N.L. institution says due diligence on OceanGate wasn't necessary prior to Titan implosion

One of Canada's leading ocean research institutions says its partnership with OceanGate Expeditions did not reach the point of conducting due diligence before the company's Titan submersible imploded in June, killing five people.

The Marine Institute — a post-secondary institution in St. John's — says it would have vetted the company if a plan had developed where students or staff were invited on the submersible. That never happened.

"With no plans for students or staff to be aboard the Titan, there was no rationale to vet OceanGate," reads a statement from the Marine Institute.

There was one student on board the support vessel Polar Prince when the Titan imploded. The person had been hired by OceanGate for the summer. 

The company and the institution signed a memorandum of understanding in early 2023. OceanGate would save space on the support vessel Polar Prince for students and researchers, while the Marine Institute would save space at its Holyrood facility to store the Titan.

Submersible industry veteran Will Kohnen — who helped author a letter in 2018 warning OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush against his experimental approach to Titanic expeditions — says it's unfortunate a student had to bear witness to the incident and its aftermath.

Where he sees a problem, however, is what the memorandum of understanding gave OceanGate aside from a storage facility.

"It absolutely did [give them legitimacy]," he said. "When you support something like that, the rest of society will imagine that somebody must have checked and therefore it's good."

Kohnen considers the lack of due diligence a "dereliction of duty," and believes the public declaration of a partnership could have affected the informed consent of people considering a $250,000 seat on the submersible.

"There is a profound belief that advanced institutions understand the importance of knowledge and information — and therefore will be discerning, for they become the willing or hapless ambassadors."

Submersible experts had problems with Rush's approach to innovation and believed he was putting lives at risk by selling seats to amateurs who might not know what they were getting into. Titan was built with a carbon-fibre hull instead of the industry standard titanium. Its communications systems often failed. Its movements were governed by a PlayStation controller. 

Given the specs of the sub, Kohnen says, any legitimacy was problematic. 

"It is not proper nor fair to expect public citizens to do their own due diligence," he said. "Maybe for buying a coffee maker or a bicycle, but surely not a submarine."

Titan imploded while descending to the Titanic on June 18, killing all five people on board, including Rush.