Patrick Lahey, expert in underwater expeditions who warned about Stockton Rush: “He was like a predator”

In the aftermath of the tragic loss of life aboard the Titan submersible, more questions have been asked about the appropriateness of the vessel designed to take people to the wreckage of the Titanic.

Titan was produced and operated by a firm called OceanGate, founded by engineer and explorer Stockton Rush. The company’s founder was on board the voyage that suffered a “catastrophic implosion” and he too lost his life.

In some ways Rush was a pioneer, but many in the industry have called into question some of his methods, particularly those used to encourage participants to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the trip.

In an interview with The Times, Triton Submarines president Patrick Lahey described the “predatory” nature of Rush’s sales pitch.

“He could even convince someone who knew and understood the risks... it was really quite predatory,” said Lahey, who runs a leading submarine manufacturer.

One of those on board was Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French explorer and Titanic expert. The 77-year-old was a close friend of Lahey’s.

“It’s a terribly sad thing that his life ended that way but PH knew the risks,” Lahey said. “I told him in very candid terms why he shouldn’t be out there. He understood. I believe PH thought in some way that by being out there he could help these guys avoid a tragedy but instead he ended up in the middle of one.”

However while Lahey believes that his friend was entering into the project with good intentions, he told The Times that he worried about the effect that his involvement could have. Nargeolet has visited the Titanic on numerous other expeditions, most notably being part of the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) project in 1987 that became the first to collect artefacts from the Titanic.

“I told PH that going out there in some way sanctioned this operation. I said: ‘You’re becoming an ambassador for this thing; people look at you and your record and the life you lead and things you’ve done, which are extraordinary, and in some ways you are legitimising what [OceanGate] are doing.”

Finally, Lahey recalled how he felt about the Titan vessel at the time of its creation. He claimed that OceanGate’s submersible was a far cry from the submarines being manufactured by Triton Submarines.

“At the very time this monstrosity was being made, I was building the most capable subs of our age,” he added.