Titan Submersible Victims Had ‘No Idea’ An Implosion Was Coming, Spent Last Minutes ‘Waiting To See The Titanic’

Fifteen months after the tragic implosion of the Titan submersible, former Ocean Gate contractor Tym Catterson gave a testimony saying the passengers likely had no idea of their impending doom. 

On Monday, Catterson spoke in front of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation on how he believed the passengers spent their last moments aboard. His testimony is a portion of a two-week hearing the Coast Guard is holding on the horrific incident. 

“What I found and what I feel is that the implosion happened instantaneously,” said Catterson, who was there when the Titan started its dive from the Polar Prince off the coast of Canada back in June of 2023.

Catterson said he believed the failure occurred at the “forward glue line at the ring,” which he claimed would’ve had to happen extremely fast.

During his testimony, the former contractor stressed that the passengers had no idea the implosion was coming. 

“I just want to make sure you let the public know nobody was suffering in there,” Catterson testified. “As a matter of fact, they were probably happy to say they were all waiting to see the Titanic when this happened.”

On the day the submersible went missing, Catterson said he worked as a platform operator to help send the Titan off and then went to grab a bite to eat. By the time he was back at the Polar Prince, he had discovered that the Titan had lost contact, saying, “I had no role then. I was off duty. I had no role. In truth, I was a bystander.”

On the first day, the Coast Guard held testimony, and it was disclosed that the final messages from the submersible indicated the communication problems the passengers experienced before the implosion. Just before 10 a.m., the Polar Prince asked the Titan if they could see the ship on their display. 

After 15 minutes, a response finally came that mentioned the submersible had lost its “system and chat settings.” When passengers were asked again about their status, they replied, “All good here.”

By 10:47 a.m., those onboard reported that they had “dropped two weights,” leading to a loss of contact. 

During Catterson’s testimony, he mentioned that he would not have felt comfortable going down to the Titanic in the submersible, questioning the Titan’s true abilities. 

“I don’t believe that the composites are the correct material for a pressure vessel that’s experiencing external compression,” he said. “I had my doubts.”

The hearing, which began on Monday and is scheduled to run through Sept. 27, plans to examine the facts related to the implosion and make recommendations to ensure an incident like this does not happen again. The investigation will also examine any possible evidence of misconduct or criminal acts correlating to the wreckage.

The families of victims of the implosion have filed a $50 lawsuit against Ocean Gate.