomed mission.
Fred Hagen was first to testify Friday and was identified as a 鈥渕ission specialist,鈥� which he and other witnesses have characterized as people who paid a fee to play a role in OceanGate鈥檚 underwater exploration. He said his 2021 mission to the Titanic was aborted underwater when the Titan began malfunctioning and it was clear they weren't going to reach the fabled wreck site.
鈥淲e realized that all it could do was spin around in circles, making right turns,鈥� Hagen said. 鈥淎t this juncture, we obviously weren't going to be able to navigate to the Titanic.鈥�
Hagen said the Titan resurfaced and the mission scrapped. He said he was aware of the potentially unsafe nature of getting in the experimental submersible.
鈥淎nyone that wanted to go was either delusional if they didn't think that it was dangerous, or they were embracing the risk,鈥� he said.
OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush was among when the submersible imploded en route to the site of the Titanic wreck in June 2023.
Earlier this month, the Coast Guard opened a public hearing that is part of a high-level investigation into the cause of the implosion. The public hearing began Sept. 16 and some of the testimony has focused on problems the Washington state company had prior to the fatal 2023 dive.
During Thursday's testimony, company scientific director Steven Ross told the investigators the sub experienced a malfunction just days before the Titanic dive. Earlier in the week, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money.
鈥淭he whole idea behind the company was to make money,鈥� Lochridge testified. 鈥淭here was very little in the way of science.鈥�
Other witnesses scheduled for Friday include engineer Dave Dyer of the University of Washington Applied Physics Lab and Patrick Lahey of Triton Submarines. The hearing is expected to resume next week and run through Sept. 27.
Lochridge and other witnesses have painted a picture of a company led by people who were impatient to get the into the water. Lochridge said he filed a complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration about the company. OSHA 鈥減romptly referred his safety allegations regarding the Titan submersible to the Coast Guard,鈥� a spokesperson for the agency said Thursday.
The deadly accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration. Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan鈥檚 unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
But Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the company, told the Coast Guard the firm was staffed by competent people who wanted to 鈥渕ake dreams come true.鈥� Rojas鈥� testimony struck a different tone than some of the earlier witnesses.
鈥淚 was learning a lot and working with amazing people,鈥� Rojas said. 鈥淪ome of those people are very hardworking individuals that were just trying to make dreams come true.鈥�
OceanGate suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees currently, but has been during the hearing.
During the submersible鈥檚 final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the Titan鈥檚 depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
One of the last messages from Titan鈥檚 crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, 鈥渁ll good here,鈥� according to a visual recreation presented earlier in the hearing.
When the submersible was reported missing, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John鈥檚, Newfoundland. Four days later, wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said. No one on board survived.
OceanGate said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021.
Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press
