OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush 'planned to die' on doomed dive to become 'part of Titanic mythology'

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush 'planned to die' on doomed dive to become 'part of Titanic mythology' After a report found Stockton Rush 'disregarded design defects' before the fatal Titan submersible trip, while his close friend has made a startling new 'mousetrap for billionaires' claim The CEO behind the doomed submersible expedition to the Titanic wreckage had planned to die in exactly that manner, his long-term friend has alleged. OceanGate boss Stockton Rush ignored safety concerns and key design flaws before the voyage that killed five people, including himself, back in 2023, according to a recent Coast Guard investigation. Officials indicated that had he survived, criminal charges may have been brought. Now, Karl Stanley, a commercial submersible expert and close ally of Mr Rush, has made a startling claim in author Matthew Gavin Frank’s new book. In it, he suggested the businessman always envisioned dying during one of these expeditions, aspiring to become woven into "Titanic mythology." In an interview with author Matthew Gavin Frank for his new book, Submersed: Wonder, Obsession and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines, Stanley revealed: "Rush's ego was so big he was willing to die and kill to be the pivotal character of this story. He wanted to go [die] at the wreck [of Titanic]." "The more high-profile, the better. He didn't just murder four wealthy people and get paid a cool mill to do it — they are all part of the Titanic mythology now," he said. Frank wrote that Rush's ambitions went further than his own death, saying that the name, Titan, was borrowed from a doomed ocean liner in Morgan Robertson's 1898 novel, Futility. This was an intentional move as the fictional Titan strikes an iceberg and sinks, chillingly similar to the fate of the actual Titanic just 14 years later. Frank wrote: "According to Stanley, in order to extend, and to be a part of this larger story, Rush needed to compel more than just his own death, and he needed to knowingly fabricate a 'futile' vessel, costumed in a titanic name, as his murder weapon." When asked if he believes that Rush knew the Titan would implode - killing himself and everyone else on board- Stanley said he didn't just believe it, he knows "this is what happened" calling the OceanGate Titan submersible a "mousetrap for billionaires". Stanley also alleged that "most everyone" who worked for OceanGate knew what would happen to the Titan, and "all of them are s*****g their pants" after the implosion". In June 2023, Rush and four passengers were killed instantly in the depths of the North Atlantic when the Titan submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion during its descent to the Titanic wreck. A huge search for survivors off the Canadian coastline gripped the world, and the tragedy ignited lawsuits and calls for tighter regulation of the rapidly expanding private deep-sea exploration industry. The Coast Guard determined that safety procedures at OceanGate, a private company, were "critically flawed" and identified "glaring disparities" between established safety protocols and actual operations. Among those killed in the devastating implosion were celebrated French underwater explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, nicknamed "Mr. Titanic"; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood. The submersible had been running expeditions to the Titanic wreck site since 2021, with its final voyage commencing on the morning of June 18, 2023.