Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, has been criticised for his haughtiness. Brian Weed, a former crew member, was troubled by Rush’s attitude to emergency procedures, which implied that if they were not located, death would surely follow.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, has been characterised as a captivating character driven by his own conceit. The catastrophic deep-sea submersible that crashed while on a trip to the RMS Titanic was the fault of Rush. An ex-passenger on the tragic ship recalled his experience, providing insight into the unnerving voyage on board the submersible.
When given the chance to test-dive on OceanGate’s Titan sub, guided by Rush, Brian Weed, a seasoned documentary camera operator, was a member of the crew working for the Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown” television programme.
To prepare for a following dive to the fabled Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic, where filming was planned for a special episode, a preliminary dive was planned to a shipwreck location in Washington state’s Puget Sound.
Weed voiced his displeasure with the test dive, raising doubts about its safety. Weed was uncomfortable during the dive due to difficulties with the thruster system, poor communication with the surface team, and the requirement for computer recalibration.
Weed and “Expedition Unknown” anchor Josh Gates questioned Rush about emergency procedures should the sub need to resurface far from its mothership, which raised some serious concerns. Weed was perplexed and worried by what he thought to be Rush’s nihilistic outlook on life and death at sea when he said that death would be certain if they were not recovered.
“”[Rush] said, ‘Well, there’s oxygen on board for four or five days, and I responded, ‘What if they don’t find you?'” And he responded, “Well, you’re already dead. During a conversation with Insider, marijuana was mentioned.
Weed remarked that throughout the event, his anxiety was heightened by Rush’s apparent disregard for fundamental safety requirements and flippant attitude. Weed’s concerns were exacerbated by the difficulties faced during the test dive, which included a laborious launch procedure accompanied by unsettling noises from the sub’s exterior.
