The co-founder of the company that owned the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic is scheduled to testify before the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday as part of its investigation of the maritime disaster.
Businessman Guillermo Sohnlein founded Titan owner OceanGate with Stockton Rush, who was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded in June 2023. The Coast Guard opened a public hearing earlier this month that is part of a high level investigation into the cause of the implosion.
Sohnlein left the Washington company years ago, but in the aftermath of the submersible's implosion, he spoke in defense of its efforts. In his testimony, he is expected to provide perspective into the company's inner workings.
The public hearing began Sept. 16 and some of the testimony has focused on the troubled nature of the company. Earlier in the hearing, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money.
“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge testified. “There was very little in the way of science.”
Other witnesses expected to testify Monday include former OceanGate engineering director Phil Brooks and Roy Thomas of the American Bureau of Shipping. The hearing is expected to run through Friday and include more witnesses.
Lochridge and other witnesses have painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan’s unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees currently, but has been represented by an attorney during the hearing.
During the submersible’s final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about Titan’s depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the hearing.
When the submersible was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said. No one on board survived.
OceanGate said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021.
In a still from from a video animation provided by the United States Coast Guard an illustration of the Titan submersible, right, is shown near the ocean floor of the Atlantic Ocean, as June 18, 2023 communications between the submersible and the support vessel Polar Prince, not shown, are represented at left. (United States Coast Guard via AP)
Co-founder of Titan to testify before Coast Guard about submersible that imploded
This June 2023 image provided by Pelagic Research Services shows remains of the Titan submersible on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. (Pelagic Research Services via AP)
Co-founder of Titan to testify before Coast Guard about submersible that imploded
What Ellen DeGeneres says is her last comedy special landing on Netflix and George Clooney and Brad Pitt starring in a sleek, New York City caper are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Serj Tankian, frontman of the Grammy-award winning Armenian-American nu-metal band System of a Down, releases a solo EP, we get two Ryan Murphy series — “Grotesquerie” on FX and the ABC medical drama “Doctor Odyssey” — and nearly 40 years after the debut of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo is finally making the title character the star of her own game.
— Hard as this may be to believe, George Clooney and Brad Pitt are good together. Yes, stop the presses and all that. But it’s been a while since Clooney and Pitt, who first teamed up for “Ocean’s 11” had a movie built around their easy charisma. “Wolfs,” streaming Friday, Sept. 27, on Apple TV+, corrects that with a sleek New York caper about two fixers who have been hired for the same clean-up job. In my review of the film by writer-director Jon Watts (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”), I wrote that “Wolfs” is “designed to show you that they can still, without ever really breaking a sweat, get the job done.”
— Some Pixar fans have quibbled in the past when the digital animation studio has leaned too hard into sequels. But the box office for “Inside Out 2” is hard to refute. With nearly $1.7 billion in ticket sales, it’s the year’s biggest box-office hit. On Wednesday, “Inside Out 2” arrives on Disney+ to make one of the most anticipated streaming debuts of the year. In it, Riley has grown up a couple years but entered a new chapter in life: puberty, bringing with it a number of new emotions. In my review, I wrote that "the filmmakers of ‘Inside Out 2’ have managed again to filter complex psychological developments into a bright, entertaining head trip that in its finest moments packs an emotional wallop.”
— Will Ferrell and Harper Steele became friends and collaborators at “Saturday Night Live,” where Steele was head writer from 2004 to 2008. When Steele came out as transgender a few years ago, Ferrell, interested in reconnecting, proposed a road trip. In “Will & Harper,” streaming Friday, Sept. 27, on Netflix, the two embark on a cross-country expedition full of revelations about what this changes and doesn’t change in their relationship.
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
— Remember the first time you heard “Million Dollar Baby”? The rap record feels like it came out of nowhere — as so many TikTok smashes do — but continues to endure, moving from hit song of the spring to hit song of the summer to hit song of the fall and beyond. But now, fans of Tommy Richman will get to dive deeper into his musical abilities when he releases the full-length “Coyote,” on Friday, Sept. 27. Little is known about the 11-track release, but the lead singles “Whitney,” a disco-funk electro-detour, and “Thought You Were the One” – a hook-heavy R&B ballad – suggest range.
— Serj Tankian, frontman of the Grammy-award winning Armenian-American nu-metal band System of a Down, will release a short solo EP, “Foundations” on Friday, Sept. 27. The release maintains his band’s abrasion but experiments with different forms of audial rebellion. The single “A.F. Day,” for example, is a kind of psychedelic-punk treatise on the absurdity of everyday mundanity. And it sounds explosive.
— There is nothing predictable about the band Being Dead’s sophomore album, “EELS,” produced by Grammy-award winnerJohn Congleton. Across 16 tracks that move from asymmetrical egg punk, Devo-worship, a recording of a bus driver who has had enough, timeless, near-psychedelic harmonies and various other oddball sensibilities that make them the best college radio rock band in recent history – Being Dead’s organized chaos is future-seeking and familiar all at once.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— Ellen DeGeneres says her next comedy special coming to Netflix will be her last. “For Your Approval” drops Sept. 24 and the comedian is “going there,” by addressing reports that she was difficult to deal with behind the scenes of her daytime talk show, which ended its run in 2022 after 19 seasons. “I got kicked out of show business,” she says in the trailer.
— Ryan Murphy has a new series on FX called “Grotesquerie” premiering on Wednesday. Niecy Nash stars as a detective who agrees to help a nun and reporter (Micaela Diamond) with a Catholic newspaper to investigate a series of gruesome murders. Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (otherwise known as Taylor Swift’s boyfriend), has a secret role in the show.
— If “Grotesquerie” isn't your bag, there's another Ryan Murphy series making its debut this week. A medical drama called “Doctor Odyssey” premieres Thursday on ABC. Joshua Jackson plays a doctor on board a luxury cruise ship called the Odyssey. Don Johnson, Philippa Soo and Sean Teale also star. The show also boasts a number of guest stars including John Stamos, Kelsea Ballerini, Shania Twain and Chord Overstreet. A trailer for the show had nearly 78 million views within 48 hours, making it the most-watched trailer for a new broadcast TV show. Episodes also stream on Hulu.
— One might assume a TV show called “Colin from Accounts” takes place in an office setting. Instead, it’s a modern day romantic comedy made in Australia. It’s created by and co-stars real-life husband and wife, Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammel, who play two people who are brought together by an injured dog named Colin. All eight episodes of season two debut Sept. 26 on Paramount+.
— “The Walking Dead” characters Daryl and Carol, (played by Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride), make up one of the most popular platonic pairings on television. The two unlikely friends bond over similar pasts and share a deep trust. They next co-star in “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol.” It premieres Sept. 29 on AMC and AMC+.
— Zachry Quinto is back on TV on Monday in a medical drama. But he’s not portraying any dour, by-the-rules doctor — he’s playing Dr. Oliver Sacks, the famed neurologist, path-breaking researcher and author once called the “poet laureate of medicine.” NBC’s “Brilliant Minds” takes Sack’s personality — a motorcycle-riding, fern-loving doctor who died in 2015 at 82 — and puts his career in the present day, where the creators theorize he would have no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone.
— Alicia Rancilio
— Nearly 40 years after the debut of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo is finally making the title character the star of her own game. As The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom begins, Link — our usual hero — has vanished, so it’s off to the rescue for Princess Z. She’s hardly a damsel in distress, armed with a “Tri Rod” that lets her duplicate objects she finds outside her castle. She can even make copies of monsters and have them fight on her side. The magical staff gives Zelda the improvisational skills that made last year’s Tears of the Kingdom a smash, while the top-down dungeon exploration will remind old-school fans of early games in the franchise. The Echoes begin reverberating Thursday, Sept. 26, on Switch.
— Lou Kesten
This image released by Nerflix shows Ellen DeGeneres in a scene from her comedy special "Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval." (Wilson Webb/Netflix via AP)
This image released by Apple TV+ shows Brad Pitt, left, and George Clooney in a scene from "Wolfs." (Scott Garfield/Apple TV+ via AP)
This combination of images shows promotional art for the films, "Inside Out 2," from left, "Wolfs," and "Will & Harper." (Disney/Apple TV+/Netflix via AP)
This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Embarrassment, voiced by Paul Walter Hauser, Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, Envy, voiced by Ayo Edebiri, and Ennui, voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos in a scene from "Inside Out 2." (Disney/Pixar via AP)
This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith, left, and Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, in a scene from "Inside Out 2." (Disney/Pixar via AP)
