Titan sub hearings live: OceanGate co-founder had said ‘no-one is dying under my watch’ before tragic submersible implosion
Roy Thomas, a senior principal engineer with the American Bureau of Shipping, is currently speaking
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OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein was the first to testify before the US Coast Guard on Monday. He offered insight into the business but told investigators he’s not sure if the public will ever know what led to the tragedy.
Sohnlein and Stockton Rush founded the company in 2009, who was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded in June 2023.
The former CEO left the company in 2013 but after the submersible’s implosion, he has defended his former business partner. He told investigators he wants the world to honor his friends by continuing deep-sea exploration.
Roy Thomas, a senior principal engineer with the American Bureau of Shipping, is currently speaking. Former OceanGate engineering director Phil Brooks will speak later today.
Last week, several speakers said they raised concerns to Rush about the Titan vessel’s design and lack of classification. Rush called classification “an impediment to innovation” and once told an employee getting inside the submersible is “one of the safest things I will ever do.”
He added: “No-one is dying under my watch -period.”
Hagen speaks about safety concerns
“Anyone that wanted to go was delusional if they thought it wasn’t dangerous,” he says. “It wasn’t supposed to be safe.”
Fred Hagen sworn in as witness
Fred Hagen, a former mission specialist for OceanGate, is recounting his experience. He says he paid OceanGate to be a mission specialist on the company’s first trip to the Titanic wreckage.
Day four of Titan sub hearing commences
Day four of the Titan Submersible Marine Board of Investigation’s hearing commenced at 8.30am ET.
OceanGate mission specialist Fred Hagen is due to give testimony at 8.30am.
Schedule: Who is testifying during today’s hearing?
The hearing will return at 8.30am ET this morning before first testimony is given from OceanGate mission specialist Fred Hagen at 9am.
The Coast Guard’s panel will then hear from Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab, at approximately 10.45am.
Co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines Patrick Lahey will testify at 1.30pm with a final break down of the day’s events taking place at 5.15pm.
The hearing break over the weekend and will then return on Monday at 8.30am.
Ex-contractor recalls drop weight problems
Catterson recalled drop weight issues on the two test dives he was a part of years before the ill-fated Titan set sail.
He described how drop weights work. “The sub became neutral so the sub became neutral...They were only able to drop 70 pounds. That’s not enough to do what they needed to have happen,” Catterson told the panel.
‘Like a bathtub compared to the North Atlantic’: Catterson said the training wasn’t reflective of the conditions the Titan would see on its mission
When asked whether OceanGate staffing in Expedition 2023 was “sufficient to ensure safety,” Catterson paused before responding: “I think training and operations at sea could have been better.”
They did their training out of Everett which is “like a bathtub compared to the North Atlantic,” he said. They didn’t have practice in rougher conditions, like fog. “The training probably didn’t reflect as good as a base of knowledge for out there,” referring to where the Titan set sail.
Lochridge forced to sign new contract after ‘embarrassing’ Rush in front of client, he testifies
He said that he and Stockton Rush “pretty much stopped talking to me rationally” after the Andrea Doria incident.
At the end of the summer 2016, Rush and others told him OceanGate was “no longer willing to pay” for his wife and daughter’s permanent residence. Lochridge believed it was because he “embarrassed him in front of clients,” referring to the Andrea Doria crash, which was a “turning point” in his and Rush’s relationship.
The following day, Rush presented him with a new contract that he sign a new contract that stipulated he would have to reimburse the company if he left within the next 12 months. Rush instructed him not to tell his immigration attorney about the new arrangement.
Catterson said he had ‘doubts’ — and voiced them
“I had my doubts,” Catterson said about the carbon fiber hull.
“I think that when you put it under compression, they can buckle, they can shift, they can move all these directions three-directionally,” he added.
When aksed if he had voiced his concerns about the hull to any OceanGate employees, Catterson said he told Stockton Rush, Tony Nissen, the first witness today who is an engineer, and David Lochridge, who was terminated shortly after detailing his concerns with the Titan’s design in an inspection report.
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