- The Titan submersible reached the Titanic wreck on only 13 out of 90 dives, as stated in the passenger waiver.
- This indicates that OceanGate had a success rate as low as 14% for its deep-sea expeditions.
- In 2021, the Titan failed a test dive, and other trips were canceled in the three years prior.
According to OceanGate’s passenger waiver, their Titan submersible only managed to reach the depth of the Titanic wreck on 13 out of approximately 90 dives.
Based on the waiver reviewed by Insider, the sub successfully completed “as few as 13” dives to the depth of 3,800 meters, where the Titanic lies.
This suggests that OceanGate may have had a success rate of around 14% for their dives to the depths of the Titanic, considering that they described the Titan as “experimental” multiple times in the liability waiver.
An archived version of OceanGate’s website mentions that the company completed over 14 expeditions and 200 dives in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico using two submersibles. Forbes reported that their first successful dive to the Titanic took place in 2021.
However, following the catastrophic implosion of the sub on June 18, which resulted in the death of all five people on board, various design issues have been revealed.
In 2018, Rob McCallum, a consultant for OceanGate, raised safety concerns with CEO Stockton Rush regarding the company’s engineering approach. McCallum stated that the company’s engineering was “ad hoc” and “ultimately inappropriate,” but his concerns, as seen in Insider’s review of the emails, were dismissed by Rush.
One of the major concerns raised by McCallum was the lack of certification or approval from regulatory bodies for the sub, as disclosed in the waiver.
The waiver also mentioned that the Titan submersible was constructed using materials not widely used in manned submersibles.
Guillermo Söhnlein, the co-founder of OceanGate, stated in an interview with BBC News that the sub underwent a rigorous testing program and was developed over a period of 14 years, making it very robust.
However, a former passenger named Brian Weed told Insider that the sub failed a test dive in 2021 due to malfunctioning thrusters. It remained stuck underwater for over two hours and never reached a depth greater than 100 feet.
Tests conducted on the sub at the Deep Ocean Test Facility in the US revealed signs of cyclic fatigue on its carbon-fiber hull at lower depths, according to Geekwire. As a result, OceanGate had to cancel planned dives to the Titanic in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Insider reached out to an OceanGate representative for comment, but no response was received.
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