For us in Boston.
So, Jason, what does it mean that
the Coast Guard's going to lead now?
Right.
And just to point out,
Alisyn, as you know, not just the U.S.
Coast Guard,
but in addition to that,
we've also gotten word today
that the National Transportation
Safety Board
is also going to be a part
of this investigation.
In addition to that,
you've got the Canadian
Transportation Board involved as well.
What's going to be key
to the investigation?
No forensic evidence. Right.
You've got to get as much as you can
gather as many pieces as you can
of the Titan as possible.
That's why it's so important
for those remotely operated vehicles
to continue work on the ocean floor.
So while you've heard word about vessels
pulling out of the area, and indeed
that is happening in the North Atlantic,
those are ROVs.
Those remotely operated
vehicles are staying there.
They're continuing to scour
the debris area,
trying to get as much evidence
as possible,
because what
forensic experts
are going to have to do
is they're going to have to get
pieces of that whole
And they're going to have to try
to do some testing on that
to try to come to some conclusion
about the integrity of the hull.
This, as we've heard
from so many people
over the last 24 to 48 hours who
who say that they raised issues
with Ocean Gate
about its safety protocols
and about the integrity of the Titan.
What about this
Marine certification company
that rejected a request
to certify the Titan?
Right.
Lloyd's registrar.
And that is the company
that typically
does this type of marine
vessel registration,
according to what
we've heard it here at CNN.
There was a request from Ocean
Gate to have Titan certify
this was back in 2019.
And this company denied
their request to do that
did not want to work with them.
The company did not provide a reason
as to why that happened.
But what's interesting about that
you'll remember
that ocean gate on its website
had said that they had decided to forego
getting registered,
saying that it was standing
in the way of innovation.
That was something
that was up on their website.
That website has now been taken down,
Alisyn. Okay.
Still a lot of questions.
Jason Carroll, thank you very much.
Let's bring in David Ward.
He was a passenger on the Titan sub
in 20, 21.
In fact,
he took the
same trip on board
the Titan to see the Titanic wreckage
two years ago.
David, thank you so much for your time.
And for being here.
Back at that time, two years ago,
when you took this trip
down to view the Titanic.
Did you have any reservations
about the safety of the submersible
No, I did not.
And that
I felt
very lucky
to be one of only 200
some odd people
who would have ever seen
the Titanic underwater
at the 12,500 foot level.
And now I feel, of course, very lucky
that I went on the first trip with Titan
when the hall was still strong enough
to withstand that pressure.
But I did not have any reservations.
I thought the trip was
very professionally run.
I adored Stockton and
who were on the trip with me.
Only Stockton was in the submersible,
not on that particular dove,
but I didn't have any reservations.
I just was so excited
to be doing
something
that I'd been hoping to do for 11 years.
And what did Stockton tell you
at that time about safety?
What did you ask him?
Did you know, for instance,
that he had employed a sort of unorthodox
construction of the submersible,
that other people in the industry
didn't know if it would Basically,
it was an industry standard.
Did you know that at the time?
No, I did not know that.
I did know
because I was
originally supposed to go out in 2019
when they thought
the up of the pressure test
would be finished
and Titan would be able to take out
passengers in 2019.
And there were some sort of problems
with weather in the Bahamas
where they were testing it
and other things.
And so they
scratched all those trips
that were scheduled for 2019,
I think then the Titan was tested
and found maybe it had to be reinforced
some more
which I think was done during 20, 20,
I don't know all the details in that
and I was pretty confident
2021 when I was on the trip
that it was safe.
So David, what was the trip like.
What I mean
did you get a good view of the Titanic
Okay.
I, that
particular trip I was on, which was the,
on the fourth day of the five day trip,
we ended up near the stern
rather than the bow
because you never sure
what the currents are
and where we were released
and started to do the two hour descent,
we ended up much closer to the stern.
So I was very disappointed
I didn't get to the bow,
but the stern is still fascinating.
It's a mangled, very big piece of metal.
And we also were in the debris field
the next day,
which was the last day
for all those summer trips.
Three other men went down
with Stockton and P.H.
and actually got the film The Bow.
And of course, when everyone
thinks of the Titanic,
they think of the bow.
And I was also filming
because I was going to make a movie
for charities about this trip.
So I was disappointed.
But still,
the whole process of going down
12,500 feet was amazing.
So I considered it
a very successful trip.
And what was it like? I mean, down there?
Was it
pitch black
or are you all
just looking out that one window?
Are you all taking turns
in that submersible
Oh, there also was a computer screen
that fed us all the video footage
from a camera
that was mounted on top of the Titan.
But otherwise,
the two men in front of me
who were seated looking right out
the 21 inch viewport and myself
right behind them,
that's what we were looking out at.
But it got dark fairly quickly.
We then went through a little zone
with phosphorescence, which was neat.
And then it got pitch dark again
all the way
until we got close to the bottom.
Then Stockton turned on the lights.
And so when we hit the bottom,
we can see the silt
come up all around us.
It took a few minutes to settle.
Then he started to use the thrusters
to move us around. Was it freezing cold?
No, it wasn't that
cold because we
had just arrived at the bottom.
But we did have different
layers of clothes with us
because it was very warm at the top.
When we got into the submersible
and it certainly got colder
and colder
as we went down,
but I don't remember it
being really, really cold.
Were there any moments
during that whole process for you
that I guess took our a couple of hours?
Were there any moments that felt dicey?
Was there
any moment that you were nervous?
No.
I was not nervous at all.
I thought I was in
wonderful hands,
a very professional chain.
Every day we had meetings
at seven in the morning, seven at night,
and they would talk
about what we were going to do
the first three days because of weather.
All the dives were scrubbed,
but they were so professional
in their presentations.
I did not have any problems anywhere
going down.
Now, I've done some other things
that are a little bit dangerous.
I'm certainly not an extreme
adventurer at all,
but I don't get scared as easily
as as a lot of people,
and I don't get claustrophobia
very often,
which I think was lucky
being in that submersible for
more than 10 hours.
Yeah, I can tell you don't scare easily.
Certainly there are lots
been made in other reports
of how there was a kind of low tech
feeling to the construction
It felt a little jerry-rigged in there.
You know,
it was kind of a video game controller
things.
Products from off the shelf
used to construct it.
Did you see some of that?
Not only the video game
controller, and Stockton
was very proud of that.
You certainly did not hide the fact
that anybody could control
that submersible from this.
I mean, I was not allowed to,
but from this game controller,
he was proud of it.
He certainly was not trying to hide that
but I've learned
since this accident,
I've seen some other video
of other people in there
and saying there were some more things
that he kind of bought off the shelf.
But he felt that,
I mean, he wouldn't have gone down
Dove after Dove.
He was the pilot on almost every trip
if he hadn't felt that
that submersible was 100% safe.
David now that you've had these 24 hours
to think about this tragedy, do you have
a theory on what happened
right.
When I heard that
they'd lost communications
with the submersible.
I thought it probably had imploded.
And I just thought that because I knew
they had not reached the bottom,
at least
when they had the
last communication from it,
they were still 45 minutes
or so from reaching the bottom.
So I didn't think they can be tangled up.
There are many, many different ways
to release waits
to get back up to the surface
if they had had a problem with that.
So I just kind of
but I didn't say
in all the interviews
I did at that point,
obviously,
that I thought it had imploded
and I kept positive the way
almost everyone else did.
But that certainly was my first thought
especially since I knew
there had been some reinforcing
and some problems with
testing back in 2019.
That was my first thought.
Well, David, well,
thank you for sharing your experience
with us.
It's really interesting to talk
to somebody
who did this very trip
and to hear what it was like.
And of course, we're
we're happy
like you are that
you got to have that experience.
So thanks for that was amazing.
That's nice. You're welcome.