OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush deliberately designed the Titan submersible to implode during a Titanic wreck dive so he could secure a place in “Titanic mythology,” a longtime friend alleged, describing the vessel as a “mousetrap for billionaires.”
Karl Stanley, a commercial submersible expert and longtime friend of Rush, made the allegation in author Matthew Gavin Frank’s new book, Submersed: Wonder, Obsession and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines.
Stanley told Frank that Rush’s ego was so large he was prepared to risk his own life and those of others to become the central figure in the story. Stanley alleged that Rush wanted to die at the Titanic wreck, believing that a highly publicized tragedy would make him and the passengers part of the wreck’s enduring mythology.
Stockton Rush and four others died when the Titan imploded. (Netflix)
The Titan lost contact with its support ship on June 18, 2023, as it descended toward the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic, triggering a multinational search. Authorities found debris four days later and announced that the submersible had imploded, killing all five people aboard: Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and Dawood’s son, Suleman.
Passengers reportedly paid as much as $250,000 for a place aboard the Titan.
A subsequent investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard concluded that the disaster could have been prevented.
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Frank wrote that Rush’s ambitions allegedly extended beyond staging his own death. The author said the name Titan was chosen deliberately, referencing the doomed ocean liner in Morgan Robertson’s 1898 novel Futility. In that book, a fictional British ship called Titan strikes an iceberg, echoing the fate later suffered by the Titanic.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush built the Titan submersible to implode on its dive to the Titanic wreck so he could become part of “Titanic mythology,” a longtime friend claimed. (Netflix)
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According to Stanley’s account, Frank wrote, Rush needed more than his own death to become part of the larger Titanic narrative. He allegedly created a “futile” vessel, gave it a name evoking the doomed ship and used it as the instrument of a fatal act.
Frank asked Stanley whether he believed Rush knew the submersible would implode—or actually intended for that to happen—and killed everyone aboard, including himself, to cement his place in Titanic mythology.
Stanley replied that he was certain that was what happened.
Stanley further alleged that “most everyone” at OceanGate knew what would happen to the Titan and claimed they were all terrified after the implosion.
The Titan lost contact with its support ship on June 18, 2023, while it was descending to see the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic, which sparked a multinational search. Debris was found four days later. (Netflix)
Brandi Young, a former federal and state prosecutor, told News Media that proving a first-degree murder charge would have been difficult because Rush also placed his own life at risk. She said prosecutors might have been more likely to pursue manslaughter.
Composite of OceanGate’s vessel and wreckage: at left, the submersible in the water; at right, NTSB images label debris on the ocean floor, including the forward dome, aft dome and rail sections, from June 2023 recovery work. (Becky Kagan Schott; NTSB)
Young said prosecutors could potentially argue for second-degree murder by pointing to an extreme and reckless disregard for human life—conduct more serious than ordinary manslaughter. She noted that there was substantial direct evidence of what she called the “pure recklessness” of proceeding despite the danger to other people.