The OceanGate Victims’ Eerie Last Words Speak Volumes of Their Mindset Before the Vessel’s Tragic Implosion
The Titan’s story isn’t over yet. Netflix‘s newest investigation documentary Titan: The OceanGate Disaster gives insight to the years and moments leading up to the tragic day where 5 people died on the way to see the wreckage of the Titanic.
Netflix’s documentary explores the means OceanGate used to skirt through regulations with the Titan submersible and Stockton Rush’s obsession to become the next big billionaire. In the film, former OceanGate bookkeeper Bonnie Carl says that Rush “wanted to be a Jeff Bezos or an Elon Musk. He referred to those guys as big swinging dicks, and he loved that term.”
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However, that journey came at the expense of five lives. Rush, British aviation billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet were all killed in the Titan’s implosion on June 18, 2023.
What were the Oceangate Titan’s victims’ last words?
According to the US Coast Guard, the Titan’s last message to the boat Polar Prince that they were “dropped two wts,” referring to their weights. After that message, there were no updates from the submersible.
Forty minutes after the submersible dived down, the Polar Prince experienced trouble receiving transmissions from the Titan. “I need better comms from you,” to which the Titan answered “yes” and said they “lost system oand [sic] chat settings,” at around 10:15 a.m. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, was believed to be the messenger. The ship later asked, “status? do you see polar prince on your display?” The Titan wrote back “yes” and “all good here.”
Tym Catterson, who was OceanGate’s contract safety diver and submersible pilot, recounted seeing the victims right before the implosion in a BBC documentary. “Suleman was close to the last to going in and when he came up I grabbed him by the back of his flotation device and pulled him to make sure he isn’t going to go sliding off into the water,” he said. “I helped him get in I helped him get into the sub and then I said ‘have a good dive’.”
Rush’s wife, Wendy, who was on the support ship, heard a boom. That boom was likely the implosion.
The project’s development started in 2016 but had major red flags throughout the years. Experts believed that the carbon fiber wasn’t up to safety regulations and end caps, made of titanium, were affixed to the hull with glue. There were clear warning signs when the carbon fiber kept popping during subsequent trips.
“I still question it every day: How could he not see this was dangerous?” former Oceangate employee Bonnie Carl says about Rush’s ego. “In my opinion, he clearly wanted fame. Stockton had his mind set. He was going to do this no matter what.”
