Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing absolutely nobody can deny, it’s that the June 18, 2023, implosion of the manned submersible Titan left the whole world of ocean exploration baffled to the very core. That’s because, as explored in Netflix’s ‘Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster,’ it soon came to light that many industry professionals had already expressed their concerns over the vessel’s safety, only to be essentially ignored. Amongst them was none other than David Lochridge, a known submersible pilot as well as the former Director of Marine Operations at OceanGate, the company that actually built Titan.
David Lochridge’s Remarkable Career Helped Him Land a Spot at OceanGate
A proud native of coastal Scotland, David Lochridge was reportedly just a young boy when he first developed a keen interest in the waters and decided to pursue a career around the same. Therefore, he joined the Royal Navy as soon as he graduated from high school, where he honed his skills to such an extent that he didn’t have any trouble going private following his discharge. In fact, he soon evolved into a certified commercial diver, manned submersible engineer, technician, pilot, Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) handler, and a contractor with significant global experience.
According to reports, David gradually earned a name for himself in the industry for not only being an expert pilot with several successful endeavors under his belt but also for his sheer integrity in everything he did. Just a few of his projects include leading manned submarine trials with the Swedish Navy, administering subsea cable installations across oceans, and overseeing submarine rescue operations in the UK and Singapore. This was all during his two-decade-long adventurous and enterprising career before he was even hired by OceanGate in May 2015 as their Director of Marine Operations as well as Chief Submersible Pilot.
In other words, it’s no surprise that by the time David became a part of this tourism expeditions company, he was so well respected that they went above and beyond just to have him on board their operations. The executives actually moved him and his family to Everett, Washington, before also helping him apply for a green card instead of letting him remain on a work visa because they planned for him to be with them for a long time. After all, he was hired not only to man their already built submersibles but also to contribute to the development of the Titan, only to be ultimately “phased out” of the latter after butting heads with CEO Stockton Rush.
David Lochridge Was Fired in Early 2018
As per David’s own account, he was known as the “troublemaker” at OceanGate because he never shied away from voicing his opinions or safety concerns for any expedition to the executives above him. Thus, he often butted heads with both then-Engineering Director Tony Nissen and Stockton, just for the former to have since asserted that this was just David’s way of ensuring the safety of everyone involved in the business. However, according to records, the CEO didn’t have the same perspective – he allegedly believed that anyone raising concerns about their operations was against the company’s vision because they couldn’t appreciate the innovation.
It was in June 2016 that things began changing for David at the organization as he and Stockton couldn’t see eye-to-eye during an expedition to the Andrea Dorea shipwreck off Nantucket. This was a test for the submersible Cyclops 1 and was already estimated to be dangerous since this wreck in the Transatlantic Ocean is known to have debris floating around nearby. However, at the last second, the CEO reportedly decided he would be the one piloting the mission all alone, but the Chief Pilot thankfully managed to convince him to at least let him tag along.
We say thankfully because what transpired was that the submersible got too close to the wreck and got stuck under some debris, which is when David took over to get them out of danger. As a result, according to the pilot, the CEO didn’t really speak to him for the rest of the trip, and he soon found himself being phased out of anything related to the Titan. Nevertheless, he still didn’t hesitate to let his concerns regarding the use of carbon fiber for this submersible’s hull be known and even refused to dive it once it was completely finished. He was subsequently asked to inspect it, only to be fired the morning after he submitted his report – it was January 19, 2018.
With a Clean Conscience, David Lochridge Prefers to Lead a Quiet Life Today
Even after David was let go from OceanGate, he knew he couldn’t let the company do deep-sea expeditions with the Titan because he believed it posed a risk to the lives of everyone on board. Hence, he decided to file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as a whistleblower, after which he was placed under their witness program. However, while an investigation was opened, OceanGate figured out he was responsible and filed a lawsuit against him on the grounds of breach of contract, fraud, and misappropriation of trade secrets.
David countersued with wrongful termination, alleging he was fired for raising concerns about quality control, and he made sure to do so in a federal court so that the records were all public. Yet, as time passed by, he said that he realized that OSHA was taking too long, owing to the several open cases it already had under its jurisdiction and that his former employers had the finances to keep the lawsuits going for as long as they desired. So, unwilling to be steamrolled into losing his stability, he agreed to settle the dispute with OceanGate out of court in November 2018, and a mere month later, he also dropped the OSHA case.
Since then, David has actually preferred to remain well away from the limelight, with his first public appearance being in the fall of 2024 when he was called as a witness during the US Coast Guard hearing into the deadly Titan implosion. “There was a big push to get this done. A lot of steps along the way were missed,” testified David. “The whole idea behind the company was to make money. There was very little in the way of science.” He also stated, “Stockton liked to do things on the cheap” without mincing his words, indicating the Titan implosion was an accident waiting to happen. So, today, the Scottish native is living his life to the best of his abilities with a clear conscience, spending most of his time with his wife Carole and their daughter. From what we can tell, he still resides in the Washington area, but often travels to places like New York, the UK, and his homeland of Scotland, too.
Read More: Tony Nissen: Where is OceanGate’s Ex-Director of Engineering Now?
