Ocean Gate co-founder Guillermo Thornlein has responded to criticism from “Titanic” director James Cameron after the tourist submarine Titan blew up this week, killing all five on board. defending the company.
The submarine, which was on its way to the site of the Titanic’s sinking, was reported missing on Sunday after losing contact with a research vessel on the surface.
After news of the tragedy broke, Cameron, a longtime diving community member who famously dived to the deepest known point on earth and has visited the Titanic wreck more than 30 times, said Thursday. He told ABC News that night that the carbon fiber design was: The Ocean Gate submersible was “too experimental to carry passengers and needed certification.”since then he has appeared in various news outlets He reiterated his concern that the submarines were not certified and called for stricter regulations on similar ships.
Thornline, who co-founded the Deep Sea Tourism Company in 2009, responded directly to Cameron’s comments on Britain’s Times Radio. on fridayexplained that in the diving community, there are “completely different opinions and views on how things are done, how submersibles are designed, how they are designed, how they are built, how they are operated in a dive.”
“But what I and other experts can tell you is that none of us were involved in submarine design, engineering, construction, testing, or even submerging submarines,” continued Thornlein. rice field. “So it’s impossible for anyone to really guess from the outside.”
in another interview ‘Today’ on BBC Radio 4 Thornlein echoed his defense, naming Cameron and saying the filmmaker wasn’t there to build the submarine and a “rigorous testing program.”
“This is a 14-year technology development program that has been very robust and has ensured the scientific understanding of the Titanic in the last few years,” he added.
Thornlein co-founded Oceangate Expeditions with Stockton Rush, who piloted the failed Titan and died on board. He and Rush led several dives in the company’s early years. After serving as CEO, Thornlein left the company in 2013 as a minority shareholder, leaving Rush as chief executive. The company has been using Titan submarines for expeditions to the Titanic by “citizen explorers” since 2021.
“Having been involved in the early stages of the overall development program during the submarine era of Titan’s predecessor, I knew that we were extremely committed to safety and that risk mitigation was an important part of our company culture. I know from firsthand experience,” he told The Times. wireless.
In an interview with CNN Thursday night, Prime Minister Cameron said of the certification process by watchdog groups such as the US Bureau of Shipping and Norway-based DNV: An integral part of diving safety.
“I think it was unconscionable that this group didn’t go through that rigorous process,” Cameron said of Oceangate, adding that the incident was preventable.
When asked by BBC Radio 4’s Martha Kearney if she thought more certification standards and regulations were needed to prevent other underwater tragedies, Thornlein left it to policy experts, saying that It’s a common question, not just for space travel, but for the underwater exploration industry as a whole, he said.
“The question is what happens when innovation outstrips regulation,” he said. “And in many cases, those developing innovations are well positioned to understand the risks and find out how best to minimize them.”
A representative for Cameron did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment and was unable to reach Thornlein on Friday afternoon.
In an interview with ABC News, Cameron said the diving community had been concerned about Oceangate’s submersibles for years, and that top engineers in the community had written letters to the company expressing their concerns.
The Times obtained a 2018 letter written personally to Rush, highlighting the need for a third-party safety review of the Ocean Gate submersible. Also in 2018, David Lockridge, a former Oceangate employee, raised safety red flags for submarines and noted that the company will perform certain critical non-destructive tests on its hulls. He sued the company for his refusal to fire him.
“I was struck by the similarity of the Titanic accident itself. Many people died as a result.” Cameron went on to refer to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, which killed more than 1,500 people. “For us, this is a very similar tragedy in which the warning was ignored. It’s surreal.”
Just as communications were lost, the U.S. Navy heard the sound of a submarine explosion. Detected sounds were kept secret as rescue and recovery operations continued for the next four days. This detection was not known to the public until it was published. The Wall Street Journal reported The Thursday incident was later confirmed by The Times.
But Mr Cameron claimed he knew about the “loud bang” that was detected days before the release.he told Reuters A source in the tight-knit submarine community told him of the noise and said he suspected the sub had already imploded.
Cameron began emailing colleagues on Monday, writing that he had “lost a few friends” and that he was “broken”.
Experiments are underway to determine the exact cause of the implosion, but Prime Minister Cameron has repeatedly pointed to Titan’s carbon-fiber composite hull as one of the possible causes of its sinking. The director of “Avatar” told “Good Morning America” on Friday that he would “not use composite materials for vessels that are subject to external pressure,” such as deep-sea diving. “For example, it’s great for vessels with internal pressure, like scuba tanks, but it’s the worst for external pressure. So this is an attempt to apply the idea of aviation to the problem of deep submersion engineering.”
But Oceangate co-founder Rush believed that the carbon fiber material commonly used in the aerospace industry was what would propel deep-sea research and his company forward. Thanks to new materials, there is more space inside the hull, allowing scientists to design vessels that can accommodate more hobbyists or have more room for tourism.
Rush knew that research was expensive, and he wanted to offset that with high-end adventure trips, such as diving the Titanic to the site of the sinking of the Titanic. He also considered working with other industries, such as oil and gas, to map the seafloor for drilling sites and inspect bridges and hulls.
“The long-term value is on the commercial side,” Rush told Fast Company. in 2017. “Adventure tourism is a way to monetize the process of proving technology.”
Times staff writers Alexandra E. Petri, Noah Goldberg, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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OceanGate co-founder defends against James Cameron’s comments
Ocean Gate co-founder Guillermo Thornlein has responded to criticism from “Titanic” director James Cameron after the tourist submarine Titan blew up this week, killing all five on board. defending the company.
The submarine, which was on its way to the site of the Titanic’s sinking, was reported missing on Sunday after losing contact with a research vessel on the surface.
After news of the tragedy broke, Cameron, a longtime diving community member who famously dived to the deepest known point on earth and has visited the Titanic wreck more than 30 times, said Thursday. He told ABC News that night that the carbon fiber design was: The Ocean Gate submersible was “too experimental to carry passengers and needed certification.”since then he has appeared in various news outlets He reiterated his concern that the submarines were not certified and called for stricter regulations on similar ships.
Thornline, who co-founded the Deep Sea Tourism Company in 2009, responded directly to Cameron’s comments on Britain’s Times Radio. on fridayexplained that in the diving community, there are “completely different opinions and views on how things are done, how submersibles are designed, how they are designed, how they are built, how they are operated in a dive.”
“But what I and other experts can tell you is that none of us were involved in submarine design, engineering, construction, testing, or even submerging submarines,” continued Thornlein. rice field. “So it’s impossible for anyone to really guess from the outside.”
in another interview ‘Today’ on BBC Radio 4 Thornlein echoed his defense, naming Cameron and saying the filmmaker wasn’t there to build the submarine and a “rigorous testing program.”
“This is a 14-year technology development program that has been very robust and has ensured the scientific understanding of the Titanic in the last few years,” he added.
Thornlein co-founded Oceangate Expeditions with Stockton Rush, who piloted the failed Titan and died on board. He and Rush led several dives in the company’s early years. After serving as CEO, Thornlein left the company in 2013 as a minority shareholder, leaving Rush as chief executive. The company has been using Titan submarines for expeditions to the Titanic by “citizen explorers” since 2021.
“Having been involved in the early stages of the overall development program during the submarine era of Titan’s predecessor, I knew that we were extremely committed to safety and that risk mitigation was an important part of our company culture. I know from firsthand experience,” he told The Times. wireless.
In an interview with CNN Thursday night, Prime Minister Cameron said of the certification process by watchdog groups such as the US Bureau of Shipping and Norway-based DNV: An integral part of diving safety.
“I think it was unconscionable that this group didn’t go through that rigorous process,” Cameron said of Oceangate, adding that the incident was preventable.
When asked by BBC Radio 4’s Martha Kearney if she thought more certification standards and regulations were needed to prevent other underwater tragedies, Thornlein left it to policy experts, saying that It’s a common question, not just for space travel, but for the underwater exploration industry as a whole, he said.
“The question is what happens when innovation outstrips regulation,” he said. “And in many cases, those developing innovations are well positioned to understand the risks and find out how best to minimize them.”
A representative for Cameron did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment and was unable to reach Thornlein on Friday afternoon.
In an interview with ABC News, Cameron said the diving community had been concerned about Oceangate’s submersibles for years, and that top engineers in the community had written letters to the company expressing their concerns.
The Times obtained a 2018 letter written personally to Rush, highlighting the need for a third-party safety review of the Ocean Gate submersible. Also in 2018, David Lockridge, a former Oceangate employee, raised safety red flags for submarines and noted that the company will perform certain critical non-destructive tests on its hulls. He sued the company for his refusal to fire him.
“I was struck by the similarity of the Titanic accident itself. Many people died as a result.” Cameron went on to refer to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, which killed more than 1,500 people. “For us, this is a very similar tragedy in which the warning was ignored. It’s surreal.”
Just as communications were lost, the U.S. Navy heard the sound of a submarine explosion. Detected sounds were kept secret as rescue and recovery operations continued for the next four days. This detection was not known to the public until it was published. The Wall Street Journal reported The Thursday incident was later confirmed by The Times.
But Mr Cameron claimed he knew about the “loud bang” that was detected days before the release.he told Reuters A source in the tight-knit submarine community told him of the noise and said he suspected the sub had already imploded.
Cameron began emailing colleagues on Monday, writing that he had “lost a few friends” and that he was “broken”.
Experiments are underway to determine the exact cause of the implosion, but Prime Minister Cameron has repeatedly pointed to Titan’s carbon-fiber composite hull as one of the possible causes of its sinking. The director of “Avatar” told “Good Morning America” on Friday that he would “not use composite materials for vessels that are subject to external pressure,” such as deep-sea diving. “For example, it’s great for vessels with internal pressure, like scuba tanks, but it’s the worst for external pressure. So this is an attempt to apply the idea of aviation to the problem of deep submersion engineering.”
But Oceangate co-founder Rush believed that the carbon fiber material commonly used in the aerospace industry was what would propel deep-sea research and his company forward. Thanks to new materials, there is more space inside the hull, allowing scientists to design vessels that can accommodate more hobbyists or have more room for tourism.
Rush knew that research was expensive, and he wanted to offset that with high-end adventure trips, such as diving the Titanic to the site of the sinking of the Titanic. He also considered working with other industries, such as oil and gas, to map the seafloor for drilling sites and inspect bridges and hulls.
“The long-term value is on the commercial side,” Rush told Fast Company. in 2017. “Adventure tourism is a way to monetize the process of proving technology.”
Times staff writers Alexandra E. Petri, Noah Goldberg, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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