OceanGate Titanic Submarine Incident

Overview

OceanGate Titanic Submarine Incident refers to a small tourist submersible operated by the tour firm OceanGate Expeditions going missing with five people on board in June 2023 during a mission to the wreck of RMS Titanic. The incident became a viral subject of discourse and memes on social media following the story becoming international news, particularly surrounding details about the sub using a Logitech gaming controller for operation, the presence of billionaires on board and Brian Szasz, the stepson of British billionaire Hamish Harding. On June 22nd, authorities reported that the sub suffered a catastrophic pressure loss and imploded, killing all five passengers.

Background

On June 18th, 2023, the five-person submarine Titan, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, went missing one hour and 45 minutes after beginning its mission to the wreck of RMS Titanic. On June 19th, 2023, the first media reports^[1][2] about the incident were made. On that day, Twitter^[3] user @mattxiv tweeted a link to an article about the incident, summarizing it. The tweet (shown below) received over 510 retweets and 12,400 likes in three days.

At 3:29 p.m. EST on June 19th, 2023, OceanGate released^[4] a media brief about the missing vessel, reporting that the search and rescue operation (assisted by government agencies and deep sea companies) was underway (shown below, left). At that time, The Coast Guard reported^[2] that among the five people on the crew were the submarine pilot and four "mission specialists," tourists paying $250,000 to participate in the expedition who operate sonar equipment and perform research tasks. On June 17th, British billionaire Hamish Harding, one of the participants of the June 2023 expeditions, shared a Facebook^[5] post about the upcoming mission (shown below, right).

The submarine had a 96-hour oxygen supply starting at approximately 6 a.m. EST, meaning that unless found and rescued, the submarine is expected to run out of air on Thursday at 6 a.m.

Developments

2022 CBS Article / Video Game Controller

On June 19th, 2023, Twitter user @conzmoleman tweeted^[6] extracts from a November 2022 article by CBS News^[7] journalist David Pogue, who joined the OceanGate expedition to Titanic (tweet shown below, left). One of the extracts highlighted a disclaimer stating the vessel had not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and waiving responsibility for injuries, trauma or death. Another snippet contained descriptions of "MacGyver jerry-riggedness" present on the sub, most notably construction pipes being used as ballast and a video game controller being used to pilot the sub (shown below, center). The tweet received over 600 retweets and 5,500 likes in one day.

In the same thread, @conzmoleman posted^[8] a photograph of four people sitting inside the sub, with the tweet gaining over 1,400 retweets and 4,200 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

And yet, I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components. Piloting the craft is run with a video game controller.

The submarine is supposed to be guided by the surface ship via text messages as GPS is unavailable underwater.

Later on June 19th, Twitter^[9] user @FnpMarieOH tweeted a clip from the November 2022 CBS News story, with the tweet earning over 6,300 retweets and 33,000 likes in one day (shown below).

Y’all please watch this. It’s a CBS story that aired a while back about that submarine that is now missing. The creators of that missing submarine are DEEPLY unserious. pic.twitter.com/B6JriITyZj

— Marie, MSN, APRN, FNP-C (@FnpMarieOH) June 19, 2023

Hamish Harding's Stepson Visits Blink-182 Concert

On June 20th, 2023, Twitter^[14] user @burgerkrang posted two screenshots of social media posts made by Brian Szasz, the stepson of the missing billionaire Hamish Harding, one a Facebook post^[15] confirming that Harding was on board of the sub, and the other a picture of Szasz at a Blink-182 concert in San Diego made on June 19th (shown below, left and center). The tweet received over 3,400 retweets and 35,200 likes in one day. Szasz later deleted the photograph of himself at the concert.

Szasz' attendance of the concert was reported on by TMZ,^[16] Pop Crave^[17] and other media, with the topic becoming a viral subject of discussions.

Banging Sounds Detected

On June 20th, 2023, Rolling Stone^[18] reported on an internal government memo that a Canadian aircraft searching for the submersible detected "banging sounds" coming at 30-minute intervals in the area where divers disappeared. An additional sonar deployed four hours later confirmed the finding.

Submarine Debris Found / U.S. Coast Guard Press Conference

On June 22nd, 2023, the U.S. Coast Guard held a press conference to explain the debris found close to the Titanic earlier that day. The Coast Guard is assuming the five men on board the missing Titan submersible died after a "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," which reportedly resulted in the sub imploding. The press conference^[19] was live-broadcasted (shown below) on YouTube, garnering 98,000 views and 876 likes in just 40 minutes.

"Simpsons Did It" Theory

Some online noticed the events aligned with a 2006 Simpsons where Homer goes on a submarine journey, gets stuck and runs out of oxygen. Coincidentally, Simpsons writer and producer Mike Reiss has traveled multiple times with OceanGate.

However, the episode aired before OceanGate was founded and Mike Reiss did not write the episode in question, meaning the parallels between Titan and the Simpsons episode are pure coincidence.

MrBeast Nearly On The Sub

On June 25th, YouTuber MrBeast claimed he was invited to go on the Titan but declined. However, his claim was met with doubt online, as the text message invitation he shared was in blue, which would imply he wrote the text himself. MrBeast explained that the friend who sent that text inviting MrBeast also sent him the screenshot. This was also met with some skepticism, as all the passengers on the Titan died, so it is unclear if MrBeast is lying or was invited to join a different submarine voyage to see the Titanic.

Online Reactions

Following the initial news of the incident and the reposts of the details from the 2022 CBS article, the incident became a viral subject of discussions and memes. Following the initial viral tweet about the incident by @mattxiv, Twitter^[10][11] users @DementedVoluptu, @lwt_gorgeousrry and others made jokes on June 19th, 2023, referencing "the Orca Wars," a series of recent orca attacks on ships near the coast of Spain (shown below, left and right). The tweet made by @lwt_gorgeousrry received over 1,700 retweets and 25,400 likes in one day.

More humorous posts about the incident went viral in the following hours. For example, one tweet^[12] by user @m_ttt21 on June 19th referencing the ending of the 1997 film Titanic received over 3,600 retweets and 26,900 likes in one day (shown below, left). A greentext shared by an anonymous 4chan user on that day was circulated on Twitter^[13] and other social media, with a repost by account @greentexts_bot gaining over 30 retweets and 1,400 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Brian Szasz / Titanic Submarine Billionaire Stepson

Brian Szasz is the stepson of British billionaire Hamish Harding, who was among the five people on board the OceanGate. He became a trending a topic since the news of his stepdad going missing, as people began to look into his online presence and social media posts.

Killer Whales Attacking Boats

Killer Whales Attacking Boats refers to a series of rumors and online jokes connecting the submarine missing and the Killer Whales attacking boat stories.

Iron Lung

Iron Lung is a 2022 indie horror video game developed and published by David Szymanski. The player assumes the role of a convict sentenced to explore an ocean of human blood in a midget submarine called the Iron Lung. In June 2023, the game has often been referenced in the context of the Titan submarine incident.

Search Interest

External References