Like many Titanic geeks, one of my aspirations has always been to see the wreck so I submitted an application with OceanGate in 2021 to join them in 2022 while the price point was still at $150k.

I interviewed with them a few days later and to their credit, they were very nice folks. I made it a point to bring up my biggest concern: the hull.

Historically, all submersibles that have gone to those depths shared one thing in common which is the spherical metal hull that housed humans, life support, etc. I asked them why they chose to stray from that tried and tested design structure and their answer to me was simply cost.

We concluded the interview and I told them to give me a few days before I submit my deposit and commit to the trip. The hull design kept bothering me quite a bit so I decided to do more research.

I reached out to an individual who's been to the wreck on different subs and had helped James Cameron make the movie. I won't name him as to keep things private, but he's a well loved and resected Titanic and shipwreck historian and I honestly did not expect him to reply to my correspondence. Fortunately he did and he warned me gravely of the inherent danger of the sub, specifically the hull, and that he would never go in a sub such as that. He was offered a chance to go himself as the resident Titanic historian for the missions but he declined.

I took his words to heart and emailed OceanGate the next day telling them that I'm going to sit this one and but keep an eye on the expedition in subsequent years.

And I did. I made it a point to contact participants from both 2021 and 2022 expeditions and while they were happy about the overall experience, they disclosed things that you would not have otherwise found out from the company such as cancellation of missions due to sub problems (turns out there were a lot of these). They also told me how the marketed 4-hour bottom time is in no way guaranteed. If everything went perfect and you found the wreck instantly, you got to explore for 4 hours. Many groups didn't get that amount of time due to issues with the sub, getting lost, etc. and none of that was made apparent by OceanGate.

I also wasn't a fan of the deceptive marketing of the company which released only very specific footage which made the missions seem much more successful than they really were. I also didn't like that they took the sub on a road show for a large chunk of the year between dives. If I was to spend that much money and go that deep, I expect the sub to be battle tested year round, not touted around like some circus show.

At this point the trip cost was $250k which priced me out, but I got lucky that my initial gut instinct about the hull design and reaching out to credible people stopped me from throwing caution to the wind and participating in the expedition.

I still have my email correspondences with OceanGate and went back and read through them yesterday. I could have been on that sub; life is fragile and can end for any of us at any moment but sometimes there is no substitute for healthy skepticism, listening to your gut, and doing basic due diligence...billions not required.