OceanGate’s former CFO announces she resigned from her post after the CEO asked her to take the helm of the doomed Titan submersible.
The unnamed employee said after chief pilot David Lochridge was fired over safety concerns, she could not trust the late CEO Stockton Rush.
She told the New Yorker, “It drove me nuts that he wanted me to be chief pilot because having a background in accounting meant I couldn’t work for Stockton.”
“I didn’t trust him. As soon as she could find a new job, she quit.”
She added that some of the engineers were in their late teens or early 20s and were paid $15 an hour at times.
The former OceanGate finance director said she was offered the remotes pictured here by CEO Stockton Rush
OceanGate chiefs fired David Lochridge (pictured here), who served as Director of Marine Operations for the Titan project
The five men on board had all died after the Titan submarine pictured here imploded on its expedition
Lochridge was fired in 2018 after OceanGate disagreed with his call for more stringent safety checks on the submersible, including “tests to prove its integrity”.
OceanGate, which is charging up to $250,000 for a seat on the submersible, hinted that finding a classification could take years and would be “an anathema to rapid innovation.”
In 2019, OceanGate said that Titan’s classification would not “ensure operators adhere to proper operational procedures and decision-making processes — two areas that are much more critical to risk mitigation at sea.”
Classification involves engaging an independent organization to ensure vessels, such as ships and submersibles, meet industry-wide technical standards. This is a crucial way to ensure a ship is operational.
In a court document filed in 2018, lawyers for the company said Lochridge’s employment was terminated because he “couldn’t accept” their investigations and plans, including safety protocols.
OceanGate also claimed that Lochridge “wanted to be fired”, shared confidential information with others and wiped a company’s hard drive.
The company said it refused to accept Titan’s senior engineer’s wealth of information about safety.
Lochridge had relocated to Washington from the UK to work on the development of the Titan – previously called the Cyclops 2.
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) was on the submarine with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of OceanGate Expedition
Five people were on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding (left) and Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman
A former Royal Navy marine engineer and ship diver, he has been described by OceanGate as “an expert in submarine operations and rescue”.
Lochridge said he could not accept OceanGate’s research and development plans.
Due to Lochridge’s position, OceanGate has terminated his employment, legal filings show.
Rush died on board the submersible that imploded while descending to the Titanic wreck last month.
Also on board were one of Pakistan’s richest men, Shahzada Dawood, along with his son Suleman, British billionaire Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet.
Huge chunks of metal are unloaded from the vessel Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard Pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
Less than two hours after diving to the famous shipwreck last month, the submarine with five people on board lost communications with its operator OceanGate Expeditions.
A large-scale rescue operation involving planes and a fleet of ships had been moved to the area 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, because the submarine was running low on oxygen supplies.
It was then announced that the five men on board were killed instantly after the submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion”.
Wreckage from the submersible was hauled ashore in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada last week.