Ex-Oceangate mission specialist defends controversial late CEO after damning Coast Guard report

A former mission specialist for OceanGate, the private company that launched the Titan submersible, is defending its controversial late CEO, Stockton Rush.

Rush, 61, has been blamed for the implosion that killed him and four other passengers on a voyage to see the Titanic in June 2023. 

Earlier this month, the US Coast Guard released its final report on the catastrophe criticizing Rush as the main culprit.

The 335-page report found that Rush was negligent and did not “follow established engineering protocols.” It also accused OceanGate of “strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges.”

But the mission specialist, who asked to remain anonymous, said the risks were made clear to everyone who traveled on the vessel. The passengers included Hamish Harding, a 58-year-old British explorer and businessman; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old French maritime expert who had previously dove down to the Titanic wreck; Shahzada Dawood, 48, a Pakistani-British businessman; and his 19-year-old son, college student Suleman Dawood.

“Anybody who went with OceanGate to the Titanic expedition was offered a lot of information and signed a waiver. They had knowledge that this was a very risky endeavor. There were presentations on board,” the mission specialist told The Post. 

“If anybody made the decision to get in the sub, it was at their own risk. I did not feel anybody [at OceanGate] lied. I did not feel they were not trying to be safe or that their intention was to deceive people.”

Rush could have faced manslaughter charges as recommended by the Coast Guard’s team if he survived the implosion. The mission specialist, however, told The Post they do not agree with that assessment. 

 “It was an accident, a terrible accident and very sad that it happened,” they said. “I don’t think it was the result of any one person. It was a lot of people that could have prevented this, not only OceanGate or Stockton.”

The Coast Guard’s report on the ill-fated submersible, which was discovered after a four-day search that captivated the world, called the tragedy “preventable.” 

Rush, according to the report, was repeatedly warned about safety concerns related to the submersible — but ignored all the alarm.

“A false sense of safety and security was created by Mr. Rush through his misrepresentation of the TITAN’S safety, achieved by falsely claiming substantial safety margins, misleading mission specialists regarding testing procedures, and exaggerating the number of hull test dives for the final TITAN hull,” the reported stated.

What’s more, those who voiced concern were allegedly threatened.

“For several years preceding the incident, OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company’s favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny,” the report said.

The report also flagged faulty testing procedures.

“A false sense of safety and security was created by Mr. Rush – through his misrepresentation of the TITAN’S safety, achieved by falsely claiming substantial safety margins, misleading mission specialists regarding testing procedures, and exaggerating the number of hull test drives for the final TITAN hull,” it alleged.

The mission specialist also shot down those claims and said design and testing procedures for the Titan’s hull were more than adequate.

“OceanGate did 10 years of testing. The hull went down at least 15 times to Titanic. The design worked. They reached the Titanic. So I don’t think it was the design in itself because the design did achieve its mission.”

The Coast Guard report also alleges that OceanGate stored the Titan submersible in an outdoor parking lot through the winter of 2022 to 2023 in Canada partly as a cost savings measure.

The mission specialist didn’t deny that maintenance could have been the problem.

“It [had previously] reached Titanic. That’s the objective of the hull,” they said. “Probably what happened was a maintenance [issue]. They have to blame something.”