OceanGate Expeditions

OceanGate is an American private-owned company known for their expeditions and submersibles. The company was founded in 2009 by (born: ) and † (March 31, 1962 - June 18, 2023 [aged 61]), which the whole purpose is to create 5-person submersibles.
On June 18, 2023, one of their submersibles, the Titan, , which had , all of which did not survive.
==Channel==
The first channel was created on January 27, 2010 on their channel, "OceanGate". They began uploading on October 4, 2010, titled "Blue Cavern Point", where they explored a part of something on the Antipodes, a submarine. It was recorded in September 29-30, and recorded near Santa Catalina Island.
On November 21, 2019, "OceanGate Expeditions" was created, and began uploading on October 1, 2020. However, in late-August of 2022, the channel began to gain traction after one of their videos, "First 8K Video of the RMS Titanic" was released. The video had over 5 million views and 20,000 likes.
In June 2023, both of the channels began to gain traction during the search of the Titan before was reported that everyone in the submersible were lost. Before the major subscriber boost, the OceanGate channel had 826 subscribers, and the expedition channel had about 44,000.https://web.archive.org/web/20231203164516/https://socialblade.com/youtube/compare/oceangate/oceangate%20expeditions
In July 2023, all of their videos are set to private, and all of their social media accounts were deleted. Only one livestream was up on the OceanGate Expeditions channel.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyvYIrDP_Pg
==Submersibles==
*Antipodes
*Cyclops 1
*Titan (imploded)
==Titan implosion==
On June 16, 2023, the submersible departed from St. John's, Newfoundland for a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck, about 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) underwater, and arrived at the dive spot a day later. However, on June 18, an hour and 45 minutes after beginning the expedition, communication was lost. The voyage was about to last for several hours, and the seats costs $250,000 per person.https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/oceangate-expeditions-missing-submersible-not-submarine-titanic/281-58d1676c-dc66-4c8e-9620-50032f3555ed
On June 21, Captain Jamie Frederick made a press briefing about the missing submersible, and mentioned that the Titan has an oxygen time-limit of about 96 hours, but during the statement, he estimated that the vessel has approximately about 40-41 hours left before the oxygen runs out. He also mentioned that the Canadian P-3 detected underwater noises, and that the surface search area is approximately double the size of the state of Connecticut.https://www.foxnews.com/video/6329861009112https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1sh6CHwvRE A day later, Rear Admiral John Mauger made a press briefing, saying that an remote operated vehicle discovered the tail cone of the submersible about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, along with additional debris.https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mVKZLVn8wZY 5 passengers have died, including:
*Stockton Rush (61)
*Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77)
*Hamish Harding (58)
*Shahzada Dawood (48)
*Suleman Dawood (19)
On June 28, most debris, along with presumed human remains, were pulled out of the site.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/28/titan-sub-debris-implosion-wreckage-oceangate
===Response===
OceanGate responded to the situation on June 19, 2023 on their social media, stating:
:*We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.
:*Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.
:*We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.https://www.instagram.com/p/CtrwwFxvl8C/https://www.wfxg.com/story/49094537/submersible-on-titanic-tour-reported-missing-off-newfoundland
Three days after making the update, they updated about the situation with this statement:
:We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.
:These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.
:This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission. We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families.
:This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctzk94tyfDb/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-on-missing-titanic-submarine-passengers-hamish-harding-shahzada-dawood/
After the loss of the CEO, their offices were indefinitely closed.https://www.kptv.com/2023/06/23/oceangates-pnw-offices-closed-indefinitely-after-ceo-dies-submersible/ For a short while, they continued to promote their expeditions.https://people.com/oceangate-still-advertising-titanic-expeditions-after-titan-implosion-7556271
On July 14, 2023, all of their social media accounts were deleted, most of their videos on the OceanGate channel were taken down, and their website shows their logo, along with a message:
:OceanGate [Expeditions]On oceangate.com, it says OceanGate, while on oceangateexpeditions.com, it says OceanGate expeditions. has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/oceangate-website-social-media-handles-deleted-weeks-after-sub-implosion-4207543/amp/1
===Concerns===
The Titan previously had concerns. In 2018, experts were concerned about the safety concerns of the vessel, as it wasn't certified, and had no oversight during design. They had mentioned that the vessel is experimental, not taking people down, and that if it's experimental, they should not take people down.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl1hEtw_XHQ According to the Titan spec-sheet, the pressure hull is made out of carbon fiber, and bonded with a titanium ring. The submersible has one power button, and controlled with a modified Logitech F710 controller.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29co_Hksk6o OceanGate mentioned that the Titan was proved to be a safe and comfortable vessel and withstand the enormous pressures of the deep ocean.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/carbon-fiber-one-titan-submersibles-experimental-materials-comes-scrut-rcna90856 When the BBC crew were in the vessel, one of the thrusters was placed on backwards.
However, when the vessel had 2 seats open, Stockton texted Jay Bloom and his son Sean, asking them if they want to go to the vessel, which Jay responded by saying that his son's friend researched about what could go wrong and "put a little scare in him," in which Stockton responded with "stupid stuff." He, later on, offered a $200,000 discount, and the price went down to $150,000 per person, which they passed. Their seats were passed on to Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2_Sx2gAzBY MrBeast was also invited to the expedition, in which he declined.https://twitter.com/MrBeast/status/1672952297163218946
====2018 lawsuit====
In 2018, a former employee at OceanGate, David Lochridge, filed a lawsuit for the safety of the Titan.https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23854184-oceangate-v-david-lochridge OceanGate denied David's allegations, and later sued him. The lawsuit, along with the cases, were dropped after the presumed death of the CEO of OceanGate.https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/florida-couple-drops-fraud-lawsuit-against-oceangate-ceo-stockton-rush/5AK4LZWN3JHHVNRSHF2RAPLH74/
===In popular culture===
In Nicki Minaj's song, For All The Barbz, one of the lines mentioned the Titan incident, with the line "One sub, kill five, bitches OceanGate."https://genius.com/29853361 People critized about the lyric, some saying that it's disrespectful to the victims.https://parade.com/news/nicki-minaj-fans-react-new-song-lyric-oceangate-tragedy
==Floating colony on Venus==
Less than two months after the Titan submersible imploded, co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein made plans to send 1,000 people to a floating colony Venus by 2050.https://www.businessinsider.com/oceangate-cofounder-send-humans-live-venus-atmosphere-2050-titan-sohnlein-2023-7 The reason for this is because according to some research, there is a small portion of the atmosphere that might be survivable for a human colony.https://gizmodo.com/oceangate-founder-wants-to-send-1-000-people-to-venus-1850695687
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Educational YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2010