Titan sub job advert posted years before deadly implosion

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 5, 2023 at 11:19
Updated on July 5, 2023 at 11:49
3 min read
By Kate TAN, AFP Australia

Social media posts have misrepresented a job advertisement from the operator of the sub that imploded in the North Atlantic, suggesting it was published after the disaster in June 2023. The job advert was posted at least three years before the incident. OceanGate told AFP it had suspended operations following the accident. Its website has been taken offline and remains down as of July 5, 2023.

A screenshot of the job description was shared on June 24 by a Facebook page with more than 1.8 million followers.

The advert is for an "immediate opening" as a submersible pilot and marine technician at OceanGate Expeditions, the operator of the Titan submersible that imploded on a dive to the Titanic wreck.

"Well it hasn’t even been one week...," reads the Facebook post -- which has more than 1,900 shares -- in an apparent reference to the disaster in which five people died, including OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush (archived link).

The company has since faced mounting criticism, including allegations from Titanic director James Cameron that it ignored safety warnings. Voluntary industry body the Manned Underwater Vehicles Committee also said OceanGate was "not willing" to undergo a standard certification process for the Titan submersible (archived link).

Guillermo Soehnlein, who started OceanGate with Rush in 2009 before leaving the company in 2013, said his late friend was "extremely committed to safety".

A screenshot of the misleading post, captured on July 3.

The job ad circulated widely on Twitter, TikTok and on Facebook pages around the world, including in the United States, the Philippines and Australia.

Various news outlets also reported on the job ad, including Business Insider, TMZ and Seven News in Australia. The reports said it was "unclear" when the ad was first published.

However, some social media users appeared to believe OceanGate published the job description shortly after the implosion.

"Really distasteful but are we shocked?!" one Facebook user commented.

"They posted this job opportunity when they were carrying out the search for the missing sub," another wrote.

"What were they thinking, who pressed the button….. so many questions."

OceanGate operations 'suspended'

AFP was not able to find any trace of the job ad on OceanGate's website as it went offline following the submersible accident.

A representative for the company told AFP on July 1 that it had "suspended all exploration and commercial operations".

Port of Everett in Washington, where OceanGate operates as a tenant, tweeted on June 22 that the firm was "closed indefinitely while the staff copes with the tragic loss of their team member".

A search on Wayback Machine -- a site that archives webpages -- found the job ad was published on OceanGate's website as early as August 3, 2020.

Below are screenshot comparisons that show the job post in 2020 (left) and the misleading Facebook post in June 2023 (right).

AFP also found traces of the ad on OceanGate's website in 2021, 2022 and June 22, 2023, when debris from the sub was found.

The earliest Facebook post suggesting the job ad was published after the implosion appears to be from US-based comedian Nick Tigges.

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Titan sub job advert posted years before deadly implosion

OceanGate operations 'suspended'

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