It was supposed to be another exciting mission to the bottom of the Atlantic.
On board the Titan submersible were five men—explorers, innovators, and adventurers—on their way to see the Titanic’s final resting place.
But back on the support vessel floating far above, Wendy Rush, wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, heard something she couldn’t yet make sense of: a loud bang.
That noise, which she mistook for something minor, would turn out to be the horrifying moment the sub imploded deep underwater—killing her husband and the entire crew almost instantly.
“What Was That Bang?”: Wendy Rush’s Final Moment of Hope
In newly released footage from the US Coast Guard, Wendy Rush is seen monitoring the Titan’s descent from the support ship.
She reacts to what sounded like a “door slamming” and turns to someone near her to ask, “What was that bang?”
Just moments later, she receives a message saying the sub had dropped two ballast weights—a maneuver typically used to adjust buoyancy.
At the time, she believed everything was progressing normally.
But now, investigators believe that text had actually been sent just before the implosion, and its delivery was likely delayed by the catastrophic soundwave that followed.
The Implosion That Shook the World
The Titan’s deadly dive took place on June 18, 2023. About 90 minutes into its journey to the Titanic wreck site—located roughly 12,400 feet below the ocean’s surface—the sub suddenly went silent.
By the time rescuers found the wreckage, it was located about 330 yards from the Titanic’s bow.
The five passengers on board—Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet—had all died instantly in what experts described as a violent and sudden implosion.
Audio Evidence Captures the Sub’s Final Moments
The new Coast Guard video came alongside haunting audio released earlier this year.
The sound, picked up nearly 900 miles away by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) device, was identified as the likely acoustic signature of the implosion.
It marked the final moments of a voyage that had been framed as an elite deep-sea adventure—and has since turned into a full-blown investigation into deep-sea tourism safety.
Last Words from the Crew: “All Good Here”
Before everything went dark, the Titan crew had reportedly sent a message back to their support ship, the Polar Prince. That message simply said, “All good here.”
But about an hour and 45 minutes into what should have been a two-and-a-half hour descent, all communication was lost.
The disappearance triggered an international search effort and captivated headlines around the globe.
Mounting Concerns Over Titan’s Safety Were Ignored
In the aftermath of the disaster, serious questions arose about the Titan’s safety.
It was later revealed that the vessel had been operated using a video game controller.
Many experts in the field of submersible technology had long criticized OceanGate’s unorthodox and “experimental” approach.
In fact, five years before the accident, leaders in the deep-sea community had reportedly warned Stockton Rush that his methods could lead to catastrophe.
Among the most vocal was David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former Director of Marine Operations, who had insisted on stronger safety tests and scans of the hull.
But rather than take his concerns seriously, OceanGate fired Lochridge.
A CEO Who Brushed Off Warnings
Stockton Rush dismissed many of the red flags raised by peers and employees alike.
At one point, he called criticisms of the sub’s safety “personally insulting” and suggested that some experts were simply trying to stifle innovation under the guise of concern.
He openly criticized the industry’s cautious approach, calling existing safety protocols “obscenely safe” and an obstacle to progress.
In Rush’s mind, pushing boundaries seemed worth the risk—an attitude that now feels tragically prescient.
Testimony Paints a Picture of Reckless Ambition
At a public hearing last year, Karl Stanley—a fellow submersible pilot and designer—told the Coast Guard that Rush seemed more focused on becoming a historical figure than ensuring safety.
“He knew it was going to end like this,” Stanley said.
“But he wanted to be remembered. That was his motive.”
Stanley even testified that he had personally warned Rush about problems during a 2019 test dive.
Cracking sounds and faulty drop weights raised alarms, but his concerns were dismissed in an email exchange that, Stanley said, nearly ruined their relationship.
The Pressure to Deliver for High-Paying Customers
Amber Bay, OceanGate’s director of administration, testified that the company was under pressure to satisfy clients who had paid $250,000 to join these Titanic dives.
Though she insisted they never took unnecessary risks, she admitted there was an urgency to fulfill their promises.
Fighting back tears, Bay told the hearing: “There’s not a day I don’t think about them, their families, and the loss.”
She had known the victims personally and spoke emotionally about how the tragedy affected her.
The Aftermath: An Empty Office and Lingering Questions
OceanGate has since shut down operations and no longer has full-time employees.
While the company has cooperated with investigations by both the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board, there’s a sense that the damage—both reputational and emotional—can’t be undone.
The tragedy has triggered an industry-wide reassessment of how deep-sea tourism is regulated.
Many now question whether it was ever ethical to send civilians into one of the most dangerous environments on Earth using technology that hadn’t been fully tested.