OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush boasted about ‘breaking some rules’ to build doomed Titanic sub

OceanGate Expeditions CEO and founder Stockton Rush once boasted about “breaking some rules” in order to build the Titan submersible that imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean Sunday, killing him and four other passengers.

Rush made the fateful comments in a 2021 interview with Mexican travel blogger Alan Estrada.

“I think it was General MacArthur who said ‘You’re remembered for the rules you break’,” he said in the video interview. “You know I’ve broken some rules to make this [the Titan]. I think I’ve broken them with logic and good engineering behind me.”

One such rule he claimed to have broken was using carbon fiber and titanium for the materials used to construct the tourist Titanic-bound deep-sea sub.

“Carbon fiber and titanium — there’s a rule you don’t do that. Well I did,” Rush said. “It’s picking the rules you break that are the ones that will add value to others and add value to society.”

In the hours since his confirmed death, the CEO has already been remembered for his rule-breaking tactics — in the way he reportedly cut corners and flouted regulations.

The Marine Technology Society (MTS) warned the company in 2018 that its experimental designs and failure to follow industry-accepted safety protocols could lead to “catastrophic” results.

MTS member Brain Kemper maintained that OceanGate purposely launched its sub in international waters in order to evade industry regulations.

The same year, OceanGates’ former Director of Marine Operations David Lochridge claimed he was fired for altering Rush of concerns he had about the vessel’s build and lack of safety testing.

He subsequently sued the company for wrongful termination.

“OceanGate gave Lochridge approximately 10 minutes to immediately clear out his desk and exit the premises,” Lochridge’s attorneys said in the filing.

“The paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible.”

Rush had repeatedly said he wanted to be known as an innovator and felt that safety regulations and rules were holding back true innovation in past interviews and reported conversations.

In a now-viral 2022 CBS interview where the CEO revealed the whole submersible is run by a modified video game controller, Rush brushed off the dangers of deep-sea dives as just another risk in the game of life.

“You know, at some point, safety just is a pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed,” Rush told journalist David Pogue. “At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.”