Stockton Rush, OceanGate Expeditions’ founder, is one of five people aboard the missing submersible that is the focus of an international search and rescue effort in the North Atlantic.
“One of the things you’ll find is there are other sub operators out there, but they typically have gentlemen who are ex-military submariners, and you’ll see a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys,” Mr. Rush told marine equipment-manufacturing“I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational…a 25-year-old who’s been a sub pilot or a platform operator [or] one of our techs, can be inspirational,” he said in the interview that began making the rounds on social media sites Wednesday.
He also told Teledyne that Titanic tourists are going to be spending eight days on a boat, so he wanted to avoid hiring people who “have the same experience of working on a U.S. nuclear sub or working for Atlantis submarines.” A previous report on the Titan, the 21-foot submersible that was first reported missing Sunday, showed Mr. Rush talking about how the vessel is operated by a video game controller.The Titan lost contact with the surface less than two hours after it made its descent Sunday morning.