Gazing through the lone porthole, the crew were met with infinite darkness. But that didn’t dampen the excitement of the five people on board. As the sub plunged further into the freezing abyss towards the wreckage of the Titanic, the pressure on the hull mounted.
Suddenly, a low groan echoed through the vessel- then the sound of cracking filled the air. Before anyone could react, the sub imploded. It was over in an instant.
In today’s episode of the Infographics Show, we’ll look at the shocking revelations of the Oceangate Investigation and the loss of the Titan submersible. At a depth of around 3300 meters, the external pressure on the Titan’s would have been an astounding 4900 pounds per square inch. Disaster would have likely started with the collapse of a miniature cavity inside the tightly woven layers of carbon fiber making up the hull of the submarine.
This small void- and many more like it- would have been only big enough to be spotted on a microscope. It was a manufacturing defect Oceangate were likely to be aware of, and yet continued to use their non-independently inspected submersible to take people down to crushing depths. Immediate and catastrophic structural collapse followed, microscopic cracks radiating from the initial point of collapse all around the carbon fiber hull.
Propagating faster than the speed of sound, the crew inside would still have no clue what was happening. Nearly 5000 pounds per square inch of water pressure pushed against these cracks, shattering the hull. Nanoseconds later, the titanium cap at the front of the submersible is popped off like a wine cork.
The crushing depths work most at the front of the hull, where the titanium cap is now missing. The walls collapse inwards, and then down towards the rear of the submersible where the aft titanium cap remains attached and maintains structural integrity. The incredible pressure of the ocean water compresses the atmosphere of the submarine, traveling along the hull in fractions of a nanosecond.
Inside the compressing atmosphere also works on the bodies of the crew, forcing them down away from the point of collapse towards the rear titanium cap. Five adult humans are pushed against each other and the titanium cap with so much force that their badly burned bodies begin to burst open. The water is now pushing the hull of the submarine in on itself from the front to back, collapsing it like an empty soda can being stomped flat.
The shattered remnants of the carbon fiber hull force the crew's bodies up against the aft titanium cap, with the water quickly following. The crew's remains are liquefied to a thick, whitish paste that lines the rear of the Titan- nothing solid remains, not even teeth. It's all over in a fraction of a second, but slowing time down lets us appreciate the horrible scale of the Titan disaster.
And the Coast Guard now knows who's to blame and while the previous scenario is only speculation, it's a very good guess as to what went wrong. The Titan submersible and OceanGate, the venture responsible for ferrying tourists to the wreck of the Titanic, was largely the brainchild of libertarian billionaire Stockton Rush. Rush formed OceanGate back in 2009, believing that underwater tourism was an untapped potential- there was just one problem: government regulation, which he deemed “understandable but illogical.
” Critical of the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, which prevented dives below 150 feet and heavily regulated the construction of passenger submersibles, Rush would say it quote- “needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation. ” Rush would design his own submersible, despite what the regulations said. The Titan would consist of two titanium end caps with a wall thickness of 3 and a quarter inch.
The forward end cap would have the only viewport, from which tourists could marvel at the wreck of the Titanic. The acrylic window would be 7 inches thick, and during deep dives, it was recorded as protruding back into the cabin by nearly an inch. Trouble was already brewing from the design phase though, as the viewport was only rated to dive up to 650 meters- well short of the 3800 meters where the Titanic lay.
But that wasn't the only critical design flaw. Rush believed that innovation was the key to success. Thus OceanGate was staffed largely with recent graduates who shared his laissez-faire attitude about government regulations.
Rush said he wanted a young, inspirational team who would innovate and dream big, rather than hiring experienced submariners with decades of experience operating and building submersible vehicles. Probably because one of these veterans would have immediately told him to cancel one of the most controversial aspects of the Titan. The Titan would make use of carbon fiber material for its hull, which would revolutionize its manufacturing.
Carbon fiber is made from thin filaments of carbon atoms bonded together into a crystalline structure, and has proven to be an amazingly strong and durable material. However, context is king, and as every applied sciences student knows, materials behave differently in different environments. Rush would be warned against using carbon fiber in the hull by DOER Marine's president, Liz Taylor.
She warned that carbon fiber doesn't do well when exposed to extreme depths or submerged in water for long periods of time. It also does not tolerate the specific stresses of having the ocean press in on it from all sides while filled with one atmosphere of pressure in its hollow interior. Rush waved the concerns away- even when a letter was drafted by 38 experts imploring him to have his submersible inspected by government inspectors he ignored it.
In 2019, OceanGate responded to the letter by stating that quote- “the vast majority of marine (and aviation) accidents are a result of operator error, not mechanical failure. Most baffling of all, the Titan was not equipped with an emergency locator beacon which would make it easy to find should something go wrong. And this is why it took so long to actually locate the wreckage.
During an incident in 2022, the surface vessel lost track of the Titan for over five hours, during which the crew of the ship shut off the internet to keep anyone from tweeting about it. The submersible wasn't even guaranteed to find the Titanic. Simpsons showrunner Mike Reiss stated that it took three hours to actually find the wreckage during one dive despite having landed within 500 yards of it.
OceanGate would claim the Titan was built in collaboration with experts from NASA, Boeing, and the University of Washington. All three of those entities would clarify that they had no direct involvement in the design of the Titan- although a scale model of the pressure vessel was built and tested at the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory without any involvement by staff. Boeing also denied any involvement and leaked documents would verify that any cooperation was terminated due to Rush ignoring recommendations and testing requirements from Boeing engineers.
The carbon fiber hull, a hugely controversial part of the construction, was also never subjected to any rigorous testing. OceanGate would claim instead that it would rely on a real-time acoustic monitoring system, which was probably a big help for the crew when the Titan ultimately imploded faster than it took for an alarm signal to go off. An operations director raising concerns over the lack of testing and design of various elements would ultimately be fired.
In 2018, Rush would descend to 4,000 meters on board the Titan on a solo trip, becoming the second human after James Cameron to descend that deep. In 2019, a crew of four would descend to almost 3,400 meters- but during the dive there would be very loud cracking noises coming from the hull. Karl Stanley, a passenger on board at the time, raised concerns with Rush, stating that he believed that the hull had a serious flaw or defect and that it was starting to break down.
He warned that it could fail catastrophically. Rush would dismiss Stanley’s suggestions and tell him to keep his opinions to himself. A new hull would be constructed in 2021, with Rush lying to investors about the delay.
During testing of a new hull design, several scale models imploded- Rush insisted on reusing parts of these imploded models for the real thing, despite a stream of warnings that the components could be compromised and weaken the integrity of a new hull. Lifting rings to aid recovery of the Titan were also added. This was despite further warnings that the submarine’s body was not capable of handling the tension and load stress it would have to bear when lifted.
Communication problems during test dives were frequent, with the sub losing all contact for hours at a time with its tender ship above. Thruster and buoyancy issues also plagued the Titan, and during a 2021 test dive with tv host Josh Gates the Titan only made it 30 meters before multiple technical failures forced a cancellation of the dive. Gates would decline an invitation to join the Titan on a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic.
Stockton Rush's disregard for government regulation and cowboy attitude had set the stage for disaster- so what exactly happened? On a previous expedition, the submersible and the skiff it was being towed on were partially submerged for three days as it was dragged out to the dive site. On another occasion, just days before the fateful dive, the Titan was stuck in a high sea state, battering the crew around for almost an hour.
Despite this, on June 17th, the Titan passengers underwent a day of training in preparation for their dive, unaware of the fate that awaited them. On June 18th, at 9:14 AM the Titan disengaged from its support platform and began its long dive to the wreck of the Titanic. The Titan did not have hardline communications with its tender vessel, the Polar Prince, and instead relied on a text messaging application.
At 165 meters the Polar Prince sent a “k” message to the Titan, per OceanGate procedures. This meant a comms check. Almost a minute later, the Titan responded with “k” as well.
Other than the text messaging system, the Titan also relayed a constant 'ping' to the Polar Prince every 5 to 10 seconds. This system would continue operating even during most communication failures in previous dives. As the Titan continued its dive everything appeared to be going well, though a communications failure arose around 10 am, with the Polar Prince repeatedly texting the Titan with no response.
At 10:13 the Titan finally responded, stating that they had lost system and chat settings- another failure of the communications software. Here things become curious, because the Polar Prince receives a message saying “this is ph”- or Paul Henri, a french Titanic expert. When asked if he could see the Polar Prince on his display, the Titan simply sent a message back again saying “this is ph”.
It's possible that communications failure meant that the Titan was not seeing the Polar Prince's messages correctly, though it's also possible that there may have been some error with the air filtration system leading to confusion from carbon dioxide buildup. At this moment both ideas remain purely speculative. At 10:47, the first sign of trouble arose.
A message from the Titan read: dropped two wts. This was likely a reference to the weights that the Titan used to help it sink to the bottom of the sea. Now at a depth of almost 3350 meters, it's possible that the Titan was releasing weights as part of its slow down procedures- in a previous expedition on a different submersible, Stockton Rush had smashed his vessel straight into the wreck of the Andrea Doria ocean liner.
Six seconds after receiving this message, the Polar Prince stopped receiving automatic pings it would normally get every 5 to 10 seconds. It's believed that the Titan experienced a catastrophic implosion at this time. The crew would have not had time to react or even perceive their own deaths, with the implosion happening in fractions of a second.
It's likely though that they probably heard the same sounds of fatigue and stress on the hull of the submersible as had been heard on previous dives. This time though the fatally flawed carbon fiber hull would not tolerate the pressures and cave in on itself. The story of the Titan mirrors that of the Titanic, one of extreme hubris and foolishness- in this case from Stockton Rush, who believed that he was above the petty concerns of government regulation and even the advice of experts.
Yet his fate, and the murder of four of his passengers, serves as a reminder that government regulation may be restricting for business, but exists for a reason. Now go watch I Was Trapped Underwater For Three Days, or click this other video instead!
