(Daily360.com) – The saga of the lost submersible on its doomed journey to see the wreck of the Titanic has gripped social media in much the same way the doomed Titanic voyage on 1912 gripped newspaper readers.
The public learns more about this craft and its journey very day. We learned the small craft was run with a PlayStation Two controller, and that the passengers had to sit on the floor with bare feet, sharing only one porthole. The underwater craft could supply 96 hours of air in case of emergency and rescue attempts were rushed according to this timeline. The small submersible was equipped with flotation devices which were supposed to deploy and bring it up to the surface should a crisis occur.
However, recently re-discovered audio shows the CEO, Stockton Rush, of the submarine’s operating company OceanGate Expeditions, may have had misplaced priorities when it came to deep-sea diving. The audio captured Rush discussing his company’s personnel choices. He boasted about his preference to avoid hiring “50 year-old white guys” that their military experience on submarines was a strike against them.
Instead, Rush aimed to develop a team that was “younger.” Rush came to the conclusion that if he wanted to “inspire a 16-year-old” into the marine industry then the best way to do so was by having a “25-year-old who’s a sub pilot or a platform operator” for them to see. He said he deliberately sought out people based on age because he wanted his company to do something “completely new.”
Rush compared his submarine operation to the aerospace industry and said he believed its safety precautions were on par with those standards. He claimed the company operated with a “preponderance” of checklists and other risk assessment methods. Rush thought it was a benefit that all the small craft needed to be controlled 12,500 feet was a handheld video game controller. Stockton Rush was inside the ill-fated submarine when it was lost at sea.
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