OceanGate has been performing extremely risky deep-dive expeditions since 2009 with the now infamous Titan submersible being capable of diving down up to 4000 meters. All in all, the company had three submersible vehicles before the tragedy that took place on Sunday, and between them, they had done plenty of similar dives.
It has since been confirmed that the submersible most likely imploded on Sunday. But the Titan’s last expedition wasn’t the only time that it had been taken down to view the wreck of the notorious ship. While trips were planned in 2018, regulations and technical issues scuppered plans. Former OceanGate employee, David Lochridge, flagged numerous health and safety concerns around that time which may have been what caused the planned expeditions to be pushed back. Ultimately, Lochridge was fired from the company and even ended up being taken to court by OceanGate over breach of contract.
The Titan performed its first Titanic dive in 2021
Despite this, the company was able to go ahead with the Titanic dives in 2021, and since then, the Titan has been back down to the wreck 14 times in total, six times in 2021 and seven times in 2022. Due to poor weather, OceanGate was only able to perform one dive in 2023.
The other submersibles, Cyclops 1 and Antipodes, were similar in design to the Titan and could also only seat five passengers, however, they were not capable of going as deep. Between the three, they had undertaken more than 200 expeditions since the company was established. It’s worth noting that Antipodes has actually completed around 1,300 dives during its service, but most of them were before it was purchased by OceanGate in 2009.
Despite the vast number of dives between all three vehicles, the tragedy that unfolded on Sunday seemed almost inevitable. While tragic, hopefully, this horrific accident will serve as a reminder of why it’s important to heed health and safety regulations.