Startling new testimony suggests that the OceanGate Titan sub, which imploded during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic in 2023, had a rudimentary navigation system hinged on an Excel spreadsheet typed up by hand. The company’s unconventional approach to navigation has raised serious questions about the safety protocols followed in its deep-sea expeditions.
At a recent U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing, former OceanGate contractor and computer scientist Antonella Wilby described the chaotic and archaic navigation system used on the Titan. The sub’s ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system, designed to provide critical data like velocity, depth, and position, was not automated. Instead, Wilby testified that crew members manually transcribed these coordinates into a notebook, entered them into Excel, and then transferred the data into mapping software—a process she described as “incredibly convoluted.”
According to Wilby, this entailed crew members texting the sub with short text messages and updating its position every five minutes on a hand-drawn map. The manual steps introduced serious delays and potential for error. When Wilby suggested using standard software to facilitate this process, OceanGate reportedly rebuffed the suggestion, saying they were to make their own system but were too busy.
“This is an idiotic way to do navigation,”
Wilby recalled telling her superiors before she was pulled off the project.
Other ex-OceanGate employees only added to the swelling criticisms against the company’s safety practices. Steven Ross, former scientific director at OceanGate, told of how, only days before the Titan’s fatal dive, a malfunctioning ballast tank caused a crash that flipped the submarine-sending passengers tumbling. No one was reportedly injured in the Dive 87 incident, but Ross could not confirm whether the Titan was subsequently inspected.
The chilling moment, however, was when Wilby testified that, following Dive, 80-which occurred during the sub’s ascent in 2022-she heard a loud bang. While OceanGate attributed the noise to a shift of the pressure hull, Wilby said she was concerned about possible damage to the sub-concerns that now appear justified.
It has thus scandalized the deep sea expeditionary community that such work should have depended on a nonspecialist tool like Excel. One also realizes that though Excel is indeed very widely used within technical environments for the processing and analysis of data, its application as a real time navigation tool within one of the planet’s most extreme environments really does bring up some serious questions about OceanGate’s priorities where safety concerns are involved.
For that reason, navigation on the ocean floor, like in such depths with the Titanic wreck at 12,500 feet, needs to be highly accurate and reliable. Traditional vessels designed for deep-sea exploration typically have automated software designed for processing acoustic ping data and plotting navigation in real time.
Experts have labeled the use of a hand-typed Excel spreadsheet in such operations as “unacceptable.” The industry’s safety protocols regarding things that can withstand the heavy crushing pressure of the deep ocean are clear: redundancy and precision. That OceanGate opted for a manual, error-prone method instead of established, purpose-built software suggests cost-cutting over safety.
However, the practices at OceanGate have also raised ethical concerns. A newly emerging deep-sea tourism, promising a once-in-a-lifetime adventure to rich thrill-seekers, often operates in a grey area with limited regulatory oversight; saving money at the cost of safety could disillusion the reputation of the whole industry and encourage more stringent regulations in the years to come. The tragic incident concerning OceanGate may become a cautionary tale about skimping on safety in the interest of profit.
For now, the families of those lost in the Titan’s implosion must grapple with disturbing revelations about the sub’s flawed navigation system and OceanGate’s apparent disregard for industry standards.
