As the world continues to process the shocking fate of the Titan submersible, a new documentary airing this week is pulling back the curtain on a previous dive that came dangerously close to catastrophe—years before the sub ultimately imploded, killing all five people on board.
Titled Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster, the BBC Two special dives deep—literally and emotionally—into what went wrong, who knew it, and how tragedy unfolded in real time.
A Test Dive Off the Bahamas Nearly Ended in Disaster
Four years before the Titan’s final voyage to the wreckage of the Titanic, Stockton Rush—CEO of OceanGate Expeditions—led a test dive off the coast of the Bahamas.
It was meant to prove Titan’s cutting-edge carbon fibre hull could survive the crushing pressure of the deep sea.
But according to firsthand accounts in the documentary, things took a terrifying turn.
Onboard that April 2019 dive were Rush, his colleague Joel Perry, underwater electronics tech Petros Mathioudakis, and sub expert Karl Stanley.
Not long into the descent, the sub gave off a loud noise that sounded, as Stanley put it, “like a gunshot.” It was the hull—a noise that no one on a deep-sea vessel ever wants to hear.
“We Were Within a Few Percent of Implosion”
According to Stanley, the dive was supposed to reach a depth of 12,000 feet—the same depth as the Titanic. But Titan didn’t quite get there.
The team got roughly 96 percent of the way down before deciding to abort.
The signs were there: the loud cracks, the battery failure, the external lights going out, and a complete loss of vertical thrust control.
“We were essentially in the dark,” Mathioudakis recalled, “and then we heard this bang. Everyone went silent.”
Stanley, visibly shaken in the documentary, said: “We were within a few percentage points of total implosion.”
A Chilling Email Warning Ignored
After the dive, Stanley emailed Rush with serious concerns.
He warned that the disturbing sounds likely meant a defect in the carbon fibre hull.
“What we heard sounded like a flaw being crushed,” he wrote.
He was worried the structure was starting to delaminate—when layers of carbon fibre begin to separate and weaken under pressure.
He followed up for over a year, sharing his concerns repeatedly.
But in the end, Stanley believes his warnings strained their relationship
. “I feel like I pushed things as far as I could,” he said. “Any more, and he’d probably have told me never to talk to him again.”
What Really Caused the Implosion in 2023
Fast forward to June 2023: Titan’s hull gave way during a descent to the Titanic wreck site off the coast of Newfoundland.
The immense ocean pressure crushed the vessel, killing everyone on board—Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, and French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Tragically, it was later revealed that after the 47th dive, OceanGate pilots had discovered a visible crack in the hull—a confirmation of Stanley’s earlier fears.
By then, the layers of carbon fibre had already started to peel apart. But the mission pressed forward.
Heart-Stopping Footage of the Final Moments
In one of the most haunting segments of the documentary, viewers are shown video footage of Stockton Rush’s wife, Wendy, monitoring the dive from the support ship above.
At one point, she hears a loud sound and casually asks, “What was that bang?” not realizing it was the very moment the sub imploded below.
Shortly after, she receives a delayed text message from the crew indicating they had dropped weights—a signal typically used when trying to ascend.
But that message likely came before the implosion.
The timing delay made it appear everything was okay, even though the tragedy had already struck.
The Investigation That Followed
A formal U.S. marine board investigation took place months later in Charleston, South Carolina.
Over two weeks, 24 witnesses—including former OceanGate employees and Karl Stanley—gave emotional testimony.
Much of it centered on the ignored warning signs and whether the tragedy could have been prevented.
The special revisits those hearings and explores the mounting concerns within the company about Titan’s safety, particularly after that 2019 test dive.
Why the World Is Still Captivated
The Titan tragedy made headlines around the globe.
From billionaires to teenage sons, the personal stories of those lost brought global attention to the risks of extreme exploration.
As Discovery Network’s Howard Lee puts it, the documentary doesn’t just examine what went wrong—it asks why people are so drawn to pushing technological and physical boundaries, even when the risks are fatal.
A Global Effort to Tell the Story
The documentary is a collaborative production between the BBC, Discovery Channel, CBC in Canada, and Germany’s ZDF.
It weaves together technical analysis, personal interviews with families, and emotional footage to piece together the story in a way that’s both informative and deeply moving.
When and Where to Watch
Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster airs Tuesday, May 27, at 9pm on BBC Two and will be available on iPlayer in the UK. U.S. viewers can tune in at the same time on the Discovery Channel (9pm Eastern).
It’s a sobering look at the human cost of innovation—and the unanswered questions that still linger.