— A research institute at Newfoundland and Labrador's Memorial University threw open its"proverbial doors" last year to the company that owned the doomed Titan submersible, less than a year before the vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion while diving to the Titanic shipwreck.
The Titan submersible was last heard from on June 18, after it dropped into the North Atlantic on its way to the Titanic wreck site. Officials say its mother ship, the Canadian-flagged Polar Prince, lost contact with the small sub about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive. The descent typically takes about two hours.
"On behalf of Angie, Joe and myself many thanks ... and consider the 'proverbial doors' of the Marine Institute at Memorial University are open!" Rob Shea, then the Marine Institute's vice-president, wrote in a July 9, 2022, email to Rush. Shea sent the note after visiting the Titan in St.
The emails, which cover four years between Jan. 1, 2019, and Jan. 1, 2023, show that Rush was eager to arrive at an agreement to store the Titan and accompanying equipment at the Marine Institute. However, there were several apparent snags the school officials had to work through in order to produce the final memorandum of understanding, dated Dec. 21, 2022. There are lengthy email chains between finance, contracts and customs officials with the school.
The report includes Rush showing off the Titan's bare-bones interior, which included a single power button, two video screens and a repurposed gaming controller to steer the 6.7-metre vessel. Even as the sub was being built, red flags were raised. In January 2018, OceanGate's then-director of marine operations David Lochridge filed a report identifying serious safety concerns, including improper testing of its carbon-fibre hull, according to court documents filed in Washington state.