Titan Sub Disaster: Discovery Documentary Shows Wendy Rush Reacting To Fatal ‘Bang'
Newly released video footage captured when OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush's wife reacted in real-time to the Titan submersible's fatal implosion last year.
Stockton and his wife both have long, storied family histories in America, which were under speculation before the submarine went viral for killing its five passengers last year. The submarine lacked many of the qualifications, certifications, and even respected design systems that previous deep-water subs all had in their pockets.
From the start, even the most vocal in the deep-sea diving industry, like renowned filmmaker James Cameron, were rightfully worried about OceanGate's missions.
Stockton's wife, Wendy, the daughter of the couple who founded the Macy's department store, can be seen shockingly aware in the recently released video that something went wrong on the 'Titan's' final, deadly dive.
The chilling footage, obtained by the U.S. Coast Guard and featured in the Discovery documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster, shows Wendy seated in front of a computer on the 'mother ship,' or launching ship of the submarine above, as the sub descended toward the Titanic's wreckage nearly 4,000 feet below on June 18, 2023.
Stockton took on the job, alongside the OceanGate team, of continuing to put tourists on the faulty submarine. One documentary team even went on a short dive with the Titan and Stockton before the host of Expedition Unknown, Josh Gates, had to call his channel's executive and beg that the media team be pulled from such a liability of an assignment.
In lamens terms, the submarine was already cracked in the main hull and showed signs of its weakness to even the most untrained eyes – like TV hosts.
According to the newly released footage, Wendy can be seen suddenly reacting to a loud sound: the very moment the sub's carbon-fiber hull catastrophically failed, killing all five people aboard instantly.
In response, she can be seen calmly asking two other OceanGate staff in the video, 'What was that bang?'
At the time, the Titan was at a depth of about 3,300 meters, where the immense underwater pressure left no survivors and almost immediately killed all aboard, as confirmed by Engineering.com.
The victims included Stockton Rush, British explorer Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul Henri Nargeolet, and British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his 19-year-old son, Suleman.
Suleman, at his age and lack of deep diving experience, had no reason to be on the submarine, but Stockton had decided that it was fine even in the unregulated vessel.
The submarine was manned by modified PlayStation controllers, something Stockton previously bragged to the media about, per CBS News.
While the tragedy officially began with the implosion, the Coast Guard's investigation revealed a dangerous flaw—delamination (a breakdown of the main hull's carbon fiber)—had been detected as early as 2022. Despite repeated warnings from engineers and fellow deep-sea explorers, OceanGate pressed forward with risky expeditions, pushing their unconventional carbon-fiber design that had never been properly certified.
As seen in the documentary, the carbon fiber design had failed on previous dives, emitting loud bangs to all onboard. This forced Stockton and OceanGate to completely redesign a similar submarine, which also failed.
The carbon fiber wasn't the only weird engineering choice. OceanGate also chose to build a submarine that, in the most simple of ways, mismatched previous submarine designs that successfully reached those dangerous depths.
Instead of the widely accepted, in terms of modern deep-sea diving experts, a teardrop-shaped vessel that barely holds one or two passengers, Stockton demanded that his design resemble the stereotypical 'log in the water' design to carry more passengers.
More unregulated passengers in an unregulated submarine started to raise concerns among many industry experts before its final tragic implosion.
James Cameron's deep-sea submarine, which reached the deepest depths of the ocean floor, was shaped like that raindrop design. His successful dives can be seen in his 2014 film DeepSea Challenge. Cameron has publicly told many media outlets that Stockton and OceanGate were a red flag even before the tragic accident.
After the disaster, OceanGate ceased operations and pledged cooperation with the United States Coast Guard investigation. Some engineers and 'dive experts' are now testifying to the Coast Guard about how they understood that Stockton was losing his mind and that the submarine was destined to fail. Some employees claimed to the documentary team that Stockton fired them when voicing concerns or that they were anxious about voicing concerns about retaining their jobs at OceanGate.
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USA Today
5 days ago
- USA Today
What details have been released in the Titan submersible implosion?
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OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush, 61, was piloting the Titan submersible at the time of the disaster. He oversaw financial and engineering strategies at the company and left behind a wife and two adult children. Hamish Harding, 58, was a British billionaire explorer who was chairman of Action Aviation, a global sales company in business aviation. He is survived by his wife and four children. A look at the victims: Who died in the OceanGate Titan submersible disaster? Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, was a French Navy veteran, maritime and Titanic expert and director of Underwater Research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic, Inc. He is survived by his wife, three children, stepson and grandchildren. Shahzada Dawood, 48, hailed from one of Pakistan's wealthiest families and served on the board of trustees for the Dawood Foundation, an education nonprofit based in Pakistan. Dawood is survived by a wife and daughter. 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Listen: New audio of Titan submersible moments before implosion The Coast Guard has released new audio of Titan submersible's final moments before implosion. The sounds were recorded by a monitor moored approximately 900 miles from the Titan's implosion site, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Additional footage provided to the Coast Guard by OceanGate showed the moment from the perspective of the submersible's tracking and communications team, which included Wendy Rush, CEO Stockton Rush's wife. In the clip, the team is seen monitoring data and text communications. With about 400 meters to go, a muffled thump can be heard from the Titan, prompting Rush to ask, "What was that bang?" Newly released footage captures sound of Titan submersible imploding Newly released video appeared to capture the sound of the Titan submersible imploding on its way to visit the Titanic wreck in June 2023. 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5 days ago
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Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
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Today in History: Titan submersible implodes
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