Who is Karl Stanley? Titan submarine expert goes viral for revealing he raised safety concerns over "cracking hull" in 2019

Karl Stanley, a submarine expert, appeared on Anderson Cooper’s show on CNN on Friday, June 23, and shared that he informed OceanGate’s CEO of Titan’s safety concerns in 2019. Stanley, who organizes deep-diving underwater trips via submarine in the Caribbean, tried to warn the CEO that the submersible was flawed.

Stockton Rush, OceanGate’s CEO, was one of the five crew members killed when the submersible went through a catastrophic implosion within two hours of its dive on Sunday, June 18.

Back in 2017, Stockton said that the sub was almost invulnerable, but in 2021, he admitted in an interview with a travel vlogger that he broke some rules to build the watercraft.

Karl Stanley told CNN's Anderson Cooper that the real failure of the submersible was caused by a crack in the sub’s hull that developed over time, through which water got in. He said that after they took the Titan submersible deeper on its second dive in the Caribbean’s Bahamas, the sound of the cracking started getting louder. He emailed Stockton about the possible defects the next day.

Anderson Cooper read out an email that Stanley wrote to Stockton Rush after his trip.

"What we heard, in my opinion...sounded like a flaw/defect in one area being acted on by the tremendous pressures and being crushed/damaged. From the intensity of the sounds, the fact that they never totally stopped at depth, and the fact that there were sounds at about 300 feet that indicated a relaxing of stored energy would indicate that there is an area of the hull that is breaking down/getting spongy," the email read.

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Submarine expert Karl Stanley built two deep-diving submersibles

Stanley built his first deep-diving submersible at the age of 15. He also designed it himself. At 24, Stanley started taking expeditions below 700 feet off Roatan in Honduras. He designed and built Idabel, a one-of-a-kind submersible for the expeditions off Roatan.

The submarine expert has gathered more than 3000 hours of piloting experience in deep-diving submersibles. His deep-sea dives have ranged from 500 feet to 2660 feet in depth and from a few to nearly 17 hours in duration.

Karl Stanley’s underwater adventures have also been documented in a documentary called “A View from Below”.

The submersible, Idabel was designed to safely take three people to a depth of 915 meters (3000 feet) underwater. Its safety features include twin high-pressure air systems, twin ballast compartments, fully redundant propulsion systems, and a 350-pound droppable lead weight.

The sub has no dive planes, no rudders, and no other moving parts which could jam it. Idabel is also well-equipped to provide 72 hours of emergency life support.

Stanley teamed up with a local NGO to help in tagging six-gill sharks for the purpose of research. The adventurer is also a member of the Deep Submersible Pilots Association.

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Karl Stanley speaks about his exchanges with the OceanGate CEO regarding Titan's safety concerns

Stanley told Cooper that he put his concerns regarding the submersible in writing because he wanted to avoid a heated exchange with the CEO. He claimed that the deceased explorer was not someone who could take criticism positively.

However, Karl Stanley said that Stockton did resort to additional safety measures after the email. He canceled the dives scheduled to be taken via Titan for the rest of the year and fixed a carbon fiber tube. Stanley believed that the tube cost well over $1 million.

Stanley also shared that he asked Stockton if he was considering making a trip on the sub along with passengers to see the Titanic wreck before he had full knowledge about what was causing the sounds. However, the expert did not get a response.

Karl Stanley listed another reason for the failure: electrolysis. He explained that even though carbon fiber, which the sub was made of, is not metal, it behaves like a metal as well as a metal conductive in some ways. Thus, the salt water of the ocean, along with the titanium flange, might have corroded things over time.

Apart from Karl Stanley, a former employee of the company also warned OceanGate about the inadequate safety protocols and quality control in a lawsuit that was filed in August 2018.

The former director of marine operations, David Lochridge said that Stockton Rush asked him to execute a quality inspection of the submersible. In the inspection, David found that the hull of the sub lacked testing.