Companies not liable to pay for search for Titan, ex-Coast Guard commander says

On the 22nd, the fifth day of the search operation, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger announced that the stern wing of the submersible Titan had been found and that he had conveyed condolences to the families of the crew members.

The wreckage was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) 500 meters from the bow of the Titanic lying on the ocean floor. Additional wreckage was also found, indicating that a catastrophic rupture had occurred.

A massive search was conducted for the Titan, which disappeared after being put into the water about 1,450 kilometers off the coast of Cape Cod, covering an area about twice the size of Connecticut and four kilometers deep.

The Coast Guard announced that the Canadian Coast Guard sonar-equipped vessel John Cabot arrived at the site on the 21st, along with the commercial vessels Scandi Vinland and Atlantic Marlin. The Canadian Coast Guard's set-aside ships Anne Harvey and Terry Fox, the Canadian offshore coastal defense ship HMCS Grace Bay, the French survey vessel Atalante with ROV, and the Canadian anchor-handling ship Horizon Arctic were also en route, it said. In the air, the Coast Guard announced that a crew of Coast Guard C-130 transport aircraft had arrived and an Air National Guard C-130 was on its way.

Chris Boyer, executive director of the nonprofit National Search and Rescue Association, told the New York Times that the search would probably cost millions of dollars.

Paul Zukunft, a former Coast Guard commander, told The Washington Post that Ocean Gate, which operated the dangerous tour, will not be liable to reimburse the government.

He said, "It's no different than a civilian going out and a boat sinking," adding, "We're going out there and we're going to collect. We will go there and recover it, and we will not come back later with a bill," he said.

On the other hand, he pointed out that the accident could lead to new regulations, such as those that changed regulations regarding the number of lifeboats after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Even before the Ocean Gate Titan was put into service, safety issues had been raised.

David Lockridge, a former employee who filed a whistleblower complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2018 and was sued by the company, claimed in a counterclaim filed that year that despite repeated warnings about safety issues, executives took no action, but instead fired him in response.

Mr. Lockridge, who as Director of Marine Operations was tasked with "ensuring the safety of the crew and passengers while diving or at sea," was concerned about the lack of "non-destructive testing" on the hull, which was constructed of carbon fiber, an unusual material for a vessel that was designed to reach extreme depths, and he appealed for corrective measures. He appealed for corrective measures to be taken, but his appeal went unheeded. He noted that "fee-paying passengers were unaware of, and were never informed of, the experimental design, the lack of nondestructive testing of the hull, and the use of dangerous flammable materials in the submersible."

In the same year, 38 experts from the Marine Technology Institute's Committee on Manned Submersibles also said that the submersibles should be inspected by a certification body to ensure that they meet safety standards, but Ocean Gate CEO Stockton Rush refused to listen, arguing that industry standards were stifling innovation. Rush, however, was unwilling to listen, arguing that industry standards were stifling innovation.

Last year, Rush said on his YouTube channel, "I want to make a name for myself as an innovator. I think General MacArthur said I will be remembered for breaking the rules," he said of his beliefs. I broke some of the rules to build this thing. I broke the rules against the backdrop of my logic and good engineering. Carbon fiber and titanium. There are rules not to do that, but I did it," he stated.