- The Titan submersible had an issue with its thrusters and was spinning in circles on a dive in 2022.
- The moment, which was captured by the BBC, occurred less than 1,000 feet from the Titanic.
- The sub pilot said the thrusters were thrusting in opposite directions, causing the spinning.
During a dive to the Titanic shipwreck on OceanGate’s Titanic submersible last summer, the pilot lost control of the vessel when the thrusters malfunctioned and left them unable to do anything but spin in circles.
The ordeal was captured on video that aired during an episode of the BBC’s “The Travel Show,” which is not viewable outside the UK. A clip from the episode shared by The Daily Mail showed the moment Scott Griffith, who was piloting the submersible, realized he had lost control.
“Am I spinning?” Griffith asks, prompting one of the other passengers to reply “yes.”
One of the passengers recounted to the BCC that Griffith said, “Oh no, we have a problem.”
In the footage, Griffith can be heard explaining to the others on the submersible that one of the thrusters was thrusting forward, while the other was thrusting backwards.
"So the only thing I can do right now is a 360," he adds.
Mexican diver Renata Rojas, who was also on the Titan at the time, told the BBC: "You know I was thinking 'We're not going to make it.' We're literally 300 meters from the Titanic and although we're in the debris field we can't go anywhere but go in circles."
According to Rojas, the submersible was less than 1,000 feet from the Titanic, which is located nearly 13,000 feet below sea level.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was communicating with the Titan submersible as it was stuck going in circles, and eventually was able to correct its course and proceed towards the shipwreck, according to the Daily Mail.
Rush was onboard the Titan submersible when it lost communication with its surface ship during a dive to the Titanic on June 18. Four days later the US Coast Guard announced debris from the Titan had been found, indicating the submersible had catastrophically imploded, killing all five people on board.
Rush and OceanGate have since come under scrutiny for ignoring safety concerns expressed by former employees and experts in the submersible industry.
Others have said there were issues with the Titan's thrusters. Josh Gates, the host of "Expedition Unknown" on the Discovery Channel, told "The Today Show" he passed on a dive to the Titanic with OceanGate in 2021 because of his concerns.
"We had issues with thruster control," he said. "We had issues with the computers aboard, we had issues with comms. I just felt as though the sub needed more time, and it needed more more testing, frankly."
