The apparent success of the leaseback deal is how Rush raised the largest investment in Oceangate’s history in 2020, when the company was undertaking the expensive task of replacing Titan’s first hull, which cracked during testing. This may explain why it was possible. The $18 million in equity funding enabled Ocean Gate to rebuild Titan and move forward with the first Titanic expedition in 2021. Around this time, documents indicate that Ocean Gate may have had more control in the acquired ownership of Cyclops 2 LLC.
But by 2023, Oceangate’s financial footing looked even more shaky. Several witnesses at the Coast Guard hearing testified that Ocean Gate’s financial troubles in the run-up to the final Titanic expedition included Rush not paying his salary and sometimes lending money to the company from his personal funds. They testified that they were aware that there had been.
Demand for the $250,000 Titanic dive appears to be slowing. As of May 2023, one of Ocean Gate’s affiliated retailers was advertising its summer expeditions as “very limited dates and spots still available at 40% off.” This has not been reported before.
If criminal charges are brought as a result of the federal investigation, they would currently proceed in parallel with civil litigation in federal court in Washington state. In that case, the family of famed Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Narjolet is seeking $50 million for his death on board the Titanic, with the lawsuit claiming Oceangate, Rush’s estate and other unfortunate A number of individuals and companies involved are named as defendants. Underwater. Rush’s estate recently filed a motion to dismiss the charges, stating, “As Rush’s employer, Oceangate is responsible for Rush’s alleged negligence.”
Maritime lawyer Alton Hall is skeptical that Nargioret’s family will ever recover the nearly $50 million they seek. The Death at Sea Act, a 1920 law, generally limits damages to monetary losses, such as future earnings. One exception would be if Narjoret and his fellow Titan passengers, whom Ocean Gate called “mission specialists,” qualified as seafarers under another law called the Jones Act. “There are literally tons of books written about who is a Jones Act sailor and who is not,” Hall says. He believes the passengers who died on the Titan “were not Jones Act sailors.”
The unknown question in these lawsuits, and others that may be filed by the families of the two billionaires who also died on Titan, is who could face the legal consequences. . The civil suit against Ocean Gate and Rush’s estate also names Tony Nissen, Ocean Gate’s former head of engineering, and the three companies that manufactured Titan’s hull and viewport as defendants. But multiple witnesses at the Coast Guard hearing said Stockton Rush had final say in many commercial, engineering and operational decisions, and that his company was likely near bankruptcy. I testified. In the end, there may be little that can be salvaged from the wreckage of Ocean Gate.
