'You're dead anyway': Chilling words Stockton Rush told Titanic submersible passenger during 2021 test dive
Brian Weed went on a test dive in the doomed Titanic submersible in May 2021 while working for the Discovery Channel's "Expedition Unknown" TV show, and had a "strange" conversation with CEO Stockton Rush.
FollowAn adventure-documentary cameraman who test-dived the Titan submersible claimed OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush made a "bizarre" remark in response to a passenger's fears about what would happen in an emergency. Brian Weed, a veteran documentary cameraman, was working for the Discovery Channel's "Expedition Unknown" TV show when he and his colleague boarded the Titanic submersible in Puget Sound, Washington, in May 2021. According to Weed, the test dive was intended to be a "precursor" to a dive the TV crew had planned to make later that summer to the Titanic shipwreck location in the North Atlantic.
During a test dive, Brian Weed had a concerning encounter with OceanGate's CEO, Stockton Rush. Weed asked Rush what would happen if the sub had to make an emergency ascent and was far from its mothership just seconds after Josh Gates, the host of "Expedition Unknown," and Weed were locked inside.
In response, Rush dismissively stated, "Well, there's four or five days of oxygen on board, and I said, 'What if they don't find you?' And he said, 'Well, you're dead anyway."
Weed found this conversation unsettling, describing Rush's attitude as nihilistic.
"It felt like a very strange thing to think, and it seemed to almost be a nihilistic attitude toward life or death out in the middle of the ocean," Weed told Insider.
Weed added that Rush's whole point was, "If you're out there, and they don't find you in that many days, you're just going to die anyway — it's over for you, so what does it matter if you can't get out of the sub on your own."
He said Rush's apparent "cavalier attitude" toward "basic safety" made him feel "uneasy" from the start and was his first "red flag" from the dive experience.
The test dive itself was marred by mechanical and communication issues, leading Weed to feel uncomfortable and unsafe. "That whole dive made me very uncomfortable with the idea of going down to Titanic depths in that submersible," Weed said, adding that it just didn't feel safe.
Consequently, he withdrew from the documentary, and the "Expedition Unknown" production was subsequently canceled by the Discovery Channel.
Prior to the incident, former OceanGate staff members had raised concerns about the submersible's safety, particularly regarding its carbon fiber hull, which was deemed unsuitable for deep-dives.
OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush had previously acknowledged that using carbon fiber for the hull broke established rules and certifications. He said in an interview, "The carbon fibre and titanium, there's a rule you don't do that – well I did."
Tragically, during the ill-fated trip to explore the Titanic wreckage, the submersible imploded after less than two hours into its dive, resulting in the deaths of Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet. The incident prompted a large-scale rescue operation, but only debris and presumed human remains were recovered.
The loss of the Titan submersible highlighted concerns surrounding its safety and the materials used in its construction, ultimately leading to the cancellation of the expedition and a tragic loss of life.
