The United States Coast Guard has revealed the eerie final message from a submersible that famously imploded last year while on its way to tour wreckage from the Titanic.
The OceanGate mission—which was controversial to start—tragically resulted in five deaths when the capsule imploded due to pressure. But as the Coast Guard just shared with the public, the crew’s last message to its contacts above water were that they were “all good here.” The new information was provided at the beginning of a hearing, which started Monday September 16 and will last for two weeks, to better understand what happened to the doomed submersible.
The vessel had been under scrutiny for potential safety risks for years. But the crew did not appear to be aware of the danger just before it imploded. The eerie message sent was at 7,460 feet below surface level. There were still nearly 5,000 feet left to descend to reach the 12,400-foot wreckage of the famous cruise ship. But the very last text sent was when the vessel was roughly 1,500 feet from the Titanic ruins. The Titan’s final message was that it had “dropped two wts.”
This referred to dropping weights just prior to losing contact with the surface crew of OceanGate. Additionally, the Coast Guard shared during the hearing that they had images of debris at the bottom of the ocean—including the Titan’s tale cone—which were captured four days after the incident.
Witnesses also testified that there were too many safety risks to have made it logical to take the submersible that far below surface level. Tony Nissen, who used to be OceanGate’s engineering director, said that he refused an offer to pilot the mission because of his concerns.
Other worries highlighted in the hearing—and before the mission took place at all—include the fact that the vessel almost sank weeks before the Titanic expedition and another trip pushed five people against the ship’s wall when it was trying to get back to the surface.
In June 2023, American officials announced that the Titan had undergone a “catastrophic implosion” and was lost. All five passengers on board the vessel were pronounced dead, and their remains were uncovered along with debris from the incident in the days that followed the extensive search for the missing capsule.
Those who died on the mission were Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, a businessman from Pakistan and his son, British businessman Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver. The implosion also killed the CEO of OceanGate, which operated the vessel and oversaw the mission, Stockton Rush.
According to experts who weighed in on the tragedy last year, the implosion suffered by the vessel would have taken place in a matter of seconds. The high levels of pressure from the deep-sea level where the ship was at the time would have destroyed it swiftly.
One official with the United States Navy explained that the military branch noticed “an acoustic anomaly” which indicated there had been an implosion not long after the submersible lost contact with its surface crew. The news was given to the Coast Guard, which conducted the search for the capsule and its passengers.
