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Ill-fated Titan submersible was once struck by lightning which ‘affected over 70% of its internal systems’
The lightning strike took place during a test dive in the Bahamas in 2018
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush once said that the doomed Titan submersible was struck by lightning, getting severely damaged in the process. The incident took place during a test dive in the Bahamas in 2018. Stockton, along with British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diver Paul Henry Nargeolet, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, after as a result of a catastrophic implosion of the Titan.
Stockton revealed the information while recounting the experience to an undersea technology company named Teledyne Marine. The interview is now deleted, but copies are uploaded on YouTube. The news outlet Insider reported that based on metadata, they gathered that the video was published in August 2020.
"Fortunately, it was not a direct strike. A direct strike to the carbon fibre probably would have taken us totally out," Stockton said in the interview. According to an OceanGate post, the vessel had "sustained lightning damage that affected over 70% of its internal systems."
"Fortunately, we are using commercial off-the-shelf and line-replaceable items. So in a matter of a couple of days, we were able to replace all those components," Stockton said. The company, however, aborted the test dive due to the lightning strike.
"But we continue to have issues on connectors, penetrators, wiring. Lightning can do weird things. That pushed our testing back and we ended up having to cancel that," Stockton said.
After the tragedy, several emails and messages between experts and Stockton went viral after his death, revealing that he dismissed repeated warnings that the submersible was not safe. It has also been reported that Stockton employed college-aged interns to design the electrical systems for the Titan submersible.
Passengers on board the Titan submersible were not referred to as “passengers,” but as “mission specialists” to avoid legal trouble if anyone died, former consultant to OceanGate Rob McCallum told The New Yorker. These customers reportedly paid $250,000 for a place on the Titan.
