“Everything is fine here.”
These were some of the last words spoken by the crew of the Titan submersible before the submersible imploded during its mission to the Titanic wreck site in June 2023.
The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard hearing Monday into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to the support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible implosion, killing all five of its crew. The incident captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews scrambled to rescue the crew after the submarine lost contact with the surface — with the world unaware that lives had been lost.
The Coast Guard played an animated reenactment of the Titan’s voyage that captured the submersible’s final, erratic exchange with the Polar Prince, during Monday’s hearing that shed new light on the submarine’s final mission.
On June 18, at about 10 a.m., Polar Prince asked the Titan crew if they could see the support ship on the submersible’s screen. The support ship asked the crew the same question seven times in seven minutes. The Titan crew then sent “k,” which meant they were requesting a communications check.
The Polar Prince then repeated his question three more times before writing: “I need better communications from you.” The crew finally responded “yes” at 10:14 a.m. before adding: “Everything is fine here.”
At 10:47, communication between the two ships was lost.
All five crew members later died as a result of the implosion: founder Stockton Rush, 61, French explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet, 77, British explorer Hamish Harding, 58, UK-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman, 19.
In its presentation Monday, the Coast Guard also revealed a series of failures the Titan experienced during test dives well before it left for the wreck site.
The 2021 test dives revealed 70 equipment issues, while the following year’s dives revealed 48, including a malfunction of the drop weights. In addition to these issues, after the last test dive in 2022 until February 6, 2023, the ship was stored uncovered in a dock “without protection from the elements.”
The first witness before the panel, Tony Nissen, OceanGate’s former chief technology officer, took the stand Monday, shedding light on the company’s internal dynamics as well as some of the disagreements between Rush and OceanGate employees.
When Nissen was hired, he was not told directly that the submersible was going to the wreck site. He testified: “I was never told they were going to the Titanic.”
Nissen also said he had “a hard time finding the professional words” to describe Rush.
“Stockton fought for what he wanted…and he didn’t give an inch. Not at all,” he said. “Most people eventually gave in to Stockton. It was like dying a slow death.”
In 2018, the submersible was struck by lightning, partially damaging the hull, Nissen said. The following year, after finding that acoustic tests were “not clean,” he opposed an expedition to the Titanic site because he found the hull was compromised. After refusing to agree, he was fired. He told the committee: “I didn’t agree. So I was fired.”
Asked if there was “pressure” to start operations, Nissen replied: “100 percent.”
The Coast Guard is investigating the circumstances surrounding the loss of the submersible, said Marine Investigation Board Chairman Jason Neubauer.
The inquiry will seek to determine the “factors” that led to the disaster and how to prevent it in the future, as well as whether “acts of misconduct, negligence or willful violation of law” contributed to the losses. The hearings, which are expected to last two weeks, will also focus on the Coast Guard’s search and rescue operations.
