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Television cameras caught the stunned reaction of the co-founder of deep-sea submersible company OceanGate as he learned that debris had been found in the frantic search for the missing Titan.
Entrepreneur Guillermo Söhnlein, 57, was visibly shaken when a BBC journalist interrupted their interview to report that a search team had identified a debris field on the ocean floor.
“I’m sorry … some what has been found?” the startled Söhnlein asked.
The interviewer replied he had no details on the ominous finding.
“I’m not sure [what the debris is] because I’m hearing this for the first time, but I know that the protocol for lost comms is for the pilot to surface the sub,” Söhnlein said.
“From the beginning I always thought that’s probably what [CEO Stockton Rush] would have done.”
Söhnlein founded OceanGate Expeditions with Rush in 2009.
Though he left the company 10 years ago, Söhnlein has repeatedly spoken of his respect for and belief in his co-founder after the 22-foot Titan — with Rush and four others aboard — suddenly vanished Sunday morning on route to the wreck of the Titanic.
“If anything, I think we need to go back and learn from what’s happening, find out what’s happened, take those lessons and carry them forward,” he said of the sub’s disappearance and the subsequent frantic search.
Hours after Söhnlein’s BBC interview, the US Coast Guard confirmed debris had been found 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, which lies 12,500 feet deep on the ocean floor, 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
The discovery suggests the sub suffered a “catastrophic implosion” that instantly killed everyone aboard, officials said.
The tragedy invited widespread accusations that Rush, 61, cut corners on safety by skirting submersible design rules.
In a 2019 interview, Rush complained about the sub industry’s “obscenely safe” regulations. Later, in 2021, he compared himself with Gen. Douglas MacArthur, admitting that “I’ve broken some rules to make this [the Titan].”
“I think I’ve broken them with logic and good engineering behind me,” he boasted.
On Thursday, Söhnlein defended Rush to the BBC.
“[The] human submersible community globally is very small,” he said.
“Developing innovations and any new technology, including submersibles, means that sometimes you have to go outside of the balance of the regulatory scheme,” he argued.
“But the bottom line is that everyone’s got different opinions on how subs should be designed, how dives should be conducted, how expeditions should be conducted.”
Söhnlein admitted, however, that the niche industry’s obsession with innovation can lead to blind spots.
“The challenge, though, is with all of us having opinions is none of us have all the facts. So it’s difficult to form these opinions,” he explained.
Söhnlein also asserted his unflagging admiration of Rush, saying he’s “probably one of the most intelligent people [he has] met.”
“The biggest thing I’ve always admired about [Rush] is his healthy respect for risk, and his healthy respect for the dangers of the deep ocean,” he added. “Everything that we did was always very much focused on managing those risks.”
Rush seemed to dismiss the risks of the Titan sub journey in 2018, when members of the Marine Technology Society warned OceanGate that the vessel’s design could lead to “catastrophic” results.
MTS member Brian Kemper maintains Rush launched the submersible in international waters to avoid industry regulations.
OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, also claims he was fired for alerting Rush of concerns he had about the vessel’s lack of safety testing.
In a now-viral 2022 CBS interview, Rush revealed the entire vessel was run by a modified video game controller — and brushed aside the dangers of deep-sea dives as trivial concerns.
“You know, at some point, safety just is a pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed,” Rush told interviewer David Pogue.
“At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.”
Rush’s confidence may have informed his fellow crew members’ own eagerness to take the plunge: Shortly before the vessel launched from St. John’s on June 16, a local barista said the group looked “excited” and in good spirits.
“It was about nine or 10 of them. I could tell who they were because they’re all literally wearing jackets that say ‘Titanic’ on them. Everyone was wearing that blue OceanGate Titanic jacket,” John Law said of the eerie gathering.
In addition to Rush, billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, 58, French Titanic diver Pierre-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman, 19, were aboard the Titan when it imploded.
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