It has been revealed that a thrill seeker who had planned to accompany billionaire Hamish Harding on the missing Titanic submarine backed out of the dive because he believed OceanGate was “cutting too many corners.”
Chris Brown, 61, paid the money to embark on the fateful journey, but he claims he changed his mind after being alarmed by the ship’s technology and construction materials, The Sun said.
Using “old scaffolding poles” as ballast and having controls “based on computer game-style controllers” were two of his worries with OceanGate.
Despite being “one of the first people to sign up for this trip,” he told the newspaper that he ultimately concluded the “risks were too high.”
Mr. Brown continued by expressing his “really upsetting feelings” for Hamish, one of the Titan’s five now missing passengers.
While diving to the Titanic wreck, which is around 12,500 feet below the Atlantic, the sub lost contact. The ship’s 96-hour supply of oxygen is running low, so a hasty search and rescue effort is underway to find it and bring it back.
After having a “few beers” while on vacation at Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island, Mr. Brown and Mr. Harding decided to join up for the £80,000 cruise.
He said that when the Titan was still under construction, the couple paid the 10% deposit for the trip, which has now more than doubled in price.
Mr. Brown, however, said that he discovered OceanGate had ‘missed crucial objectives’ while testing the submersible’s depth in the years that followed.
The multi-millionaire digital marketing tycoon was alarmed to see that the ship was being piloted by a Playstation controller that had been modified.
It is also believed that he was concerned about the technological difficulties and setbacks that occurred during the development process.
He revealed to The Sun that the ballast for the submarine was made out of disused scaffolding poles.
Since 2021, OceanGate Expeditions has conducted yearly expeditions to document the Titanic’s deterioration and the surrounding underwater ecology.
According to the Coast Guard, the craft sank on Sunday morning, and its backup vessel lost communication with it an hour and a half later.
About 435 miles (700 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, the ship was reported as being late.
The Canadian Coast Guard used to operate the icebreaker that OceanGate leased to launch the Titan. To get to the North Atlantic wreck site, where the Titan has done several dives, the ship has transported dozens of passengers as well as the submersible vessel.
