Just one day before the Coast Guard found the wreckage of the OceanGate Titan near the Titanic, the host of the Discovery Channel show “Expedition Unknown” revealed that he once had the opportunity to film an episode aboard the submersible but decided against it due to safety concerns.
Host Josh Gates, whose series features him traveling the globe to participate in daring expeditions, said in a tweet last Wednesday that he met OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and had the chance to join him in the submersible while it was still undergoing testing for dives to the Titanic.
In another tweet, Gates said that the sub didn’t perform well during the test dives so he decided against filming an episode on board over safety concerns. He suggested that there is information about the Titan’s design that is not publicly known that is “concerning.”
Gates followed up in another tweet by defending those who would want to board a submersible to see the Titanic, which he described as a “time capsule to another era of our history.” Gates said that it would take courage to make the trip aboard the Titan and he offered his “admiration and prayers” for the five men aboard.
The following day, the US Coast Guard announced that the remote-operated vehicle deployed to search the area for the missing sub had found debris about 1,600 feet from the Titanic, the Associated Press reported.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger told reporters in a press conference that the vehicle found the tail cone and other debris from the Titan that was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Mauger said.
A senior Navy official told the Associated Press that acoustic data from the site of the Titanic revealed an anomaly “consistent with an implosion or explosion” around the time the support ship Polar Prince lost contact with Titan on Sunday, June 18.
