Last June, as the world was gripped by the race-against-time search for the submersible that went missing on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, I wondered, who would pay $250,000 US to go on such a risky adventure to such an unforgiving place? Now, after spending months researching the story behind the design and the build of the sub called Titan, I am left wondering why it was ever allowed to take passengers in the first place. The Fifth Estate, along with our colleagues from the Radio-Canada program Enquête, interviewed friends and family of the five people who died on that fateful trip, as well as some of the world’s foremost experts in the design of deep ocean submersibles. The experts all agreed — this was a tragedy waiting to happen.
And despite multiple warnings over the years about the flawed design of the sub, no one stepped in to stop it. The maverick CEO of the company that built the Titan, Stockton Rush, wanted to be known as an innovator, an explorer, and perhaps above all, a rule breaker. For years, Rush made claims about the safety of his sub that our investigation reveals were not true.
He operated his Titanic expeditions from the St. John’s Harbour with plenty of fanfare for three years. And yet during that time, no Canadian maritime safety agency inspected his uncertified experimental sub. Our story takes viewers inside a submersible as we dive to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to better understand the risks and rewards of the growing adventure tourism industry.
And why rules can’t be broken when lives hang in the balance. Watch “96 Hours” on YouTube and CBC Gem right now and on Friday at 9 p.m. on CBC-TV. Mark Kelley, Host, 96 Hours | 
