Long before the Titan submersible made global headlines for its tragic implosion in 2023, serious red flags were already waving behind the scenes.
Now, a new Netflix documentary titled Titan: The OceanGate Disaster has uncovered chilling evidence—an audio clip that captures OceanGate’s founder, Stockton Rush, firing his own operations director after the man raised urgent safety concerns.
The recording, released two years after the deep-sea tragedy that killed five people, has reignited outrage and scrutiny over OceanGate’s risky decisions and culture of silence.
A Shocking Dismissal Caught on Tape
The moment was recorded back in 2018. In the audio, Stockton Rush—CEO and co-founder of OceanGate—can be heard speaking bluntly to his then-operations director, David Lochridge.
“I don’t want anybody in this company who is uncomfortable with what we are doing,” Rush said, unapologetically admitting he was doing things “completely non-standard” in the world of underwater engineering.
Despite a woman in the room trying to defend Lochridge’s role, Rush made it clear.
When Lochridge asked point-blank if he was being fired, Rush replied: “I don’t see we have a choice.”
Safety Concerns That Were Brushed Aside
Lochridge, a former Royal Navy engineer who had worked at OceanGate for three years, was not just raising petty complaints—he was sounding alarms.
In the documentary, he describes how gutted he felt hearing Rush’s words, especially after trying to flag serious safety issues for so long.
His concerns covered everything from equipment malfunctions to poor construction materials.
He even said that almost every dive OceanGate had done faced problems of some kind.
Yet none of it seemed to make a difference.
From Loyal Staffer to Reluctant Whistleblower
After his firing, Lochridge didn’t back down. He filed a lawsuit against OceanGate and later took his complaints to OSHA (the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration), warning about the Titan’s structural flaws.
He believed the risks being taken were not just reckless—they were deadly.
For example, he noted the use of bolts that could rupture under pressure and glue on ballast bags that was already failing.
In his words, Stockton Rush was “playing Russian roulette” with people’s lives in pursuit of personal ambition.
Allegations of Cutting Corners
During a Coast Guard hearing in 2023, Lochridge testified that Rush was constantly looking to save money—even if it meant skipping industry-standard materials.
One haunting detail? The Titan’s oxygen scrubber, which is crucial for life support, was built from a plastic box and a cheap computer fan.
Lochridge admitted he tried to support Rush’s creative experiments at first.
But as time went on, it was clear the equipment wasn’t just amateur—it was dangerous.
A Catastrophic Dive No One Survived
In June 2023, the worst happened. Stockton Rush and four passengers—Hamish Harding, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and deep-sea expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet—boarded the Titan for a mission to the Titanic’s resting place.
Ninety minutes after launch, the sub imploded.
Video footage from the support vessel later showed Rush’s wife, Wendy, monitoring the descent.
She suddenly heard a bang and asked, “What was that bang?”
Investigators now believe that was the exact moment the Titan failed under pressure.
The wreckage was found a mere 330 yards from the Titanic’s bow.
The Aftermath and a Haunting “I Told You So”
Looking back, Lochridge’s warnings seem heartbreakingly prophetic.
He once emailed that he feared Stockton Rush would “kill himself and others” if left unchecked.
The Titan disaster has since sparked a global conversation about the safety of deep-sea exploration, especially when done outside the boundaries of traditional oversight.
With Netflix’s new revelations, that conversation is only getting louder.
A Cautionary Tale for the Future
As more people watch the documentary and listen to the recordings, many are asking the same painful question: how many more warnings have to be ignored before someone listens?
The Titan wasn’t just a one-off tragedy. It was the culmination of years of unchecked ambition, ignored expertise, and missed opportunities to stop a disaster before it unfolded.