Titan sub hearings live: Testimony concludes as Coast Guard hears about build up to OceanGate disaster
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush allegedly declared that he would “buy a congressman” to make issues surrounding the Titan sub’s certification go away, a witness testified.
Matthew McCoy, who worked at the submersible company for six months from April 2017, addressed the Titan Marine Board of Investigation panel on Friday for the final day of the two-week long hearing into Titan’s disaster voyage in June 2023.
After raising concerns about an alleged lack of certificate of inspection for the first Titan sub in 2017, McCoy testified that Rush told him, “I would buy a congressman” to make problems disappear during a lunch meeting. The ex-OceanGate employee said that he quit soon after.
“He was either trying to intimidate me or impress me,” he testified.
McCoy also alleged that the OceanGate engineering department was “full of college interns” during his time at the company, adding that he “doesn’t believe” there was a professional engineer on staff.
Captain Jamie Frederick, member of the US Coast Guard who oversaw rescue mission of the Titan and its five crew, began testifying after McCoy. Coast Guard Search and Rescue Specialist Scott Talbot was the last person to testify.
Key points
The Coast Guard’s nearly two-week hearing on the Titan sub tragedy has concluded
Stockton Rush allegedly told employee he’d ‘buy a congressman’ to make Titan issues go away
OceanGate engineering department full of ‘college interns,’ ex-employee testifies
Newly unearthed detail may have had ‘drastic impact’ on Titan search efforts
OceanGate hearing highlights
21:50 , Michelle Del Rey
OceanGate’s submarine relied on ‘idiotic’ Excel spreadsheet
Shock photo shows how Titan submersible fell apart before implosion
Map shows how close Titan came to Titanic wreck after deadly implosion
OceanGate CEO ‘understood’ regulations but ‘didn’t hire' a safety officer, ex-employee says
21:22 , Michelle Del Rey
When asked if OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush understood the regulations in place at that moment of time, ex-employee Matthew McCoy, who worked at the submersible company for a short stint from April 2017, replied that “I absolutely do”.
McCoy then testified that he “doesn’t believe” there was a professional engineer on staff. He added that he believes there was no safety officer working at OceanGate at the time.
‘First subsurface search and rescue case in my 30-year Coast Guard career,’ witness testifies
21:07 , Michelle Del Rey
Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard detailed the unprecedented situation that the Titan search and rescue mission brought with it.
He said that in the entirety of his 30 year Coast Guard career, most of which was conducting search and rescue missions, he’d never been deployed on a subsurface mission.
Frederick testified that he isn’t aware of any other subsurface S&R missions conducted by the Coast Guard before.
The Coast Guard’s nearly two-week hearing on the Titan sub tragedy has concluded
20:32 , Michelle Del Rey
Coast Guard and NTSB officials gave a brief statement before concluding with the hearing on Friday.
Hearing about to conclude with closing statements
20:20 , Michelle Del Rey
Talbot has finished speaking. After a quick break, Coast Guard officials will return to begin closing statements.
OceanGate refused to execute search patters sent by Coast Guard
20:00 , Michelle Del Rey
Talbot says the company did not do the search patterns given by the Coast Guard because they were “more concerned [Titan] had not resurfaced and were focused on finding its location sub surface with the equipment they had on board.”
US Coast Guard has not updated safety protocols after Titan submersible tragedy
19:43 , Michelle Del Rey
Talbot says the federal agency has not made any changes to their standards when responding to sub sea incidents after the Titan tragedy but suspects that an after action report could yield some changes.
Read it: OceanGate confirms earlier prototype of imploded Titan submersible was struck by lightning
19:16 , Michelle Del Rey
A representative for OceanGate has confirmed to The Independent that the hull of the Titan submersible which imploded last summer was not struck by lightning.
Citing public records, the representative explained that it was, in fact, an earlier prototype hull that was struck by lightning in 2018.
This comes after OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen, testified on Monday during the US Coast Guard’s public inquiry into the implosion, saying he believed the hull had been compromised by a lightning strike during the test dive in the Bahamas.
Read more by Emma Guinness.
OceanGate confirms earlier prototype of imploded Titan sub was struck by lightning
Scott Talbot, a search and rescue specialist with the Coast Guard, is currently testifying
18:52 , Michelle Del Rey
Talbot is testifying about the US Coast Guard’s response to the OceanGate tragedy.
Coast Guard captain who led Titan search and rescue efforts will testify later this morning
18:38 , Michelle Del Rey
A member of the US Coast Guard who oversaw the rescue mission of the Titan submersible in June 2023 is set to testify today.
Captain Jamie Frederick will give testimony at approximately 10.45am ET in front of Titan Marine Board of Investigation’s panel.
Frederick, of the First Coast Guard District Response Department, regularly spoke to press to provide information on the search for the Titan and its five passengers on board.
Captain Jamie Frederick’s testimony convenes, hearing returns at 1.30pm
17:23 , James Liddell
The second witness of Friday’s hearing has wrapped up their testimony. The Marine Board has wrapped up for lunch and will return at approximately 1.30pm ET.
Conflicting intel surrounding Titan noises and ‘sub implosion’
17:10 , James Liddell
Navy intelligence provided to the Coast Guard detailed that noises were heard from where they believed Titan’s was located, Captain Jamie Frederick testified.
The intel was initially “classified” and not revealed to the victims’ families or the media.
Based on intel from the Navy, the Coast Guard couldn’t confirm “100 per cent that it was an implosion”.
At the same time, “we were receiving conflicting evidence from P-3 [aircraft] and sonar that there were knocking noises,” Frederick testified.
Newly unearthed detail may have had ‘drastic impact’ on Titan search efforts, witness says
17:00 , James Liddell
Captain Jamie Frederick was show a document titled “Exhibit 64” by the panel: a line of questioning the Coast Guard’s panel had asked the master of the Polar Prince (the vessel Titan was launched from), during their evidence gathering stage in October 16, 2023 (months after the implosion).
“Did you or crew members hear or see anything after communications were lost with Titan that could have indicated that the submersible had imploded,” the document read.
The Polar Prince master answered: “With the benefit of hindsight, I now believe that I felt the Polar Prince shudder at around the time communications were reportedly lost, but at the time we thought nothing of it… it was slight.”
That detail would have “absolutely” changed the search and rescue efforts, Frederick said. The Coast Guard was not alerted of that information, he said.
“That’s the first I’ve seen… To me personally that would be unconscionable that they wouldn’t share that with the unified command,” Frederick testified.
“It’s a piece of info we didn’t have,” he continued. “It’s information that could have had a drastic impact on the search efforts.”
Coast Guard employee testifies whether OceanGate provided ‘all available information’ during search
16:41 , James Liddell
Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard, who ran the search and rescue mission into the missing Titan sub, addressed whether he believed OceanGate provided all available information during the search.
“There is so much information that has been discussed over the past two weeks,” Frederick said in reference to the Titan Marine Board of Investigation’s two-week long inquiry.
“We didn’t have a fraction of that.”
He continued: “We certainly didn’t have the level of information that has been brought forth.”
16:36 , James Liddell
Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard detailed the moment he learned of noises coming from the location where Titan disappeared.
“Really as soon as the P-3s started flying – so Monday June 19. A couple things we did there: we investigated the noises with the Polar Prince (Titan’s mothership from which it was launched) and their sonar ability.” He added there were additional P-3 flights dispatched.
Data was packaged together and handed over to the US Navy, Frederick testified.
By either Tuesday 20 June, 2023, or Wednesday 21 June, 2023, the Navy sent back a report, which concluded that “sounds were not coming in regular intervals” after it was believed they were being made in 30 minute intervals, he testified.
Frederick added that the Navy said the noises were “not human in nature”. He first shared information with families before alerting the media.
‘Search conditions were good’
16:27 , James Liddell
“In general terms the search conditions were good,” testified Captain Jamie Frederick, who was in charge of the US Coast Guard’s search and rescue mission to find the Titan sub.
“We weren’t hampered severely by weather,” he added, but noted that “aircraft [was] limited to 500ft ceiling at certain points” during their search.
There were no Coast Guard staff shortages at the time, Frederick testified. All S&R equipment was in good working order, he added.
Coast Guard witness outlines ‘logistical challenges’ of getting ROV to Titan’s location
16:23 , James Liddell
Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard said there were “logistical challenges” in finding and sending a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to the area Titan disappeared.
“What we’re looking for is a 6,000m ROV,” he said. “Those resources are limited and they need to be available, and available quickly.”
OceanGate reached out to Pelagic Research Services – who eventually provided an ROV, Frederick testified.
The Coast Guard (with support from the United States Transportation Command) chartered three C-17 Globemaster aircraft to New York to pick up the ROV. In total it amounted to 70,000lbs of equipment, posing an extreme “logistical challenge,” Frederick testified.
Coast Guard captain reveals initial challenges in search for Titan
16:07 , James Liddell
“The case is challenging for many reasons,” Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard began.
He noted the distance off-shore, the lack of presence from the Canadian Coast Guard initially and a 3,000 meter ROV (remotely operated vehicle) depth.
Frederick added that the US Coast Guard sent out C-130 Hercules aircraft, with the New York International Guard and Canadian Air Force also sending out planes. As Search and Rescue Coordinator, Frederick could direct Canadian assets.
Captain reveals moment Coast Guard received call about ‘overdue’ Titan
15:57 , James Liddell
“On Sunday… we received a call into the district command center at 17.40,” Captain Jamie Frederick testified of the moment Titan disappeared on June 18, 2023. “It was a report for an overdue submersible at the side of the Titanic.”
“An overdue vessel, in the simplest terms, means you have confirmed departure from a location, and confirmed non-departure – that would put you in the distressed phase.”
He continued: “You’re talking about a multidimensional search: subsurface and surface.”
A Coast Guard crew flew to the area to conduct a surface search, Frederick said. The US Navy was probed for available resources, which they did not have to hand, he added.
US Coast Guard captain who led search for Titan begins testimony
15:39 , James Liddell
Captain Jamie Frederick, the US Coast Guard employee who oversaw the rescue mission of the Titan submersible, has begun giving testimony to the Titan Marine Board of Investigation.
First witness, ex-OceanGate employee Matthew McCoy, finishes testimony
14:57 , James Liddell
Matthew McCoy, a former OceanGate employee who worked at the company between April and September in 2017, has finished with his testimony.
OceanGate engineering department full of ‘college interns,’ former employee testifies
14:40 , James Liddell
Ex-OceanGate employee Matthew McCoy testified that the submersible’s “engineering department didn’t seem overly qualified,” while he worked at the company in 2017.
He again said he was concerned after learning that OceanGate had broken ties with Boeing and the University of Washington’s engineering department.
“Who is the qualified individual making these decisions?,” he added. McCoy claimed that OceanGate engineers consisted of “college interns” during the summer of 2017.
Ex-OceanGate employee ‘didn’t think they’d dive Titan’
14:35 , James Liddell
Matthew McCoy testified that after handing in notice following his lunch with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush (as per previous post), he “didn’t think they’d dive Titan”.
OceanGate CEO said he would ‘buy a congressman’ to make problems go away, witness testifies
14:29 , James Liddell
Matthew McCoy said he had lunch with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and OceanGate’s director of quality assurance Scott Griffith and raised concerns about an alleged lack of certificate of inspection for the first Titan sub in 2017.
“I would buy a congressman” and make the problems go away, McCoy said that Rush told him.
“He was either trying to intimidate me or impress me,” he testified.
McCoy said that he handed in his notice the following day.
Ex-OceanGate employee reveals ‘first alarm bell’
14:20 , James Liddell
“During my time there [at OceanGate], I learned that the company had basically broken ties with the applied physics lab at the University of Washington,” and the “explanation wasn’t clear” as to why, OceanGate employee Matthew McCoy testified.
He referred to this as his “first alarm bell”.
McCoy said that the second alarm bell was that “Boeing wasn’t going to be doing the carbon fiber” for the first Titan sub hull.
Ex-OceanGate employee Matthew McCoy begins giving testimony
14:06 , James Liddell
Matthew McCoy, a former member of the US Coast Guard before working for OceanGate for six months from April 2017 to September 2017, is the first witness of the day to begin testifying at approximately 9.05am ET.
“I had zero experience with any sort of underwater vehicle at the time,” he testified, before saying he helped support on test dives and training.
Titan hearing begins, despite power outage due to storm Helene
14:04 , James Liddell
Jason Neubauer of the Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis Deputy Chief began the hearing’s final daily opening at 9am ET.
The inquiry at Charleston County Council Building, South Carolina, was predicted to be delayed due to Hurricane Helene making landfall in Florida on Thursday evening.
Despite a power outage, Neubauer says, the hearing is now under way.
Schedule: Three witnesses set to testify on hearing’s final day
13:33 , James Liddell
Three more witnesses, including a final ex-OceanGate employee, are set to testify in front of Titan Marine Board of Investigation on Friday morning.
Matthew McCoy, who worked for the submersible company, will testify at 9am ET. Captain Jamie Frederick of the Coast Guard Sector Boston will address the Coast Guard’s panel at 10.45am, before Rescue Specialist Scott Talbot is due to give testimony at 1.30pm.
Closing remarks will be made at 3.15pm before the final breakdown at 5.15pm.
Titan debris 300m from Titanic site
13:03 , Alex Lang
New maps show just how close the Titan sub was to the Titanic wreck site before disaster hit.
While the Titan’s last known position before the implosion was 1,600ft away from the bow of the Titanic, its debris was found much closer to the bow at 300m away, Coast Guard officials said.
Maps were released on Thursday showing the distance between the two.
US Coast Guard to hold final day of hearings into Titan disaster
12:27 , Rachel Sharp
The US Coast Guard’s two-week long hearing into the Titan submersible is set to conclude today.
Friday’s hearing will begin with testimony from Commander Zachary Roberston of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Center.
Then, the board will hear from Captain Jamie Frederick with the Coast Guard Sector Boston. Frederick was involved with the Titan search efforts and regularly provided updates to the media last summer.
The final witness will be Scott Talbot, a search and rescue specialist with the Coast Guard.
After the final witness, the board will hear closing statements.
Follow along here for live updates when the hearing begins.
Live coverage to resume Friday morning
02:00 , Katie Hawkinson
Live blog coverage of the Titan submersible investigative hearings is paused until the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation reconvenes on Friday morning.
OceanGate co-founder claims milestone in quest to put humans on Venus
01:00 , Katie Hawkinson
The OceanGate co-founder has claimed the latest milestone in his quest to colonise Venus as the inquiry into the Titan submersible disaster continues.
Read more:
OceanGate co-founder claims milestone in quest to put humans on Venus
Recap: Coast Guard inspector testifies
Friday 27 September 2024 00:00 , Katie Hawkinson
John Winters with the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound testified today, revealing his interactions with OceanGate and Stockton Rush.
Former OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush complained to Winters several times about the Coast Guard’s regulatory processes, he testified.
“He did express on multiple occasions that regulations were stifling his innovation process,” Winters said of his conversations with Rush.
Despite this, OceanGate “never attempted to circumvent any regulations,” Winters added.
Winters worked to evaluate the safety of OceanGate’s Antipodes vessel. OceanGate wanted to obtain a small passenger vessel certification from the Coast Guard but did not receive it, Winters said.
He also revealed that OceanGate did not ask the Coast Guard to inspect the doomed Titan vessel that imploded last year.
Shock photo shows how Titan submersible fell apart two years before implosion
Thursday 26 September 2024 23:00 , Katie Hawkinson
This week’s hearings revealed that, in 2021, the dome part of the doomed Titan vessel fell off after a dive.
That vessel would go on to catastrophically fail two years later, imploding underwater and killing all five people on board.
Learn more about the 2021 malfunction from The Independent:
Shock photo shows how Titan submersible fell apart before implosion
Final hearing schedule
Thursday 26 September 2024 22:00 , Katie Hawkinson
The final hearing in the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation’s inquiry into the Titan submersible will begin Friday morning.
The hearing will kick off with Commander Zachary Roberston of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Center.
Then, the board will hear from Captain Jamie Frederick with the Coast Guard Sector Boston. Frederick was involved with the Titan search efforts and regularly provided updates to the media last summer.
The witness list will end with Scott Talbot, a search and rescue specialist with the Coast Guard.
The board will then hear closing statements before the final hearing day ends.
Hearing ends for the day
Thursday 26 September 2024 21:13 , Katie Hawkinson
Thursday’s hearing ended after Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Duffett of the Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance testified to the board about submersible regulations.
The final scheduled hearing in the investigation will take place tomorrow.
Coast Guard member testifies on ‘mission specialists’ and paid passengers
Thursday 26 September 2024 19:59 , Katie Hawkinson
Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Duffett of the Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance spoke to the issue of “mission specialists” on board the Titan and other vessels.
The issue has come up repeatedly during this hearing. Other witnesses have testified that OceanGate may have been labeling passengers as ‘mission specialists’ when they did not do specialized work on board the Titan.
“It’s clearly a dodge of trying to go around US regulations with passengers,” Karl Stanley, a close friend of CEO Stockton Rush and owner of a diving company in Honduras, testified Tuesday.
A member of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation asked Duffett about these mission specialists: “OceanGate, on multiple occasions, took at least three people on board who paid to become OceanGate designated as ‘mission specialists’ on missions that departed from US cities...Would these ‘mission specialists’ be considered, or would this operation be considered, a small passenger vessel operation?”
Duffett told the board that regulations state that paid passengers aren’t crew members.
“If you have paid, then you don’t qualify as a member of the crew,” Duffett testified.
Second Coast Guard witness begins final testimony of the day
Thursday 26 September 2024 18:57 , Katie Hawkinson
Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Duffett of the Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance has begun his testimony.
He is the final witness of the day.
Coast Guard inspector ends testimony
Thursday 26 September 2024 17:47 , Katie Hawkinson
John Winters, a master marine inspector with the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, has ended his testimony.
The hearing is now on break for lunch and will resume at 1:45 p.m. EDT.
OceanGate ‘never attempted to circumvent any regulations’, Coast Guard inspector said
Thursday 26 September 2024 17:34 , Katie Hawkinson
OceanGate “never attempted to circumvent any regulations” even as CEO Stockton Rush complained they were stifling his innovation, according to John Winters, a master marine inspector with the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound.
“He did express on multiple occasions that regulations were stifling his innovation process,” Winters said of Rush earlier on Thursday.
OceanGate did not ask Coast Guard to inspect Titan, inspector says
Thursday 26 September 2024 17:00 , Katie Hawkinson
OceanGate did not ask the Coast Guard to inspect the doomed Titan submersible, according to John Winters, a master marine inspector with the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound.
Winters said he only spoke to former Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush about the sub in passing when he mentioned wanting to take a vessel to the Titanic wreckage.
Stockton Rush complained about Coast Guard regulations, safety inspector said
Thursday 26 September 2024 16:52 , Katie Hawkinson
John Winters, a marine inspector with the Coast Guard, testified that former OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush complained about regulatory processes.
“He did express on multiple occasions that regulations were stifling his innovation process,” Winters said of his conversations with Rush.
Winters worked to evaluate the safety of OceanGate’s Antipodes vessel. OceanGate wanted to obtain a small passenger vessel certification from the Coast Guard but did not receive it, Winters testified.
Coast Guard safety inspector worked with Stockton Rush to evaluate safety of OceanGate vessel
Thursday 26 September 2024 16:45 , Katie Hawkinson
John Winters, a marine inspector with the Coast Guard, interacted directly with former OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, he revealed on Thursday.
Winters worked to evaluate the safety of Antipodes, another vessel made by the company.
“We basically took the submarine apart, put it back together, and tested every single system on the submarine,” Winters said.
OceanGate wanted to obtain a small passenger vessel certification from the Coast Guard but did not receive it, Winters testified. The company had to instead apply for an oceanographic research vessel certification, which they obtained.
Coast Guard marine inspector testifies
Thursday 26 September 2024 16:20 , Katie Hawkinson
John Winters with the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound has begun his testimony before the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation.
Winters is a master marine inspector and helps train other inspectors.
OceanGate co-founder claims milestone in quest to put humans on Venus
Thursday 26 September 2024 16:15 , Emma Guinness
The OceanGate co-founder has claimed the latest milestone in his quest to colonise Venus as the inquiry into the Titan submersible disaster continues.
Taking to LinkedIn, Guillermo Söhnlein, 58, shared a post about a new “biopod” with its own climate system that could be used to help humans thrive on the otherwise uninhabitable planet.
Read more:
OceanGate co-founder claims milestone in quest to put humans on Venus
Boeing engineer begins testimony
Thursday 26 September 2024 15:17 , Katie Hawkinson
Mark Negley, an engineer with Boeing, is now testifying before the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation
Negley once sent Rush his safety analysis of Titan’s hull, WIRED reports. He warned that there would be a “high risk of significant failure” if the contraption went to the depth of the Titanic wreckage.
Shock photo shows how Titan submersible fell apart before implosion
Thursday 26 September 2024 15:14 , Emma Guinness
The ongoing public hearing into the Titan submersible disaster has revealed that part of the experimental vessel fell off before it imploded last June.
Better known as the “Titanic tourist sub”, the Oceangate submersible had a controversial design that raised concerns inside and outside of the company before it led to the deaths of five men. Former Oceangate operations director David Lochridge revealed last week that he was actually fired for raising his concerns.
It is believed that the vessel’s carbon fibre hull – considered by experts to be unsuitable for use at depth – was weakened on repeat dives to the Titanic wreck, which lies at around 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic Ocean, as testified by National Transportation Safety Board engineer Don Kramer on Wednesday.
Read more:
Shock photo shows how Titan submersible fell apart before implosion
Thursday hearing kicks off with NASA engineer
Thursday 26 September 2024 14:22 , Katie Hawkinson
Today’s hearing before the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation kicked off with testimony from Justin Jackson, a materials engineer with NASA.
OceanGate had approached NASA about performance testing in their deep-sea facility, Jackson’s testimony revealed.
Soon afterward, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and OceanGate sought other partners as in-person facility use was limited, Jackson said.
Testimony to resume on Thursday
Thursday 26 September 2024 13:18 , Alex Lang
Testimony in the OceanGate Titan sub hearings before the US Coast Guard are set to resume today.
Expected to testify are experts from the Coast Guard, NASA and Boeing. They are expected to talk more about the disaster that claimed the lives of five people.
It's part of 10 days worth of testimony as investigators try to determine what went wrong before the implosion and if there were warning signs that were missed by OceanGate officials.
Blog coverage to resume Thursday morning
Thursday 26 September 2024 02:00 , Katie Hawkinson
Wednesday’s testimony before the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation has ended.
Blog coverage will resume when the next hearing begins on Thursday morning.
