OceanGate faced allegations over hull safety on its Titanic sub in 2018
A former employee at OceanGate Expeditions, the private company whose submersible vanished on a trip to the wreck of the Titanic, had warned of “quality control and safety” problems that could affect customers as far back as 2018 – the same year diving experts warned the company about similar issues.
David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, claimed that he had raised alarms about the company’s handling of the Titan sub, which carries passengers 12,500 feet underwater to the shipwreck at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Lochridge said he found a “lack of non-destructive testing performed on the hull of the Titan,” and when he raised the issues with OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush, he was wrongfully terminated, according to a lawsuit.
“OceanGate gave Lochridge approximately 10 minutes to immediately clear out his desk and exit the premises,” Lochridge’s attorneys said in the filing. “The paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible.”
Just months after Lochridge was fired, the Marine Technology Society sent a letter to OceanGate on behalf of its members, “who have collectively expressed unanimous concern regarding the development of TITAN and the planned Titanic Expedition.”
The experts warned that OceanGate’s sub was designed in such a way that “could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry.”
Rush is now among the five people who vanished along with the Titan sub on Sunday during a trip to the famous shipwreck.
Lochridge and OceanGate did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Lochridge said he was given the task of inspecting the ship’s hull a year before it went into action, but noticed several issues when trying to complete his task.
The expert alleges that he was “met with hostility and denial of access to the necessary documentation” to actually complete his job, and was told no one had performed any scans of the materials being used to ensure that the vessel could withstand the high-pressure environment of the ocean floor.
Despite the setbacks, Lochridge said he was able to fulfill his task, outlining the issues with the ship on a January 18, 2018 report.
The following day, Lochridge was confronted by Rush and other higher-ups at the company, where he maintained that their best bet was to seek out help from outside agencies to make sure Titan was compliant with all the standard safety protocols.
It was during that meeting that Lochridge said he was fired. It remains unclear if Lochridge’s concerns were ever addressed.
His allegations were detailed in a countersuit against OceanGate, which had accused him of breach of contract, fraud, and revealing trade secrets.
Lochridge denied all the charges, and the case was settled out of court in November 2018.
Three months after the fallout with Lochridge, the MTS reached out to OceanGate, echoing a similar warning about the way the company constructed their sub.
Tourist submersible exploring Titanic wreckage disappears in Atlantic Ocean
What we know
A submersible on a pricey tourist expedition to the Titanic shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean has vanished with likely only four days’ worth of oxygen. The US Coast Guard said the small submarine began its journey underwater with five passengers Sunday morning, and the Canadian research vessel that it was working with lost contact with the crew about an hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
Who is on board?
The family of world explorer Hamish Harding confirmed on Facebook that he was among the five traveling in the missing submarine. Harding, a British businessman who previously paid for a space ride aboard the Blue Origin rocket last year, shared a photo of himself on Sunday signing a banner for OceanGate’s latest voyage to the shipwreck.
Also onboard were Pakistani energy and tech mogul Shanzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, 19; famed French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush.
What’s next?
“We’re doing everything we can do to locate the submersible and rescue those on board,” Rear Adm. John Mauger told reporters. “In terms of the hours, we understood that was 96 hours of emergency capability from the operator.
Coast Guard officials said they are currently focusing all their efforts on locating the sub first before deploying any vessel capable of reaching as far below as 12,500 feet where the Titanic wreck is located.
While the Coast Guard has no submarine capable of reaching those depths, officials are working around the clock to make sure such a vessel is ready if and when the Titan sub is located.
As of Tuesday afternoon, officials said there was only 40 hours of oxygen left on the Titan.
Mauger, first district commander and leader of the search-and-rescue mission, said the US was coordinating with Canada on the operation.
The agency claimed OceanGate had been lying in their advertisement for the Titanic trips, where the company said it would comply with the DNV-GL’s safety standards despite not actually following the agency’s rule.
“Your representation is, at minimum, misleading to the public and breaches an industry-wide professional
code of conduct we all endeavor to uphold,” the MTS said.
Will Kohnen, the chairman of the committee, told the New York Times that Rush called him after reading the letter to tell him that the industry regulations were stifling his company’s innovation.
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