A Discovery Channel presenter says he turned down an offer to film on OceanGate’s Titan submersible over safety concerns.
Josh Gates, who is a veteran explorer and host of Expedition Unknown, said it was a hard no from him as the submersible “did not perform well” during a test dive.
In a series of posts shared to Twitter on Wednesday, Gates explained how back in July 2021, he had been given the opportunity to join OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush on a test dive while the company was preparing for its initial visit to the Titanic shipwreck.
He tweeted: “To those asking, #Titan did not perform well on my dive. Ultimately, I walked away from a huge opportunity to film Titanic due to my safety concerns w/ the @OceanGate platform. There’s more to the history and design of Titan that has not been made public – much of it concerning.”
I had the unique opportunity to dive in the @Oceangate #Titan sub with Stockton at the helm in preparation for its maiden mission to Titanic. I pray for a positive outcome to the rescue efforts of those aboard, including fellow @ExplorersClub member Hamish Harding. pic.twitter.com/z6jjLf6tO6
— Josh Gates (@joshuagates) June 21, 2023
The Titanic submersible went missing on Sunday in Newfoundland, Canada, during a sight-seeing expedition to the wreckage of theTitanic after losing contact with its mothership about 1 hour and 45 minutes after setting off.
On Thursday, following an enormous search operation, OceanGate confirmed that all five passengers onboard were dead following a “catastopic implosion”.
Rush was among the five who died in the Titan sub. The others were British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet as well as the London-based businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
