It had to be an adventure, the start of a new era. And yet it ended with a tragedy. Two years ago, the “Titan” submarine capsule imploded during its trip to the wreckage of the Titanic. The five occupants died. A documentary today reveals the frightening underside of the case.
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ZDF / OceanGate Expeditions
Over 100 years ago, the “Titanic” sank after a collision with an iceberg off Newfoundland. Even today, the wreckage of the famous ship rests at the bottom of the sea, about 3,800 meters deep. To see her with her own eyes is for many a big dream … inaccessible. Oceangate wanted to change this.
Stockton Rush, co -founder of the company, described the wreckage of the liner “absolute dream place in the sea”. But to materialize his vision, the entrepreneur has taken extreme risks. In the end, four people and Stockton Rush himself paid him for their lives.
How did we get there?
In the documentary of “Terra X” “Titan-Todesfahrt Zur Titanic” (to see in the ZDF media library and Sunday, 7:30 pm, on the ZDF), the accident background is now analyzed and the question is asked: was it really a tragic accident or was it negligence that led to the death of the five passengers?
An unauthorized building material
Stockton Rush had studied engineering in aerospace. He wanted to revolutionize the use of diving boats and above all market it.
For this, he has bet on a great innovation in construction: “Carbon fiber is the appropriate material for underwater vehicles,” he said clearly. The resistance/buoyancy ratio is, according to Rush, three times better than that of the titanium. “After having tested it, he will be invulnerable,” said the entrepreneur, who could not have been more mistaken.
Unlike titanium, carbon fiber is not an authorized building material for certified diving boats. But it was not only on this point that the American coast guard, who opened an investigation after the accident, discovered irregularities.
Indeed, Stockton Rush has never officially recorded his “Titan”. Captain Jason Neubauer, president of the Coast Guard Inquiry Commission, explains in the documentary of “Terra X”: “This is how no control institution is ensuring the operation”. He underlines: “We have never seen such a ploy”.
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ZDF and Karl Stanley
The absence of registration was not the only violation of the rules. For example, during a dive, the dome of the “Titan” had to be secured by a total of 18 bolts. Oceangate used only four …
A journalist reports a shocking testimony
Stockton Rush had to be aware that all of this was a huge risk. Indeed, disturbing incidents also occurred during the dives carried out long before the accident of the “Titan”.
Thus, the first dive of the pressized capsule with passengers took place in 2019 off the Bahamas. It was a question of checking for the first time if the submersible could take passengers to a depth of 3,800 meters.
In addition to Stockton Rush, the pilot of the submersible Karl Stanley and Petros Mathioudakis, a technician specializing in submarine laser scanners, were on board. The three men plunged with the submarine. Shortly after, they heard disturbing noises: “It was extremely strong, like a pistol stroke,” recalls Mathioudakis, who specifies: “we should not hear such a noise in a submersible”.
Karl Stanley was also very alarmed after the dive. It was certain that the detonation noises were due to a material failure of the carbon fibers. And he goes even further: “I’m sure we were on the verge of implosion”.
“A red alert”
Stockton Rush did not want to know anything, saying many times that such noises were completely normal during a dive.
He also underlined it during an interview with Discovery journalist Josh Gates. When the two men spoke of diving to the Bahamas in a previous interview, Rush retorted: “I’m going to show you what it does when the carbon fibers let go and that you don’t have a lot of time” and has spent an audio recording of the incident.
“And then, did you quickly go up to the surface?”, Continues Gates. “No, I continued to go down. Why not ?” An eloquent response from Rush who lastingly shocked the journalist: “For me, it was not an alarm signal, but a red alert”. Rush wanted to achieve his goal, “whatever happens,” said Gates in the ZDF film.
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ZDF
The total extent of the damage was only known during a subsequent inspection. The submersible presented a crack. According to Tony Nissen, the technical director, this crack extended throughout the hull.
We first tried to sand the damage, but the boat was no longer usable, according to Nissen. He still explains: “Stockton wanted me to direct the mission ‘Titanic’ as a pilot, and I said: ‘I do not go up in there. I did not trust Stockton ”.
The debris of the “titan” found near the wreckage of the “Titanic”
In 2020, the reconstruction of the submersible began, again in carbon fiber. And this time again, it did not take long for alarm signals to be heard. During the diving 80, there was a strong detonation, a “dilapidation” which damaged the carbon fibers, explains Lieutenant Commander Katie Williams of the Coast Guard. She specifies: “all those who went up on the ‘Titan’ after diving 80 risked their lives”.
And yet, on June 18, 2023, the group composed of the expert of the “Titanic” Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77), the British adventurer and entrepreneur Hamish Harding (58), the Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood (48) and his son Suleman Dawood (19), as well as Stockton Rush himself, decided to try the adventure the wreck of the “titanic”.
A boat led the “Titan” of St. John to Canada 700 kilometers from the coast, where the “Titanic” wreck is at the bottom of the sea. The capsule began its dive at 9:14 am. Less than two hours later, communication with the diving boat was interrupted.
A feverish research started, which delivered a sad certainty after four days.
Titan’s debris were discovered. Analyzes have shown that the submersible had implored at 10:47 am – all the occupants died. There were only debris of the pressurized capsule, less than 500 meters from the bow of the “Titanic”.
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