By Katherine Tinsley
5:34am PDT, Jun 13, 2025
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OceanGate CEO
Stockton Rush had dreams of becoming the next
Elon Musk, but his tech ambitions crumbled when he died in a submarine accident designed to tour the Titanic wreckage.
The 2023 Titan catastrophe ended with five people, including Rush, dying during the deep-sea excursion, and it is the focus of Netflix's
Titan: The OceanGate Disaster documentary.
Keep reading to see which six moments shocked the Wonderwall.com team the most…
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No. 1: Design flaws
Stockton Rush hoped to create a submersible using more affordable and lightweight materials, as the CEO was seemingly obsessed with making one out of carbon fiber. While carbon fiber is strong and lighter, titanium is the standard material used.
"If you can realize that dream of a carbon-fiber submersible, you can drop the price, you can suddenly have fleets of these submersibles operating around the world," journalist Mark Harris shared in the documentary. "It's not like metal. Titanium is extremely well-understood. Carbon fiber is extremely idiosyncratic, in that the little fibers inside there can snap. And that snap, it actually creates a sound."
Former director of engineering Tony Nissen revealed Rush was delusional about carbon fiber's ability to withstand the journey.
"[It's] still breaking. You don't want to hear that anymore. Because if it's not breaking, it's intact," Niseen shared.
"There was no way of knowing when it was going to fail, but it was a mathematical certainty that it would fail," former expedition leader Rob McCallum alleged. "So having a dive or two or 10 to Titanic is not a measure of success."
"[Rush] had every contact in the submersible industry telling him not to do this," McCallum continued. "But once you start down the path of doing it entirely yourself and you realize you've taken a wrong turn right at the beginning… particularly for Stockton, you have to admit you were wrong. That's a big pill to swallow."
No. 2: Narcissism
Stockton Rush fostered a unique work environment, which might've prevented employees from advocating for themselves.
Tony Nissen called Rush a "borderline clinical psychopath" who was "definitely a narcissist."
In footage, Rush is heard telling employees that he needed a staff that was committed to his vision, no matter how unrealistic it was.
"I don't want anybody in this company who is uncomfortable with what we're doing," Rush exclaimed.
"We're doing weird s*** here, and I am definitely out of the mold. There's no question. I am doing things that are completely non-standard," he said. "And I'm sure the industry thinks I'm a f****** idiot. That's fine, they've been doing that for eight years. And I'm gonna continue on the way I'm doing, but I'm not going to force people to join my religion if they don't want to."
No. 3: A cult-like following
Employees were let go from OceanGate when they voiced their concerns about the watercraft, which led to Stockton Rush bringing in a younger and inexperienced workforce willing to commit to his vision.
"It just became such a tight group of people who had such a strong belief in what they thought they were doing that it became almost cult-like," Rob McCallum shared.
"[Rush] wanted fame. First and foremost, to fuel his ego. Fame. That was what he wanted, and he's got it," David Lochridge, who was OceanGate's director of marine operations, noted.
No. 4: Legal loopholes
Legally, paying passengers on a submersible have to be on a "classed" underwatercraft, which means it has been classified as safe by a third party.
Stockton Rush wasn't interested in getting the certification, but the company needed to make a profit, so he classified passengers as "mission specialists."
"The term 'mission specialist' is a workaround," Rob McCallum shared. "There are some rules about operating vessels at sea."
"Those rules differ based on whether you're a crew member or a paying passenger," McCallum continued. "Stockton was trying to confuse them, ensuring that nobody was ever referred to as a passenger. It was just one of the steps OceanGate took to make sure they could work around U.S. legislation."
No. 5: Congressional bribes
OceanGate employee Matthew McCoy testified during the Coast Guard investigation hearing that Rush Stockton told him he was willing to "buy a congressman" to avoid facing legal consequences for his business practices.
McCoy accused Rush of attempting to circumvent U.S. law by "flagging the Titan in the Bahamas and launching out of Canada so that they wouldn't fall under U.S. jurisdiction."
McCoy was fired in 2018 after he shared his safety concerns. He later contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration with his analysis.
No. 6: Demands for a female pilot
Stockton Rush was allegedly fixated on promoting finance director Bonnie Carl to fill the pilot position, despite her lack of experience.
"Stockton went along as though, 'Well, Bonnie's going to be our next lead pilot. This is going to be great. We're going to have a female lead pilot. This is gonna play well to the media.' And I remember thinking, 'What's happening? Are you nuts? I'm an accountant,'" Carl claimed.
