There’s a lot to unpack here. The US Coast Guard confirmed on Wednesday that a “catastrophic implosion” of Titan submersible caused a sad, dark end to another chapter in the lore of the Titantic. While the rescue operation worked beyond its deadline and fears increased, the ultimate conclusion, although dismal, was of no surprise to most.
As more and more details emerge, from the construction of the submersible to its leader’s bravado regarding makeshift pieces, the general public and probably authorities are beginning to question the project tracing back years, not days.
For the general public, some early warning signs existed. Take for example OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush bragging about buying Titan’s handles from Camping World. Moreover, he made mention of a “game controller” that would ultimately guide the submersible to disaster.
“We run the whole thing with this game controller,” he added, picking up a gamepad. The crew from CBS Sunday Morning visited the OceanGate submersible and couldn’t have been less impressed, particularly emphasizing the “playstation controller.”
“Old rusty construction pipes” is mentioned as one of the areas whereas they may have “cut corners.”
For $250,000 a seat, you would hope for a more sophisticated architecture. And within the feeble framework, we return our attention to the fact that a PlayStation remote control guided your $250,000 seat through unregulated international waters, to one of the most dangerous depths on earth.
The news can't decide if the Titanic submarine controller is an Xbox pad or a PlayStation pad so I was curious what they actually use for this claustrophobic nightmare.
— Matthew Ruddle (@RuddleMatthew) June 20, 2023
Found it: It's a Logitech F710 Wireless PC Gamepad from 2011. It has Xbox buttons but PlayStation stick layout pic.twitter.com/LT1iDl9t2q
The situation is more terrifying than that as this remote is Amazon’s first product displayed when searching, “wireless gamepad.” In other words, did Rush merely snag the first remote he found from Amazon? We’ll never know as Rush fell to the same fate as the persons he boarded. In some ways, that should suggest he held some semblance of confidence that the construction of his submersible would hold up.
I’m sure there’s a bit more to it than my marginalized viewpoint, or so I hope; but I can’t help but consider the amount of times my devices, remotes included, simply drop a connection, or experience lag, or the main device attaches to another pairing. I pull in the garage, my wife’s phone conversation with her bestie suddenly fills the car as I rapidly press “END.” Was the submersible ran in the same way?
What happened with the construction of this thrill seeker submersible will include a rapid investigation, but likely, many details will never be known to us. However, the pieces which led to the awful deaths of several human beings certainly appears, at best, calamitous and rigged.