Sorry, don't know any of that.
Ms. Marple. Thanks for that info. I remember Cameron making those statements and figuring that he must have gotten that information from somewhere that made him confident to make those statements. But then seeing the test messages, I thought it didn't make sense. Did Cameron have some other additional information? Since lawsuits have been filed, I think it is safe to say that Cameron and Ballard (if he also said the same) are going to get deposed to explain those statements under oath. So they are going to have to state who told them that.Remember how James Cameron painted a picture of the last minutes before the implosion of panicked passengers desperate to surface as warning alarms sounded? Well…
The New York Times has an interesting article about that scenario now that testimony points to the dropping of two weights, each weighing 35 pounds, in order to slow the Titan’s descent to make a smoother ride.
The article is behind a paywall so I have to paraphrase. Both Cameron and James Ballard had gone to media claiming the crew were aware that an implosion was imminent and were dropping weights. Even the Nargeolet family lawsuit makes that claim.
But Tym Catterson, an OceanGate contractor who helped launch Titan shortly before it imploded, testified under oath that he is certain that the two weights (totaling 70 pounds) were dropped to achieve neutral buoyancy and help Titan better control its movements as it neared the seabed and not as an effort to return to the surface.
The total weights were about 200 to 300 pounds combined. Dropping 70 pounds wouldn’t been enough to surface.
Plus, no texts were sent indicating trouble. James Cameron backpedaled on his earlier comments and apologized, saying he should not have passed on hearsay information about the weights on national TV and that there’s enough intentional disinformation in our world today, without adding to it with rumor mongering.
James Ballard declined to comment.
Titan Disaster Hearing Upends Earlier Expert Theories on Crew Deaths
Two days of reporting and testifying by experts during a U.S. Coast Guard inquiry challenge the idea that the submersible’s passengers knew they were facing death.www.nytimes.com
Cameron claimed that he spoke with unnamed “sources” in the submersibles community. Here’s what he said in June 2023:
web.archive.org
www.ixblue.com
I read the New York Times article this morning and James Cameron very admirably apologized for his words: "I should not have passed on hearsay information about the weights on national TV. We have enough intentional disinformation in our world today, without adding to it with undisciplined rumor mongering."
What about Stockton bonking the play station controller off of Lockridge’s head, breaking it? The woman passenger had tears in her eyes while she pleaded with Stockton to give the controller to Lockridge, so in a fit of rage he threw it at his head. What a lunatic.Great story he told, well worth listening to! I didn't listen to much of the first 2 minutes, but about 2:20, they asked him why he thought he had been "phased out" at the company, and he answered, "Because I embarrassed the CEO (Stockton Rush)". There began his story of how Stockton almost turned a dive to the Andrea Doria into a total catastrophe, saved only by Lockridge in the end (barely!) I listened thru to the end, hanging on every word. (I didn't listen to the rest of the video. Yet!)
Really gives you an idea of how reckless and controlling Stockton Rush was, taking unnecessary risks, jeopardizing lives of his colleagues as well as of paying customers even! I doubt those who paid to die in the final Titan dive would ever have gone on the excursion if they had known how he really was. If only they had heard Lockridge's Andrea Doria story before buying a ticket on the Titan!
ETA ha OK, I went back to finish the video and realized I had actually seen it to the very end, minus about 10s! I didn't realize that it ended just after he finished his Andrea Doria story. So it's about 2:20 to the end... oh, just watch the whole thing!
I guess it is because so many have demonized the adventure tourist concept that some fee compelled to make statements like this. If I had the money and an opportunity, I would love to go down to see Titan (but on something like OceanGate, but on Alvin or some legit equipment). And I wouldn't feel bad about it. I would love to see it just for my own personal reasons.
I’ve been fascinated with the space program ever since I saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon when I was 9.
Antoinella Willby, former OG contractor has been very candid.
BBC summary:
'Antonella Willby, a field roboticist who previously worked as a contractor with OceanGate, goes on to say that she felt compelled to "reach out to the board of directors" after hearing about the report of a loud bang on Titan a year before the fatal implosion.
Another OceanGate colleague told her she should be concerned about being sued if she made her complaints publicly known, so she opted to keep silent, she tells the hearing.
Asked to describe the "safety culture" at OceanGate, she replies: "I saw what I would classify as safety theatre."
She says there were "lots of people walking around with expensive safety gear". But the company was not willing to have conversations about their safety protocols, Wilby says.
Once, when she raised basic questions about safety while diving, she says she was told: "Don't worry it'll be fun. You'll have fun."
She says she decided not to go on further dives with OceanGate after feeling like her concerns were not heard.'
Titan submersible hearing live: Experimental subs shouldn't be operated in deep sea, OceanGate rival tells inquiry
Patrick Lahey, co-founder of an OceanGate competitor, tells a US Coast Guard hearing about his concerns over the Titan sub.www.bbc.co.uk
I also recall members of the submersible & ' explorers' community saying that this was the chatter in private conversations.Cameron claimed that he spoke with unnamed “sources” in the submersibles community. Here’s what he said in June 2023:
Cameron told ABC News that he believes the Titan's hull began to crack under pressure and that its inside sensors gave the passengers a warning to that effect.
"We understand from inside the community that they had dropped their ascent weights and they were coming up, trying to manage an emergency," he said.
I think Cameron was convinced that the Real Time Hull Monitoring System sounded an alarm early enough to mobilize the crew into attempting to surface. Other experts theorized that once the hull was breached the implosion followed within milliseconds.
Titan specs from an archived Wayback Machine capture:
Titan Submersible
OceanGate Inc. is a privately held company that provides manned submersible assets and expertise for commercial, research and military applications.
BTW, the specs indicate INS/USBL technology for tracking with integrated digital communication capabilities. Here’s some information on the systems:
4000-meter manned submersible for Titanic survey expedition equipped with iXblue's inertial navigation systems and USBL subsea positioning solution - iXblue
iXblue and OceanGate, Inc. are joining forces to conduct the first manned submersible expedition to the wreck of the RMS Titanic since 2005.
usbl | EvoLogics
www.evologics.com
I kinda understand how it all works but it’s better to just read directly from the companies. A little info: INS is Inertial Navigation System. USBL is Ultra Short Baseline positioning system.
S2C R is a device/acoustic modem that enables digital communication.
Titan passenger said he understood risk if something went wrong in experimental sub: 'It wasn't supposed to be safe'
A man who went on two OceanGate deep-sea dives to see the Titanic testified that he understood the risk and he could die if something went wrong.abcnews.go.com
Hagen said he understood the Titan submersible was experimental and not certified. He said in conversations with people such as French explorer Paul Henri "P.H." Nargeolet -- one of the five people who died in the June 2023 implosion -- he understood the risk if something went wrong during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck, located 3,800 meters below sea level.
"The conversation as related to me was that there were few assets on Earth capable of getting to depth, and that if something went wrong, that, you know, we were all going to die," he said. "P.H. related that repeatedly, and that was a common conversational thread, I think, on board, was that there were limited assets. They probably could not be organized logistically and scrambled in time to save anyone if something went wrong."
www.the-sun.com
Yes @ch_13 …… concur fully. And it seems a bit disingenuous perhaps? Would think that if he supposedly fully understood as he claims, he might have realized and feared as others did that the submersible craft was lost. MOOHe's not being honest here. Perhaps not even with himself. He was castigating the Coast Guard for not doing more when the Titan was lost. If he supposedly knew that all this about lack of time and limited assets, then why was he raising such a big stink?
In fact, we know that Stockton Rush was telling potential customers the exact opposite. Here he is in a text message saying that the sub was safer than scuba diving or flying in a helicopter. He even told Jay Bloom that it was safer than crossing the street!
View attachment 532863
Titanic sub boss told me dive was 'safer than crossing street', says tycoon
A TYCOON who turned down tickets on the doomed Titan sub has revealed how boss Stockton Rush bragged it was “safer than crossing the street”. Jay Bloom shared texts from the OceanGate C…
