Titan Sub Disaster | Warning Signs | 4

0:00American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research.

0:20It's June 30, 2021, in the North Atlantic Ocean. Aboard the Horizon Arctic support ship, an Ocean Gate engineer flicks a switch and a winch motor roars to life. A steel cable dripping seawater begins to pull the Titan submersible in its launch platform up a ramp and out of the cold, gray Atlantic. Earlier today, OceanGate CEO Stock and Rush led a pre-dive briefing ahead of Titan's first-ever attempt to reach the wreck of the Titanic. After years of development, he was confident that the company's flagship submersible was finally ready, but the dive has not gone to plan. Titan made it just 23 feet below the surface before encountering technical issues.

1:01Rush, who was piloting the sub, made the call to abort, and now all the morning's optimism has drained away. The Titan platform seesaws at the top of the ramp. Just a few more feet, and it'll be secure. But the Horizon Arctic moves suddenly in the swell, and the sub rocks forward, slamming hard against the ramp.

1:24An engineer flinches as sounds like gunshots echo across the deck, and the dome titanium end cap of the front of Titan slowly topples forward. For a split second, no one moves, and the engineer recovers his composure and hurries over to the stranded sub. There's a gaping circular hole at the vessel's nose, and the five occupants inside are blinking at the sudden bright sunlight. Oh gosh, are you guys all right? Inside the subs, Docton Rush is stoic. Yeah, we're fine. All right, everybody out. Carefully now. The engineer offers a hand, helping the passengers onto the platform, and one by one they're guided to the deck.

2:02Last to leave is Rush. He crouches by the fallen end cap. The engineer runs a finger over the smooth titanium surface and peers at the exposed seal. Ah, it looks like the bolts sheared clean off. Rush frowns. They should have held just fine. As Rush and the engineer step onto the deck, one of the passengers is already snapping photos. Another has his phone halfway out of his coveralls pocket to do the same. Rush places a hand on the engineer's shoulder and steers him away from the rail. All right, this is unacceptable. I know. Imagine if the bolts failed when the sub was in the water, not the bolts that.

2:38Rush jerks his chin toward the passengers and their phones. You need to stop them. If they post photos on social media, it'll be everywhere by this evening. and press will have a field day. But they're passengers. I don't think we can either. They're not passengers. They're mission specialists. And that makes them part of the crew. And a crew follows orders who tell them no pictures. What do you want me to say? Tell them no pictures, that we had an equipment anomaly that is being handled. Nothing to worry about. No pictures. Rush steps closer and then lowers his voice. Take their phones if you have to.

3:10Throw the damn things overboard. I don't care. Just make sure this doesn't get out. After reassuring the Titan's passengers that nothing serious has occurred, the engineer persuades them to put their phones back in their pockets. Any photos they've already taken are deleted. And as far as Stockton Rush is concerned, the bolt failure was just a freak accident. A minor mishap that Ocean Gate will quickly overcome. But this isn't the only alarming incident that Rush has tried to sweep under the carpet. And if Titan failed to go 23 feet underwater today, how likely is it that it will survive the 12 ,500-foot trip to the wreck of the Titanic?

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4:48From Audible Originals, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal.

5:13In 1912, the White Star Line built the largest and most technologically advanced passenger ship the world had ever known. Some famously called the Titanic unsinkable, and with its Marconi radio system, electrically operated watertight doors in sheer size, it was arguably the safest ship on the planet at the time. But even that was not enough. In the unforgiving North Atlantic, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage. More than a century later, another vessel with a similar name returned to those same waters. But the Titan submersible had been built with far less care. If not for bad luck, Titanic would likely have enjoyed a long career of incident-free crossings.

5:55Titan, on the other hand, was an accident waiting to happen. This is Episode 4, Warning Signs.

6:05It's July 7th, 2021, at the harbor in St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland. 40-year-old Alan Estrada bounds up the metal steps to board the Horizon Arctic. He carries a small suitcase with a few changes of clothes and a backpack stuffed with electronic gear. GoPro cameras, battery packs, everything he needs to document the voyage ahead. Estrada makes his living as an actor in Mexico, where he's appeared in stage productions and on television. But lately, his side hustle as a travel influencer on YouTube has taken off. And he's hoping that today's expedition will deliver his best content yet, because he secured a seat inside the only submersible in the world taking tourists to the Titanic.

6:47Estrada drops his bag in his cabin and then immediately grabs a camera. Over the next few minutes, he films a quick walkthrough of the horizon Arctic. His expectations of the 300-foot vessel had been modest, So he's impressed to find a laundry room, a well-stocked galley, a lounge, even a small gym. When he's finished his tour, Estrada then goes looking for Ocean Gate CEO Stockton Rush. He wants to ask him about the previous expedition to Titanic, the one that had just returned to port. But Rush refuses to speak on camera about it. It's not until that evening's official briefing that Estrada discovers the Titan has not yet made it to the Titanic.

7:23On the first expedition of the summer, the crew faced technical challenges, which forced them to abandon all the dives. Still, Rush insists that only makes the second expedition more exciting, because now Estrada and the other mission specialists in the room may be the first to reach the Titanic in the Titan. At the end of the briefing, Estrada returns to his cabin where he records an update for his followers. He tells them that Ocean Gate is confident that the earlier glitches have been resolved, so his dive is scheduled to go ahead. Estrada is buzzing. He's about to become part of Titanic history.

7:56But Estrada does not have the full picture. He's not been told that the first dive only made it 23 feet, or that when the submersible was winched back onto the horizon Arctic, the entire front end cap fell off. During the investigation following that incident, Ocean Gate's engineers quickly discovered the problem. The titanium end cap was designed to be secured to the carbon fiber hull with 18 bolts. But Rush had told the support crews they should only use four to hold it in place. He thought that the pressure of the water outside would create a strong enough seal while they were on dives, and using fewer bolts would make it much faster to load and unload passengers.

8:35Unfortunately, Rush had not considered whether four bolts would be enough to support the weight of the 3 ,500-pound end cap when the Titan was out of the water. As it turns out, it was not. And after the submersible was suddenly jolted while being winched back onto the support ship, the bolts snapped. So after the cause was identified, Rush revised the launch procedure. All 18 bolts would be secured before every dive. And with this new rule in place, the second expedition of the summer departs as scheduled on July 7th, 2021. Still, after all the problems they experienced last time, Rush decides the first dive on Expedition 2 should just be a test.

9:13Only three people will be on board. Rush himself, co-pilot Scott Griffith, and Titanic guide P.H. Nargile. And this time, Titan does successfully descend to the ocean floor and reaches the Titanic debris field. But there, the sub's sonar stops working, and Rush can't locate the main wreck. Their only option is to search visually, but it's pitch black, and the sub's lights don't penetrate far in the murky water. Eventually, they give up trying to find the Titanic and then ascend. But even on the surface, their troubles don't end. The Titan's docking platform malfunctions, leaving the submersible bobbing in the waves for eight hours until the support crew can fix the problem.

9:54But despite these setbacks, Ocean Gate quickly issues a press release celebrating Titan's first descent to the Titanic. The dive is described as historic and a superb demonstration that innovation and safety can go hand in hand. But that journey ends up being the only deep-sea dive of Expedition 2. Still dissatisfied with Titan's performance, Rush decides to head back to shallower waters for more tests. And there, Estrada and the other paying passengers finally get their turn inside Titan, but their experience is limited to a single dive to just 330 feet. So after seven days at sea, Horizon Arctic and Titan are back in port again.

10:34Ocean Gate staff disembark Expedition 2's disappointed passengers and pick up the next batch for Expedition 3. The process of loading and unloading passengers and supplies is getting smoother, but there's still little progress with the submersible's mechanical issues. On Expedition 3, Titan does make it back to the ocean floor, and this time with paying passengers aboard, but a battery failure leaves the sub unable to maneuver to the Titanic. Worse, the loss of power means that Rush can't release the external weights that allow Titan to return to the surface. So the passengers can do nothing but watch while Rush tries to find a workaround.

11:11He reassures them that there's no reason to worry. If all else fails, the rope holding the weights will eventually dissolve on their own. Still, it takes them four hours to finally solve the problem. By the time they reach sea level and the hatch is open, the passengers have spent almost an entire day trapped inside the sub without a single glimpse of the Titanic. Expedition 4 brings yet more issues. On the first dive, Titan loses communications and suffers a propulsion unit failure that makes steering nearly impossible. Rush tries to return to the surface, but again encounters a problem with releasing the ballast weights.

11:47This time, at least, though, he's thought of a quicker solution. He asks the passengers to shift from one side of Titan to the other, rocking the sub from side to side. This process takes 30 dizzying minutes before the weights finally dislodge and the Titan ascends to the surface. But despite all these problems, Ocean Gate eventually delivers on its promise. On the third dive of Expedition 4, Titan reaches the Titanic. The passengers are the first people to see the wreck with their own eyes since researchers dived there in a different sub almost two years earlier. It's a haunting and breathtaking experience.

12:23And when Titan returns to the support ship, the mood on board is jubilant, a combination of celebration and relief. But there's little opportunity for Ocean Gate to build on the success. Fall is approaching, and as the weather shifts, there's only enough time for one more week-long trip into the Atlantic. On this final expedition, Titan manages to reach the wreck again on one dive, but all the others are aborted. So Ocean Gate's first season ends with just two successful trips to the Titanic and plenty of disappointed customers. As they head back to port, Stockton Rush can only hope that they've worked out all the kinks and that the following year, things will be smoother.

13:02And when the expeditions resume in the summer of 2022, there are some familiar faces. Among those hoping that Ocean Gate's problems are a thing of the past is Mexican actor and YouTuber Alan Estrada. And when it's his turn to dive again, he climbs into Titan and sets up his camera to record the descent. Last time, the submersible bottomed out at just 330 feet, but this time they go far deeper. Estrada stares intently through the viewport window as Titan reaches 12 ,500 feet. After a two-hour descent, they are at the bottom of the ocean. Suddenly, a ghostly shape materializes out of the darkness.

13:40It's the Titanic. The hull is encrusted with rust, hanging like bronze icicles from the railings and portholes. They're so close that Estrada feels like he could almost reach out and touch them. And as the Titan maneuvers across the wreck, their guide, P.H. Nargile, points out the landmarks, the bridge, and the wheelhouse, a lifeboat crane frozen in its lowered position, the iconic bow made famous in the 1997 movie. The strata is elated. At last, his dream of seeing the world's most famous shipwreck has come true. But this successful dive will prove the exception rather than the norm in 2022. That summer's expeditions are plagued by just as much bad luck as the previous years.

14:24On one dive, Titan explores the debris field but never manages to find the Titanic. On another, the dive is aborted at 37 feet because floats on the launch platform aren't secured and drift away. It seems that on almost every expedition, something goes wrong. There are thruster problems and battery issues, but the real danger is the damage no one can see. With each descent into the crushing pressure of the deep ocean, Titan's carbon fiber hull is growing weaker. And 13 days after Alan Estrada's trip to the Titanic, it's the turn of another veteran of Titan's first season. Just like Estrada, businessman Fred Hagen's hopes of seeing Titanic were cut short by technical difficulties last year.

15:07But this time, everything goes smoothly. Ocean Gate's second pilot, Scott Griffith, successfully guides Titan to the bottom and explores a wreck. Then the sub begins its ascent to the surface, and the passengers are left to process what they've just seen. Each seems lost in their own thoughts. Hagen had expected to be awestruck by the Titanic itself, but he hadn't anticipated this strange sense of being suspended between two worlds. Beside him, pilot Scott Griffith tweaks the thrusters using the Titan's adapted PlayStation controller before letting it settle in his lap.

15:44Well, folks, ballast looks good. Oxygen levels are good. No alarms. Titan's behaving herself today. She'll be on deck in no time. Well, it's certainly been a smooth ride, Scott. Thank you. My pleasure, Fred. Hope it was worth the wait. I don't know where to begin. I mean, I've seen that ship so many times in books and films, but to see it with your own eyes and to realize that this is where it all happened. Yeah, yeah. It gets me every time. Don't you think in a few years there won't be any of it left? Well, nature's doing a slow-motion salvage job, I guess, eating her alive, one iron railing at a time.

16:20That makes us some of the last who will ever see her. They drift back into comfortable silence as the first hints of brighter water filter through the viewport. But then a sharp sound rips through the submersible, echoing around the curved interior. Hagen looks at Griffith, who peers at the screens. Hold on, folks, hold on, no one panic. Griffith scans his display. Yeah, yeah, everything looks normal. There's no pressure loss. There's no breach indication. We can all breathe easy. It might have just been an exterior flex. We're ascending, so the pressure differential can get a little weird, but we're okay, I promise.

16:55It sounded like something snapped. It was possibly the carbon fiber in the hole. You've got to remember there are millions of tiny strands in there. One or two of them breaking isn't a big deal. So that sound was normal? Normal's probably pushing it, but it happened right from the start with Titan. Stockton says that the first time he went down, he heard a bang so loud he nearly jumped out of his skin. Pagan shakes his head, takes a deep breath. Griffith pats him on the shoulder. Did you think you were a goner or something there, Fred? I don't think your time's up just yet. Just like the Titan, you've got plenty more adventures to come.

17:30A few minutes later, Titan breaches the surface. The submersible rocks in the waves while Ocean Gate's divers secure it to the floating launch platform. Then it slowly pulled back up the ramp and onto Horizon Arctic. The sub is inspected and there are no obvious signs of damage from the loud bang the passengers heard. But hidden within the submersible's hull, there is now a flaw. One that will get worse with every dive, slowly spreading like a cancer. Titan has already been pushed beyond its limits and it will not recover.

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19:24them about the guest stars like Richard Kind, Carrie Coon, Jimmy Fallon, at all. But they were in it and if you don't listen to them then I will cut off your tongue, then cut off your head, and then put the tongue in the head hole. Aw, you tried. Listen now exclusively on Audible and download the Audible app today or off with your head! I'm kidding.

20:03When Fred Hagen, Scott Griffith, and the other Titan passengers returned to the Horizon Arctic, they learned they weren't the only ones who heard the cracking noise. The sound was so loud that even the crew on the surface heard it. And by the time of the post-dive debrief the following morning, it's all many people on board the Horizon Arctic can talk about. Still, when Stockton Rush bounds into the ship's conference room, he's upbeat. The most important thing for him is that the Titan has reached the Titanic again, and that Ocean Gate's passengers feel they've gotten their money's worth. So he minimizes concerns about the crack heard during the ascent.

20:37He acknowledges that it was a pretty loud bang, but he repeats a claim that he's made before. Noises in a submersible are normal. As far as Rush is concerned, a component probably expanded or moved because of the temperature and pressure changes, and it's nothing to worry about. But one contractor working on Titan's navigation and communication systems isn't reassured. Antonella Wilby has spent years working with submersibles outside of Ocean Gate, and in her experience, even a remotely operated sub that made such a loud, unexplained noise would be removed from service until it had been properly checked.

21:13But Rush intends to send the Titan back underwater with passengers in just a few days. But when Willby voices her concerns with Amber Bay, Ocean Gate's director of administration, her argument is dismissed, and instead, Bay responds that some people at Ocean Gate have questions about Willby. They wonder whether she has the right mindset to work in such a cutting-edge, experimental environment, whether she's enough of an explorer, a risk-taker for Ocean Gate. Willby is stunned by the criticism, but the conversation also helps make up her mind. She concludes that maybe she's not the right fit for Ocean Gate.

21:48And even before the expedition is over, Wilby and the company agree to go their separate ways. So with Wilby's intervention brushed aside, Titan returns to the bottom of the ocean four days later. And just a few days after that, the sub descends and explores Titanic again. In all, Titan reaches the wreck site three times in eight days. So at last, the submersible seems to be operating as Stockton Rush intended, ferrying high-paying clients to and from Titanic on the adventure of a lifetime. But just as Titan seems to have turned a corner, the 2022 dive season comes to an end. Horizon Arctic returns to St.

22:26John's in Newfoundland, and Ocean Gate's equipment is unloaded from the support ship. Now that the dives are over for the year, head of engineering Phil Brooks wants to examine Titan more closely. Ever since that loud crack was heard, the acoustic monitoring system built into Titan's hull has been picking up more sounds than usual. It could be a sign that carbon fiber strands are breaking at a higher rate than before, and Brooks wants to check it out. He suggests transferring the Titan to Ocean Gate's facility in Washington for a full health check. But Stockton Rush tells him that the cost of moving the submersible across the country is too high.

23:02So instead, Titan undergoes just a brief inspection on the dockside in Newfoundland. There are no obvious defects, so over Phil Brooks' objections, the submersible is stored there in an outdoor parking lot for the winter. For months, it's exposed to temperatures that range from a balmy 84 degrees to deep below freezing, as well as harsh weather including rain, sleet, and snow. It doesn't seem appropriate, so believing that safety is being sacrificed to save money, Brooks resigns from Ocean Gate, yet another senior employee walking away. But once again, Stockton Rush brushes it off. He's convinced that the carbon fiber hull is still sound and that the 2023 season is going to be Ocean Gate's best yet.