The Titanic Foundation is investigating whether the boss of the fatal tourist submersible misled its foremost expert to get them aboard the doomed expedition.
The group, spearheaded by victim Paul-Henri Nargeolet, is probing owner Stockton Rush’s numerous claims about his Titan underwater craft.
This comes just days after a submersible expert suggested Nargeolet’s trips on the sub “legitimised” the OceanGate vessel despite numerous concerns over its safety.
According to RMS Titanic, Inc. president Jessica Sanders, Rush, who also died in the tragedy, was a "cavalier guy".
The American previously boasted about the safety of his Titan sub, bragging to passengers that it was “way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving”, or even “crossing the street”.
His claims came despite it being constructed from “off the shelf” components and from a camping shop.
The Titanic Foundation is now reviewing past records in the wake of the tragedy and questioning the truthfulness and veracity of Rush’s statements, Sanders said.
“We have now our own internal questions about the representations [OceanGate] made that we made the basis on giving PH the OK to go,” she said.
“We’re going back and looking at that now ourselves internally because there were representations not only made to us but made to the court, that now we have to go back and verify because of these stories that are coming up that question them.”
Frenchman Nargeolet was known as ‘Mr Titanic’ and a world expert on the ill-fated liner that sank on its maiden voyage in 1912.
The Titanic Foundation’s investigation comes after Rush was claimed to have been on a “predatory” hunt looking for wealthy clientele to support his struggling deep-sea submersible trips to the Titanic.
Patrick Lahey, president of Triton Submarines, said he was incredibly persuasive when it came to his dangerous diving missions, convincing Nargeolet it was safe.
“He could even convince someone who knew and understood the risks … it was really quite predatory,” Lahey, who was friends with Nargeolet, explained.
Lahey's company is a leading manufacturer and has been involved in creating and testing 60 human-rated submersibles. He says he warned Nargeolet, 77, before joining the doomed dive.
“I told him in very candid terms why he shouldn’t be out there. He understood. I believe PH thought in some way that by being out there, he could help these guys avoid a tragedy, but instead he ended up in the middle of one,” Lahey said.
“I told PH that going out there in some way sanctioned this operation. I said: ‘You’re becoming an ambassador for this thing; people look at you and your record and the life you lead and things you’ve done, which are extraordinary, and in some ways you are legitimising what [OceanGate] are doing.'”
During its 12,500-foot descent in the Atlantic Ocean on June 18, the Titan suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing Brit Suleman Dawood, 19, and his father Shahzada Dawood, 48.
British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, Nargeolet and Rush, 61, also perished.
The Titanic Foundation is a non-profit foundation for education and awareness of the Titanic and its deteriorating condition and potential salvage of the ship.
