The lead engineer for an experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic testified Monday that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it.
“'I'm not getting in it,'” Tony Nissen said he told Stockton Rush, co-founder of the OceanGate company that owned the Titan submersible.
Nissen, OceanGate’s former engineering director, was the first witness to testify at what is expected to be a two-week U.S. Coast Guard hearing. The Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, killing all five people on board and setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Nissen said Rush could be difficult to work for and was often very concerned with costs and project schedules, among other issues. He said Rush would fight for what he wanted, which often changed day to day. He added that he tried to keep the clashes between the two of them behind closed doors so that others in the company wouldn’t be aware.
“Most people would eventually just back down to Stockton,” he said at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Nissen also noted that the Titan was struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018, and that might have compromised its hull. He said he was fired in 2019, the same year he wouldn’t let the submersible go to the Titanic. He said he told Rush the Titan was “not working like we thought it would.”
When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, he responded, “100%.”
The submersible later went through other tests and adjustments before its subsequent dives to the Titanic, Nissen said. But he added that he refused to pilot the Titan because he didn’t trust the operations staff.
Asked if he felt the pressure from Stockton compromised safety decisions and testing, Nissen paused, then replied, "No. And that’s a difficult question to answer, because given infinite time and infinite budget, you could do infinite testing.”
The submersible was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023, and the hull was also never reviewed by any third parties as is standard procedure, Coast Guard representatives said in their initial remarks. The absence of an independent review and the submersible's unconventional design subjected the Titan to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
One of the last texts from the Titan's crew to the support ship Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the hearing.
The crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the submersible's depth and weight as it descended. The Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard. When the hearing concludes, recommendations will be submitted to the Coast Guard's commandant. The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation.
“There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident,” said Jason Neubauer of the Coast Guard Office of Investigations, who led the hearing. “But we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again.”
OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended operations after the implosion. The company's former finance director, Bonnie Carl began testifying Monday afternoon; former contractor Tym Catterson was also scheduled to appear.
Among those not on the witness list is Rush's widow, Wendy Rush, the company's communications director. Asked about her absence, spokesperson Melissa Leake said the Coast Guard would have no comment. She said it's common for a Marine Board of Investigation to “hold multiple hearing sessions or conduct additional witness depositions for complex cases.”
Also scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein; former operations director, David Lochridge; and former scientific director, Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard. Numerous guard officials, scientists, and government and industry officials are also expected to testify. The U.S. Coast Guard subpoenaed witnesses who were not government employees, Leake said.
OceanGate has no full-time employees at this time but will be represented by an attorney during the hearing, the company said in a statement. The company has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began, the statement said.
The implosion also killed veteran Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood; and British adventurer Hamish Harding.
The Titan lost contact with its support vessel about two hours after it made its final dive later. When it was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The search for the submersible attracted worldwide attention, as it became increasingly unlikely that anyone could have survived the implosion. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.
The time frame for the investigation was initially a year, but the inquiry has taken longer. The Coast Guard said in July that the hearing would delve into “all aspects of the loss of the Titan,” including both mechanical considerations as well as compliance with regulations and crewmember qualifications.
The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021. ___
This story has been edited to clarify that “all good here” was one of the last things heard from the submersible, not necessarily the very last thing heard.
Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press
