Debris containing their “presumed human remains” was recovered in the ensuing days as authorities concluded that Titan had suffered a “catastrophic implosion”, collapsing inward under immense pressure.
Investigators on Monday presented a recreation of the journey, including text messages between Titan and the Polar Prince.
Titan began its dive at 09:17 local time and support staff aboard the mother ship asked about the submersible’s depth and weight, as well as whether it could still see the ship on its onboard display.
Communications were patchy, but about an hour into the dive, Titan messaged “all good here”.
Its last message was sent at 10:47 local time – at a depth of 3,346m – to say it had dropped two weights. After that, communication was lost.
Also shown on Monday for the first time was an image, taken by a remotely operated vehicle, of the Titan’s tail cone sitting on the sea floor following its implosion.
Officials presented a historical overview of the Titan, noting that its hull had never been subject to third-party testing and had been left exposed to weather and other elements while in storage.
In addition, they laid out serious problems experienced by the submersible on expeditions carried out before the disaster. In 2021 and 2022, over the course of 13 dives to the Titanic, it had 118 equipment issues.
These included the front dome falling off when it was brought out of the sea, its thrusters failing at 3,500m down and, on one dive, its batteries dying and leaving passengers stuck inside for 27 hours.
Tony Nissen, the company’s former engineering director, said the evidence he had seen was “disturbing… professionally and personally”.
Mr Nissen claimed that Rush, OceanGate’s late CEO, had the last word on most engineering decisions and was difficult to work with.
“Stockton would fight for what he wanted and, even if it changed from day to day, he wouldn’t give an inch,” he said.
“Most people would eventually back down to Stockton, it was death by a thousand cuts.”
OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations following the incident.
The company currently has no full-time staff but will be represented by a lawyer at the MBI, it said.
The fortnight of public inquiries in North Charleston, South Carolina will delve into “all aspects of the loss of the Titan”, including “pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crewmember duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry”.
