Oceangate: A Flop of Titanic Proportions with Jake Cornell and Noah Miller | 49
The Big Flop
Wondery
4.6 • 884 Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2024
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Billionaire Stockton Rush III dreamt of exploring the Titanic. Only problem? It's really freaking hard to get to. So he pieced together the world's shoddiest submersible built from Playstation parts and promised rich tourists a view of the Titanic for the price of $250,000. Less than two hours into the dive, Rush's dream quite literally imploded... taking 4 people with him. At least, according to sonar readings, Rush really went out with a bang.
Jake Cornell (Hey Big Guy, Man & Woman) and comedian and former member of the Coast Guard, Noah Miller, join Misha to take a deep dive into the Oceangate disaster.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free. |
| 0:05.3 | Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:14.9 | In 2015, David Lockridge, a respectable marine operations director, you know, someone who makes sure sea vessels are safe, |
| 0:28.6 | eagerly accepts a position at Ocean Gate, an innovative travel company. |
| 0:35.1 | Founded by billionaire explorer Stockton Rush the Third, Ocean Gate's mission |
| 0:40.9 | is to make deep sea exploration more accessible. Well, to very wealthy passengers. Sounds like a |
| 0:48.3 | great cause. Rush is trying to do for the ocean what SpaceX is doing for space, taking folks down beneath |
| 0:56.7 | the watery depths to view exotic sea creatures, ecological wonders, and the crown jewel |
| 1:03.3 | of ocean exploration, the Titanic Shipwreck site. After working at the company for a few years, Lockridge becomes increasingly concerned |
| 1:14.1 | with the shoddy workmanship of their new sub, the Titan. He insists on a thorough inspection. |
| 1:22.5 | Immediately, Lockridge sees some alarming flaws. Loose glue on some seams, twisted cables, and |
| 1:30.1 | dangerously flammable flooring. More worrying is the acrylic viewport, a huge portal out |
| 1:38.0 | into the abyss and a major selling point for the tourists, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for the chance to see |
| 1:46.3 | the Titanic. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Lockridge sounds the alarm. Surely Rush will |
| 1:55.0 | listen and even thank him for his diligence. Nope. Rush sues him instead. |
| 2:02.3 | One thing Lockridge didn't account for, |
| 2:04.6 | his boss is an asshole. |
| 2:12.9 | Stockton Rush is the CEO of Ocean Gate, |
| 2:16.2 | a company that offers dives to the Titanic for $250,000 per person. |
| 2:22.1 | Some people want a Ferrari, some people buy a house. I want to go to Titanic. |
| 2:26.7 | A submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body. |
| 2:31.1 | We can use these off-the-shelf components. |
... |
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