Day three of Titan disaster hearing features testimony from former dive passenger

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – After a 24-hour break, the Coast Guard’s hearing into why a submersible set to explore the Titanic imploded has resumed Thursday.

Witnesses scheduled to testify include Renata Rojas, a former passenger, and OceanGate Mission Specialist, who had gone on five dives with the company. After hearing from Rojas, OceanGate’s former Scientific Director, Dr. Steve Ross, will take the stand.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Coast Guard panelists heard from former OceanGate Marine Operations Director David Lochridge, a whistleblower who criticized OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, calling him a “control freak.”

When the hearing began on Monday, the testimony was just as searing, with former OceanGate Engineering Director Tony Nissen saying disagreeing with Stockton was “death by a thousand cuts.”

Former OceanGate Human Resources and Finance Director Bonnie Carl and former OceanGate Contractor Tym Catterson both said they would not have gotten into the Titan submersible that imploded.

LIVE UPDATES:

2:09 p.m. – 2:10 p.m.

Stockton and Dr. Ross did have a conversation on how many dives they thought the hull would last until it need refurbishment and Stockton said indefinite. He also said he was not aware of any maintenance done after dive 87.

2:07 p.m.

Dr. Ross said no one on the Titan expedition to the Titanic that he was on voiced concerns to him about the submersibles hull.

1:52 p.m.

Dr. Ross was in Newfoundland on the day of the Titan implosion.

1:50 p.m.

Ross testifies that operating the controls and continuing the dive after thruster failure on dive 80 was an acceptable risk.

1:32 p.m.

Dr. Ross said he was aware of most of the engineering malfunctions that were occurring on the dive 81.

1:26 p.m.

Dr. Ross was made aware of the main thrusters being reversed on dive 81, however the pilot Scott Griffith reworked the way he was operating and the dive proceeded, he said.

1:24 p.m.

Dr. Ross, who was on the support vessel, was made aware of the loud bang on the submersible that happened on dive 80 and the entire crew onboard the vessel discussed.

1:23 p.m.

A nisken bottle is a mechanical device used to collect water samples, according to Ross.

1:21 p.m.

Dr. Ross is currently writing a scientific paper on data collected during his at OceanGate.

1:19 p.m.

Mission specialists paid for a spot on the Titan to visit the Titanic and be involved in other parts of the operation, according to Ross.

1:17 p.m.

OceanGate expeditions had other agendas than just science. For example, OceanGate would accommodate mission specialist wants as well like if they wanted to view the Titanic remains, Ross said.

1:15 p.m.

Dr. Ross said there were other scientist collaborating for the science program. Ross was on the 2021 Titanic expeditions with OceanGate.

1:14 p.m.

Dr. Ross was not paid as a chief scientist.

1:13 p.m.

Dr. Ross was working independently from UNC at OceanGate.

1:11 p.m.

Dr. Ross first met Stockton in 2013 and began working with him in 2018 after he was invited to apart of a science program. Dr. Ross was made chief scientist in 2021. His role was to develop a science program using the Titan submersible.

1:09 p.m.

Dr. Ross has done manned submersible dives with companies other OceanGate. He said he has gone down on eight submersibles. All eight submersibles were operated by different companies.

1:08 p.m.

Dr. Ross is currently an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina.

1:07 p.m.

Dr. Ross brought legal representation.

1:05 p.m.

Hearing back in session. Former OceanGate Scientific Director Dr. Steven Ross called forward virtually.

11:51 a.m.

Rojas leaves on tearful final statement:

11:44 a.m.

Rojas said the Titan’s hull condition was reported in the pre-dive assessments she did.

11:42 a.m.

Rojas calls Triton submersibles the “ferrari” of subs. She said her dives with OceanGate were similar to her U-Boat dives.

11:36 a.m.

Rojas said she was able to ask Dr. Steve Ross, who is a scientist, questions before one of the dives for 12 hours.

11:35 a.m.

Rojas said mission specialist were not critical roles but more like helpers.

11:29 a.m.

Rojas testifies that Stockton put the controller down during the Andrea Doria and it did not break. She said the Cyclops was stuck for less than 15 minutes in her approximation. She said Stockton and Lochridge did disagree but kept it professional. There was no yelling and screaming.

11:28 a.m.

Rojas said she recorded most of the Andrea Doria dive, but did not record when the Cyclops was stuck in the prow.

11:26 a.m.

In her role as a mission specialist, Rojas said she was able to voice concerns and saw that they changed throughout expeditions. She said she felt heard and that the team would adjust.

Rojas never raised safety concerns on her dives. She said she knew the risk but still went.

11:14 a.m.

Rojas said after she ate her lunch and went back to the support bridge on the Polar Prince is when she was notified communications had been lost.

Stockton’s wife was usually a communications person, according to Rojas

11:13 a.m.

The difference between the 2022 and 2023 expeditions is that passengers entered into the submersible at different points and in different places.

11:09 a.m.

Rojas said she was made aware of issues regarding the Titan between the 2021 to 2022 and 2023.

11:02 a.m.

Rojas said she did know that the hull sustained a crack in the 2019 Bahamas test dive.

She also said that her understanding was that Stockton wanted people inside the submersible to see if it was to loud.

10:47 a.m.

After the dome fell off on a Titan test dive in 2021, there was a safety meeting to go over. The team decided they were going to practice more. On another test dive in July 2021, the drop weight mechanism was jettisoned.

10:45 a.m.

Andrea Doria pilots were Stockton Rush and David Lochridge, Titanic pilots were Stockton and Scott Griffith, and Hudson Canyon was Stockton and Kenny Hague, according to Rojas.

10:44 a.m.

Rojas paid $20,000 to dive in the Cyclops 1 to the Andrea Doria.

10:42 a.m.

Rojas went on an Explorer’s Club expedition and dived in a submersible to the HHS Britanic ship not with OceanGate. It was through U-Boat navigator.

10:39 a.m.

The Explorers Club is a membership of explorers or those in exploration education and anything that has to do with exploration. Stockton made a presentation at the Explorer’s Club. Rojas said he went through the history of OceanGate and the Titan.

Rojas said it was an informative presentation. Other Explorer’s Club members participated in Titanic expeditions.

Rojas said

10:37 a.m.

Rojas and Stockton met in 2015.

10:36 a.m.

Rojas said Tym Catterson would not get in the sub and he did voice concerns to her.

10:34 a.m.

“This was never sold as a Disney ride. This was an expedition that things happen and you have to adapt. At least for me that was very clear,” Rojas said.

10:31 a.m.

She said OceanGate gave briefings explaining what to do if different situations if something went wrong.

10:29 a.m.

She was there for another test dive in the Netherlands that she said went fine.

10:27 a.m.

During the 2023 expedition, Rojas was on the Titan’s support vessel and said the sub passengers were in constant contact with support. The sub was overdue and had not surfaced.

Rojas said she “thinks” the Canadian Coast Guard was notified of the dive and they eventually called the Canadian Coast Guard.

When asked whether she thought the plan was adequate she said that is “above my pay grade.”

10:05 a.m.

Rojas becomes choked up and cries while talking about 2023 Titanic expedition. Recess called.

10:01 a.m.

Rojas was not a mission specialist on the 2023 Titanic expeditions and she went on two test dives.

10:00 a.m.

The BBC was on board the Titan during the Titanic expedition, according to Rojas. She said she did not feel unsafe on her Titanic expedition.

9:58 a.m.

Rojas said on the dives she was on that the hull was “extremely silent.”

9:56 a.m.

Rojas does not remember how a risk index for the dives were determined. She said she does not remember who determined them or how, but they were in the dive plan. It was the mission director and pilot’s job to determine the risk index.

9:51 a.m.

On the successful Titan trip to the Titanic, the vessel landed 500 meters from the bow of the ship. A scientist was on board who explained things about the Titanic’s ecosystem to passengers.

When the sub came back to surface and was parking it lost all battery power.

Rojas full recount is below.

9:49 a.m.

Rojas completed a successful trip to the Titanic in the Titan in 2022, she testified.

9:46 a.m.

The Titanic expedition was postponed in 2021 as well due to engineering issues.

9:43 a.m.

During the Titan test dive for the Titanic expeditions that Rojas was on the Titan’s dome fell off.

Hear her recount of the situation below.

9:41 a.m.

Rojas thinks that Stockton was going get a different manufacturer after the 2019 dive postponement. A photographer accompanied her on the trip down to watch the Titan’s Bahamas test dives.

9:39 a.m.

Rojas explained she was given updates with each test dive the submersible did. The 2019 dive to the Titanic was postponed due to scheduling, financial strain and a new hull had to be made. She said the hull had “a lot of noise” and the sub was “probably not strong enough.”

The 2020 Titan dive to the Titanic was postponed due to COVID, according to Rojas.

9:37 a.m.

Rojas went on the Titanic dive in 2022. She believes the reason the dive was delayed from the original timeline is because of electrical problems during test mission in the Bahamas.

9:36 a.m.

Rojas said she knew of the Titan’s plans to go to the Titanic and signed up for the trip in 2016. She said she was told the plan for the Titanic dive was 2018.

9:23 a.m.

A part of the job on the dive was to log every animal the passengers saw, Rojas testified. The dive went successfully, according to Rojas.

OceanGate would do an interview at the end of every dive where passengers would give feedback to Stockton or the mission expedition leader, Rojas said. Stockton was the pilot on the Hudson Canyon dive.

9:21 a.m.

Debriefs continued as usual including the morning the team arrived at the Hudson Canyon site. The pilot gave instructions as normal. Some passengers had never dived under water before.

9:18 a.m.

Rojas was a passenger on a Husdon Canyon dive in 2020 with OceanGate. The team did COVID tests for passengers, she said. Rojas said passengers had to do two hour night watches as the vessel was pulling a platform behind them which was not normal.

9:16 a.m.

Rojas said OceanGate was transparent about the fact that Cyclops was not classified and the dive were experimental. She said her friends were aware of her Andrea Doria dive and dive plans had contacts for in case of emergency.

9;15 a.m.

The hatch is right in the middle of the ship and

9:12 a.m.

She said there was no panicking, no crying, no swearing or yelling on the dive and that David Lochridge “must have went on a different dive” after hearing his recounting on Tuesday. She said Lochridge kept asking for the controls, but he was in a better position to view and maneuver the ship out of the site.

As a result Lochridge asked for the controls and Stockton turned them over with no fight, she testified.

9:08 a.m.

She said the Andrea Doria dive was only a 70 meter dive and the team had come back to the surface before going back down because they did not get close enough.

The second time they went down, she said they were only 50 meters from the sand and it was a gentle landing.

She said as they got closer to the wreck they would start and stop because sand would kick up before they eventually ended at the prow of the Doria’s remains.

She said at some point Lochridge took the controls and did a very good job, driving them out up to the top. Rojas said she has lots of personal video of the Andrea Doria dive.

9:06 a.m.

Rojas testifies the dive was “a great dive” and she said she had “a lot of fun.” The team went through a briefing on what to do in case of emergency, what roles they should do, and counting fish they saw.

9:05 a.m.

On the Andrea Doria dive, Rojas said five people were on the dive including former marine operations director David Lochridge, CEO Stockton Rush, and two others.

9:04 a.m.

Rojas said the mission director would determine the strike limit and she had been on a dive where a strike limit was reached.

9:03 a.m.

She said there would be strikes on each dive like simple anomalies like no water in the sub or ropes out of place or bigger strikes like sonar would not work then a dive would be cancelled. The cancellation could happen at any point during the dive if a strike limit was reached.

9:00 a.m. – 9:02 a.m.

Passengers would get phone calls to update on each mission details about the vessel. Before the dive, members would also be briefed multiple times including the night before and the morning before.

8:58 a.m.

Rojas said she never conducted vessel maintenance nor was she responsible for it, but she did observe. Passengers had to go through a hearing test and a visual test to make sure they were fit.

8:56 a.m.

Rojas testifies she has seen the mission specialist job description sheet. She said when passengers got on the ship they would show the sheet and passengers would have to pick which duties they believed they could do.

8:53 a.m.

Rojas stated a mission specialist could do as much or as little work as she wanted. “I enjoyed it, it was fun. I was learning a lot and working with amazing people,” Rojas said.

8:51 a.m.

You could get a refund from the company if you put a deposit down or cancelled six months before the dive. Rojas never had to get a refund. She said Stockton was “very fair” and “very kind”. If she was unable to get the dive she wanted, he would try to rework her into another dive, she testified.

8:49 a.m. -8:51 a.m.

Rojas explained that the payment made was to be a dive passenger. She was given a contract that had a payment breakdown when she signed up to be a passenger and there was a portion that was non-refundable, according to the contract.

8:43 a.m. – 8:48 a.m.

Rojas said she has been a scuba diver since she was 12. She said she has always had a dream of going to the Titanic. She heard about OceanGate for a second time through astronaut training.

She accompanied OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and others on a dive to the SS Andrea Doria.

She said she had no experience with submersible before her first dive to the Titanic with a company called Triton.

She dived to the Andrea Doria, two Titan test dives, a Titanic dive, one to Hudson Canyon and one other.

8:41 a.m.

Renata Rojas, OceanGate mission specialist and former dive passenger, called to witness stand alongside legal representative.

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