Back with our
world lead
and the sad news
in that search for the missing sub.
The Coast Guard
now says debris was found
on the sea floor
after a, quote, catastrophic implosion
Before this news, CNN spoke
to a former subcontractor
who worked on developing the sub.
And the subcontractor told CNN
that some of the construction
materials and design choices
were considered controversial
when the vessel was being built in 2018.
CNN's Veronica
Miracle joins us now
live from Everett,
Washington, where Ocean Gate
is headquartered.
And Veronica,
why exactly were these choices
controversial at the time?
Well, Jake, deja vu,
that subcontractor,
that subcontractor
who was actually part of the development
and the testing of the titan
here in Everett, Washington, back in 2018
tells me that these materials
and the design choices that they use
were controversial
not because they were innovative,
but because they were not tried
and true methods.
He tells me they were also working
very quickly to develop this submersible.
He said what they were
trying to accomplish
was to create a lightweight submersible
well, that could fit a lot of people.
And one of the decisions
they made
was to use carbon fiber for the hole.
And he said
this is not a conventional application
of that material.
A conventional application
would be like on an airplane,
and the material is under tension,
but in a submersible,
it is under pressure.
The exact opposite force.
And there's not
a lot of testing around this.
Here's what else he had to say about it.
They created a pressure
hole and took it to Woods Hole Institute
and subjected to the pressures
that you would find at depth
where Titanic is.
And it passed But then the question
is, well,
if you do that repeatedly,
then what happens?
So these are the sorts of questions
that if you have a long
research and development program,
you start answering.
But if you
really are pushing the envelope,
there's no time to
you know, you're
answering those questions in real time.
I have learned
said that he understood
Stockton Russia's mission in Ocean Gates
mission was to explore
uncharted waters in uncharted
and undiscovered
areas of the ocean, in fact.
Adventure tourism,
he said, was not the goal.
It was a means to an end
in order to fund the research
that they wanted to do.
And he believed in that vision.
But I did ask him
if he would have gotten
on that submersible,
the Titan, and gone down
to the depths of the Titanic.
And he said,
as someone with an engineering background
and who worked on this development
said he just
would not have been comfortable Jake.
Veronica Miracle in Everett, Washington,
thanks so much.
Joining us now to discuss is journalist
David Pogue.
He went out with Ocean Gate
last year for a story on CBS.
David, we're talking now about the Coast
Guard theory
that there was a catastrophic implosion.
You were on the vessel.
Do you have any idea what
might have happened
to cause that catastrophic implosion?
I have a thought.
I know that the
the turning media narrative is that Rush
was this crazy guy going off half cocked.
Please remember that
he designed this one of a kind
carbon fiber
submersible
with consultation from NASA and Boeing.
There were tests.
There were prototypes.
I walked around in his workshop with him,
and he showed me
some of the previous carbon
fiber experiments
that he had refined and improved
until the carbon fiber
was five
inches thick,
unbroken by any holes or wires
or anything, any screws.
However,
this submersible had titanium and caps
and a nine inch thick Plexiglas or gold.
You have three different materials,
whereas all existing
Titanic, Titanic submersibles
are just spheres made of titanium alloy
one material.
And the risk here
is that through repeated
descent and rise, descent
and rise the difference in their density,
the difference in the amount
they heat up and cool down
during those things might have introduced
some little cracks, some little gap.
And remember,
as we know, those pressures,
if a molecule
of water gets in, it's over instantly.
I know it's
no great comfort
to the families and spouses,
but they did die instantaneously.
They were not even aware
that anything was wrong.
So you went on the sub,
but once you were just
37 feet underwater,
your trip was was aborted.
What was it like being inside the sub?
Was it cramped?
Was it uncomfortable?
Was it exciting?
What was it like?
Imagine a tubular minivan without seats.
That's what it's like.
You're you're sitting on the floor
there's four people
alternating right, left,
right, left with their legs in parallel.
And then Stockton, the pilot,
sits on his back against the back.
Driving the thing.
And it's very modern, looking,
very cool lighting music system.
It's quite a departure
from the complicated beeping pinging
submersibles of old.
And, you know, everyone says,
you know, stop and rush, you fool.
But he said to me,
yes, when I designed this
with carbon fiber,
everybody said I was an idiot.
They said I was nuts was his word.
And then his famous line was,
but when you think outside the box,
everybody who's inside
the box thinks you're crazy.
So you also wrote in your piece
for CBC
about how the sub was lost
for a few hours last year.
When you were there,
you said the ship was able to send short
texts to the sub,
but it didn't know
where the sub was underwater.
And I wonder if, looking back now,
are you sure that ocean gate?
Are you sure that Stockton Rush,
we're giving you the whole story
I can't read his mind,
but I will say this.
I know for a fact
that there are glitches and malfunctions
and weather delays
in every single
one of these submersibles,
the ones that James Cameron took down,
those had glitches and malfunctions
and were canceled.
The ones that would hole users.
It is
these things are one offs right there.
They're custom built.
There wasn't a 1.0 and this is 2.0.
There's no spare. There's one of it.
So, yeah, things
get jerry-rigged
and things get fixed on the fly.
But they all do this.
And I got to believe
that for the people who sign up for this,
these are the kinds of people
who go climb Mount
Everest or swim
with the sharks
or right on the Blue Origin rockets
It is the danger
that makes it appealing to them.
Well, speaking of signing up for it,
you noted in your piece
that you signed a waiver
that mentioned death,
possible death as a risk multiple times.
You sign this before getting in this job.
Did you seriously consider
that something could go
catastrophically wrong as has happened
this time?
I mean, emotionally, I was terrified.
I didn't sleep the night before,
but intellectually,
all the boxes were checked
You know, I have had a tour of this thing.
I saw the redundant
air systems, the redundant
ballast systems,
redundant computer systems.
I saw what a safety culture
they have in that outfit.
They do checklists
and briefings,
inspections before and after every dove.
And this is the key.
At that time,
the sub had made 20 uneventful dives
to titanic depths and back.
And that's what reassured me.
But of course,
now, in hindsight, I see that
that repeated
rise and fall may have been its downside.
David Pogue,
thank you so much
for sharing your experience.
And insight with us. We appreciate it.