Fisheries Department offered support to firm behind doomed Titan submersible

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Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly
HALIFAX — A U.S. Coast Guard investigation into the 2023 sinking of the Titan submersible south of Newfoundland says that Canada's Fisheries Department sent a letter of support to the sub's American owner two years before the deadly implosion.
The 300-page investigation report says the sinking, which claimed five lives, was 'preventable.'
It says the company responsible for organizing the trip, OceanGate, mishandled the vessel's construction and its preparation leading up to the accident.
As for the Fisheries Department, the report says it sent a letter to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush in May 2021, saying the department planned to work with the company to assess the potential of its submersibles for scientific research.
According to the report, the letter goes on say the department could contribute funds for future missions, but the coast guard's investigation found no evidence of any further collaboration or funding.
The small sub was on its way to the wreck of the Titanic when it broke apart near the bottom of the ocean, almost 700 kilometres south of Newfoundland on June 18, 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2025.
The Canadian Press