The lead engineer for an experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic testified Monday that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier. “'I'm not getting in it,'” Tony Nissen said he told Stockton Rush, co-founder of the OceanGate company that owned the Titan submersible. Nissen, OceanGate’s former engineering director, was the first witness to testify at what is expected to be a two-week U.
S. Coast Guard hearing. The Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, killing Rush and four others on board and setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration .
Nissen said Rush could be difficult to work for and was often very concerned with costs and project schedules, among other issues. He said Rush would fight for what he wanted, which often changed day to day. He added that he tried to keep the clashes between the two of them behind closed doors so that others in the company wouldn’t be aware.
“Most people would eventually just back down to Stockton,” he said at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina. Nissen also noted that the Titan was struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018, and that might have compromised its hull. When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, he responded, “100%.
” He said that he refused to pilot the Titan years ago because he didn't trust the operations staff, and that he stopped the sub.