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OceanGate
OceanGate Inc. is an American privately owned company based in Everett, Washington, that provided crewed submersibles for tourism, industry, research, and exploration. The company was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush and Guillermo Söhnlein.
The company acquired a submersible vessel, Antipodes, and later built two of its own: Cyclops 1 and Titan. In 2021, OceanGate began taking paying tourists in Titan to visit the wreck of the Titanic. In 2022, the price to be a passenger on an OceanGate expedition to the Titanic shipwreck was $250,000 per person.
On June 18, 2023, Titan imploded during a voyage to the Titanic wreck site, killing all five occupants on board, including Rush. An international search and rescue operation was launched, and on June 22 the wreckage was found on the seabed about 500 meters (1,600 ft) from the Titanic wreck site. On June 21, it was announced that OceanGate's Everett office was closed indefinitely, and on July 6, OceanGate suspended all operations. Since August 2023, Gordon Gardiner has served as the company's CEO. Gardiner was appointed "to lead OceanGate through the ongoing investigations and closure of the company's operations," as the company still exists as a legal entity; however, Gardiner has stated that OceanGate has "permanently" ceased all business operations.
Stockton Rush had an interest in aviation and space travel as a child, and obtained a commercial pilot's license when he was 18 years old. As an adult, his interests pivoted to undersea exploration. Rush built a fortune by investing his inheritance in technological businesses and decided to purchase a submarine, but discovered that he was unable to, as there were fewer than 100 privately owned submarines worldwide. He instead built one from plans in 2006, a Kittredge K-350, which he named Suds.
Rush believed that undersea exploration was an underserved market, due to, in his opinion, an unwarranted reputation of submersibles as dangerous vehicles. He criticized the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993 as "needlessly prioritiz[ing] passenger safety over commercial innovation". In an address before The Explorers Club in 2017, he termed submersibles "the safest vehicles on the planet". Non-certified vehicles were more dangerous, as demonstrated by at least one fatality involving a homemade submersible in 1990.
Rush commissioned a marketing study that concluded there was sufficient demand for underwater ocean tourism.
OceanGate was initiated by Guillermo Söhnlein and Stockton Rush in Seattle in 2009. According to Söhnlein, the company was founded with the intention of creating a small fleet of 5-person commercial submersibles that could be leased by any organization or group of individuals. In 2023 he told Sky News, "The whole intent was to create a small fleet of work submersibles. And in that way, as our tagline was in the early days, 'Open the oceans for all of humanity'."
The company's first submersible was Antipodes, a used 5-person vessel with a steel hull. Between 2010 and 2013 the company performed an estimated 130 dives with Antipodes. The company's business model involved renting out its submersible to researchers, and taking tourists—whom the company referred to as "citizen scientists"—on underwater excursions. Söhnlein estimated in 2012 that passengers typically paid between $7,500 and $40,000 per person, depending on the excursion.
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OceanGate
OceanGate Inc. is an American privately owned company based in Everett, Washington, that provided crewed submersibles for tourism, industry, research, and exploration. The company was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush and Guillermo Söhnlein.
The company acquired a submersible vessel, Antipodes, and later built two of its own: Cyclops 1 and Titan. In 2021, OceanGate began taking paying tourists in Titan to visit the wreck of the Titanic. In 2022, the price to be a passenger on an OceanGate expedition to the Titanic shipwreck was $250,000 per person.
On June 18, 2023, Titan imploded during a voyage to the Titanic wreck site, killing all five occupants on board, including Rush. An international search and rescue operation was launched, and on June 22 the wreckage was found on the seabed about 500 meters (1,600 ft) from the Titanic wreck site. On June 21, it was announced that OceanGate's Everett office was closed indefinitely, and on July 6, OceanGate suspended all operations. Since August 2023, Gordon Gardiner has served as the company's CEO. Gardiner was appointed "to lead OceanGate through the ongoing investigations and closure of the company's operations," as the company still exists as a legal entity; however, Gardiner has stated that OceanGate has "permanently" ceased all business operations.
Stockton Rush had an interest in aviation and space travel as a child, and obtained a commercial pilot's license when he was 18 years old. As an adult, his interests pivoted to undersea exploration. Rush built a fortune by investing his inheritance in technological businesses and decided to purchase a submarine, but discovered that he was unable to, as there were fewer than 100 privately owned submarines worldwide. He instead built one from plans in 2006, a Kittredge K-350, which he named Suds.
Rush believed that undersea exploration was an underserved market, due to, in his opinion, an unwarranted reputation of submersibles as dangerous vehicles. He criticized the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993 as "needlessly prioritiz[ing] passenger safety over commercial innovation". In an address before The Explorers Club in 2017, he termed submersibles "the safest vehicles on the planet". Non-certified vehicles were more dangerous, as demonstrated by at least one fatality involving a homemade submersible in 1990.
Rush commissioned a marketing study that concluded there was sufficient demand for underwater ocean tourism.
OceanGate was initiated by Guillermo Söhnlein and Stockton Rush in Seattle in 2009. According to Söhnlein, the company was founded with the intention of creating a small fleet of 5-person commercial submersibles that could be leased by any organization or group of individuals. In 2023 he told Sky News, "The whole intent was to create a small fleet of work submersibles. And in that way, as our tagline was in the early days, 'Open the oceans for all of humanity'."
The company's first submersible was Antipodes, a used 5-person vessel with a steel hull. Between 2010 and 2013 the company performed an estimated 130 dives with Antipodes. The company's business model involved renting out its submersible to researchers, and taking tourists—whom the company referred to as "citizen scientists"—on underwater excursions. Söhnlein estimated in 2012 that passengers typically paid between $7,500 and $40,000 per person, depending on the excursion.