OceanGate co-founder and CEO Stockton Rush fancied himself an adventurer, visionary and MacGyver-esque experimenter. He was also an overly ambitious proponent of deep-sea tourism whose resistance to oversight and negligence ended in tragedy just over two years ago.
In the 335 pages of the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation report on the June 2023 implosion of the Titan submersible, Rush emerges as a controlling figure who failed to “follow established engineering protocols.” The report accused his company of using “intimidation tactics” and “strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges.” It cited a “toxic workplace environment” where firings and the threat of termination dissuaded staffers from voicing safety concerns.
A Princeton graduate descended from two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Rush found his niche in the lucrative, high-risk industry of extreme tourism. But his negligence, in the words of marine investigators, contributed to five deaths — including his own — and he could have faced criminal investigation if he were alive.
The Marine Board of Investigation identified evidence of a potential criminal offense, particularly Misconduct or Neglect of Ship Officers, and said it would have recommended a referral to the US Department of Justice. The report specifically noted the “seaman’s manslaughter” statute. “As both a corporate executive responsible for the vessel’s operation and its Master during the casualty, Mr. Rush may have been subject to criminal liability” under US law, the report said.
Rush was killed in the implosion, along with businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood. British businessman Hamish Harding and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet also perished. Their remains were matched to the five men on board through DNA testing and analysis. The vessel vanished during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.
