The co-founder of the company that owned the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic described lofty goals when the company was created, telling the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday that the company wanted to create multiple deep-water submersibles that could be deployed around the world.
Businessman Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Stockton Rush, said the original vision was to create a fleet of four or five deep-diving submersibles capable of carrying five people to 6,000 meters (6,500 yards) deep. The plan for the company was to have no dedicated mothership.
This June 2023 image provided by Pelagic Research Services shows remains of the Titan submersible on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Pelagic Research Services via AP
“We wanted to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean,” Sohnlein said.
Sohnlein ultimately left the company before the Titan disaster in June 2023. Rush was among the five people who died when the submersible …