A former Coast Guard specialist’s testimony capped two weeks of hearings into the implosion of a submersible that killed five during an attempt to explore the Titanic.
It happened in 2017 at the Scuttlebutt Family Pub down by the docks in Everett, Wash., just steps from where OceanGate was building a new kind of undersea craft. The low-cost submersible was to be so large and strong that it could take five people down miles to see the Titanic up close.
At the pub, Stockton Rush, the company’s chief executive, was having lunch with a new employee who had raised questions about the dives’ skirting rules meant to improve safety at sea.
Mr. Rush bristled. If regulatory scrutiny came up, he “would buy a congressman” and make the problems “go away,” the former employee, Matthew McCoy, testified at a federal hearing on Sept. 27. It was the last day of a Coast Guard inquiry into the loss of the Titan submersible, which imploded last year, killing five people, including Mr. Rush.
“Is that a direct quote?” Jason Neubauer, the chair of the federal investigation, asked.
Yes, Mr. McCoy replied. “That will stand in my mind for the rest of time,” he said. “I’ve never had anybody say that to me directly, and I was aghast.”
The next day, Mr. McCoy said, he resigned.
Marine experts who analyzed Mr. McCoy’s testimony praised it as casting new light on the roots of the Titan disaster, and possibly aiding lawsuits and other legal actions against OceanGate. The company says it has suspended its commercial operations.
During the hearing, OceanGate’s lawyers asked Mr. McCoy a few minor questions, such as confirming the dates of his employment, but did not address the legal and regulatory issues his testimony raised.