Years BeforeTitanImplosion, CEO Told Passengers to 'Brace Yourselves' for 'Loud Noises' During Dive: Hearing

Mar. 15, 2025

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In a dive that took place years before theTitansubmersible’sdoomed voyage to theTitanic, Stockton Rush warned that there would be “loud noises,” according to one of the passengers.

Karl Stanley, a friend of Rush’s as well as the owner of the Roatan Institute of Deepsea Exploration, a diving expedition business,testifiedon Tuesday, Sept. 24, as the Coast Guard’s ongoing hearings into the tragedy entered its sixth day.

“He told us to be prepared for noises,” Stanley said of Rush, “He had recently done [a] solo dive on his own, and basically just said, ‘This is going to make noise’ and ‘Brace yourselves.’ ”

Stanley said that in retrospect that there were a lot of “red flags” during the dive, including the noise, which he believed was the carbon fiber hull snapping.

“We were hearing it so often,” he told the investigators on the panel, noting that even though Rush had warned them, “The first couple of times [were unnerving].”

He added that “nobody wanted to be the one to say they wanted to go up first.”

During the hearing, the Coast Guard also reviewed emails between Stanley and Rush over concerns with the sub, with Stanley writing in one message:  “I think that hull has a defect near that flange, that will only get worse. The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not.”

In that same email, Stanley claimed that Rush had “indirectly told me not to speak about the noises I heard on the dive.”

A month after the dive, ABC News reported that a crack was found in the hull, but that the vessel was not used for any dives to theTitanic.

Remnants of the Titan sub on the ocean floor.HANDOUT/US Coast Guard / Pelagic Research Services/AFP via Getty

HANDOUT/US Coast Guard / Pelagic Research Services/AFP via Getty

During his testimony on Sept. 24, Stanley said that he regretted taking part in the 2019 dive.

“There’s a lot of things that, if I had known, I wouldn’t have gone. People have told me that I was stupid, naive,” he said. “A lot of the things I’ve learned in the last 18 months have been very shocking.”

“I think these wealthy individuals…threw money at him,” Stanley said. “And he was painted into a corner…I think that’s why he kept diving.”

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Theinvestigative hearings, which began on Sept. 16 and are expected to conclude on Friday, Sept. 27, have featured testimonies fromformer OceanGate employees discussing their experiences and concernsregarding the company’s operations, especially in the area of safety.

The Coast Guard hearings will resume on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

source: people.com