Back in 2023, wealthy OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush captained an unapproved submersible on what would be its last trip in an attempt to visit the wreckage of the Titanic. A new documentary on the ill-fated journey covers the history of the Titan and its final dive when it imploded under the immense pressure of the Atlantic Ocean tragically killing all of its passengers.
“Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster,” was released on Netflix earlier this week. The doc features interviews with OceanGate employees as well as videographer Joseph Assi. “They needed more exposure, that’s why we came along. The sub they were making was very basic, so the idea was — ‘Make us videos so we can catch the attention of people,'” Assi said in the film.
One idea the company had to drum up publicity was to take members of Pearl Jam on the trip. If that had come to fruition, most certainly the grunge icons would no longer be with us. Assi said: “They had wild ideas, like they want to take Pearl Jam in the submarine, or he talked about some floating city that could also submerge.”
The Titan actually made several successful trips to the Titanic wreckage, but its hull, made of carbon fibre and reinforced plastic, would eventually fail.
