Where did the OceanGate submersible leave from? No. of voyages, headquarters location, and more explored

While the entirety of the OceanGate submersible has not been found after it went missing on June 18, 2023, a few remains of the vessel, discovered on Thursday, hinted that it imploded. The submersible's expedition started from St John's, Newfoundland in Canada on Friday, June 16.

The vessel had five passengers on board and was equipped with emergency oxygen supply of 96 hours. Despite the largescale search and rescue operation that was conducted to find the vessel, things became difficult because of the wreckage location, weather conditions, and the depth of the ocean.

The Titan submersible was built in such a way that even if there was some power failure, it would have sent the vessel to the surface of the ocean. Its doors, however, were locked from the outside, which means that passengers would only be able to exit the vessel with external help.

The Titan had one toilet, which was also the only place in the submersible with a seat. The vessel had no GPS and the only medium of communication was via text messages that could be sent to the surface ship.

It cost $250,000 for a trip in the Titan to visit the Titanic wreckage.

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The OceanGate submersible imploded on its third trip to the Titanic

OceanGate submersible was made by OceanGate with modern materials (Image via Ocean Gate/Getty Images)

The Titan submersible has made three voyages since 2021, ultimately imploding on its third dive to the wreckage. It had also completed around 50 dives prior to that and had even ventured into the depths of the waters surrounding the Bahamas. As per Metro, it also completed several tests in a pressure chamber.

Despite the numerous test dives, however, the trips taken on the vessel have met with some problems in the past. Several people, including reporter David Pogue, have also spoken about their experience aboard the vessel. Pogue revealed that when he was part of the expedition, the vessel lost communication with the main ship in only two and a half hours. He clarified, however, that he was not inside the vessel but was in the control room.

The vessel was made by OceanGate, which was established by Stockton Rush in 2009. It is headquartered in the Everett waterfront in Washington. Apart from Titan, the company also created another vessel named Cyclops 1.

Whenever Titan went for a dive, Rush used to explain to the passengers that the vessel was made during a pre-voyage tour with NASA and the University of Washington. CBS correspondent and former passenger of the vehicle David Pogue revealed that a majority of the structure has off-the-shelf parts, which is a result of trying to spend less during construction.

Former employee of OceanGate, David Lochridge, also revealed in a 2018 counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired from the company for having doubts about the vessel's safety. The company sued Lochridge on charges of contract breach, fraud, and misappropriation of trade secrets.

A letter published by The New York Times revealed that Rush was warned of the catastrophic problems in 2018 when the vessel was being made. Marine Technology Society was also critical of the company's marketing strategy where they claimed that the vessel was made following the safety standards of DNV-GL.

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Contact with the Titan submersible was lost in 1 hour 45 minutes

The Titan submersible went for a dive on June 18 at 12 pm, with five passengers. Communication with the vessel was lost in 1 hour and 45 minutes and alarms were raised when it did not reappear on the surface at 7 pm, as scheduled.

The report of an overdue vessel was sent to the Coast Guard and the search and rescue mission started the next day. U.S. and Canadian ships and planes joined the mission, with a few dropping sonar buoys that could monitor up to 13,000 feet below the ocean.

A French robot called Victor 6000 also joined the mission with remotely controlled arms that could cut cables and perform other activities if the vessel was stuck anywhere.