OceanGate founder Stockton Rush can be heard in new audio clip firing his company’s operations director after raising safety concerns over the doomed Titan sub.
In a recording obtained by Netflix and used in their documentary ‘Titan: The OceanGate Disaster’, Stockton, 61, can be heard terminating the employment of David Lochridge.
Lochridge had branded the Titan submersible, which imploded in June of 2023 while on an expedition to the Titanic, as ‘unsafe’ prior to his firing.
Rush can be heard telling him: ‘I don’t want anybody in this company who is uncomfortable with what we are doing.
‘We’re doing weird s*** here. I’m definitely out of the mold, I am doing things that are completely non-standard.
‘I’m sure the industry thinks I’m a f****** idiot. That’s fine, they’ve been doing that for years. I’m going to continue on the way I am doing.’
An unidentified woman can be heard telling him: ‘We need David on this crew, in my opinion we need him here.’
Lochridge can be heard saying that Rush’s comments left him ‘gutted’ and ‘a tad let down’.
Stockton Rush, seen here, died aboard the submersible after extreme water pressure crushed the hull of the vessel
Lochridge, seen here, had branded the Titan submersible, which imploded in June of 2023 while on an expedition to the Titanic, as being ‘unsafe’ prior to his firing
Footage from a remotely operated vehicle shows what the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation says is the debris of the Titan
He adds: ‘This is the first time on paper I’ve ever put any health and safety concerns. You know every expedition we have had, we’ve had issues.’
Rush concedes that to be true, as Lochridge asks him point blank: ‘Do you now want to let me go?’, to which the CEO responded: ‘I don’t see we have a choice.’
Lochridge told filmmakers: ‘To me it was just sheer arrogance. I didn’t know what to say, but I was blown away that at this point they were willing to play Russian roulette.’
Rush died aboard the submersible alongside Hamish Harding, 58, father and son Shahzada, 48, and Suleman Dawood, 19, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77.
The accident, caused by extreme water pressure crushing the hull of the submersible, set off a debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
The firing of Lochridge occurred in 2018, after he had spent three years with the firm, during which he critiqued the construction of the submersible.
In one email to project associate Rob McCallum, who also left OceanGate over safety concerns, Lochridge said he was worried Rush would end up dead.
He said: ‘I don’t want to be seen as a tattle tale but I’m so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego.’
OceanGate’s Titan submersible imploded in the Atlantic Ocean in June 2023
The firing of Lochridge, seen here, occurred in 2018, after having spent three years with the firm during which he critiqued the construction of the submersible
The engineer continued: ‘I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous, but that sub is an accident waiting to happen.’
After being let go, Lochridge informed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about the Titan’s safety problems.
Lochridge said that after raising his concerns with OSHA, him and his wife were served a settlement and release agreement from OceanGate’s lawyers.
Prior to that he had also filed a lawsuit against OceanGate in which he said that glue was coming away at the seams of the vessel’s ballast bags.
The since settled suit also said that Lochridge found improperly placed mounting bolts that threatened to cause a rupture.
Speaking at a hearing with Coast Guard officials last year Lochridge testified that Rush ‘liked to do everything on the cheap’.
The hearing was shown images of a crudely made oxygen scrubber unit, an integral part of the sub in maintaining atmospheric pressure.
Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic on June 28, 2023
It is believed the vessel imploded around 90 minutes into its descent with its wreckage later found 330 yards away from the bow of the ship
He said: ‘[Stockton] decided not to use a known manufacturer. It’s a plastic box and a computer fan. He wanted to do a test on it, I humored him and it didn’t work.’
The Coast Guard last month released a two-and-a-half minute video showing Rush’s wife Wendy Rush and an OceanGate employee monitoring the final descent.
Rush, who was monitoring progress from a support ship, can be seen reacting to a noise that sounded like a ‘door slamming’.
She turns to employee Gary Foss , asking him: ‘What was that bang?’. The Coast Guard believes that was the sound of the Titan’s implosion reaching the surface.
The passengers had paid to see the wreck of the Titanic, which lies some 3,700 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
It is believed the vessel imploded around 90 minutes into its descent with its wreckage later found 330 yards away from the bow of the ship.
