OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush built the Titan submersible to implode on its dive to the Titanic wreck so he could become part of "Titanic mythology," a longtime friend claimed, saying it was a "mousetrap for billionaires."Karl Stanley, a commercial submersible expert and longtime friend of Rush, made the claim in author Matthew Gavin Frank’s new book, "Submersed: Wonder, Obsession and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines.""[Rush’s] ego was so big," Stanley told Frank, "he was willing to die and kill to be the pivotal character of this story.He wanted to go [die] at the wreck [of Titanic].
The more high-profile, the better.He didn’t just murder four wealthy people and get paid a cool mill to do it—they are all part of the Titanic mythology."TITAN SUBMERSIBLE WIDOW SAYS REMAINS OF HUSBAND AND SON CAME BACK IN WHAT LOOKED LIKE SMALL 'SHOEBOXES'Stockton Rush and four others died when the Titan imploded.
(Netflix)The Titan lost contact with its support ship on June 18, 2023 while it was descending to see the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic, which sparked a multinational search.Debris was found four days later, and officials announced the Titan had imploded, killing all five people onboard: Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, and Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.Passengers paid up to $250,000 to be onboard the Titan.A U.S.
Coast Guard investigation would later determine that the disaster was preventable.TITANIC SURVIVOR'S LIFE JACKET SELLS FOR OVER $900K AT AUCTION, FAR EXCEEDING PRICE EXPECTATIONSFrank wrote that Rush's ambitions went well beyond his own death, saying that the name Titan, which was borrowed from the doomed ocean liner in Morgan Robertson’s 1898 novel "Futility," was done intentionally.That novel features a fictional British ocean liner named "Titan" that strikes an iceberg, drawing a parallel to the fate of the Titanic.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE FOX TRUE CRIME HUBOceanGate CEO Stockton Rush built the Titan submersibl...