OceanGate job ad for submersible pilot surfaces weeks after tragedy

Some users mistakenly believe that a job posting from OceanGate, the company that owned the submarine that imploded in the North Atlantic, was published after the incident in June 2023 due to attacks on the post on social media.

On June 24, a Facebook page with more than 1.8 million followers posted a screenshot of the job description.

The Titan submersible, which suffered a "catastrophic implosion" during a dive into the Titanic wreck, was operated by OceanGate Expeditions, which has an "immediate opening" for a submersible pilot and marine technician, according to the screenshot.

"Well, it hasn’t even been one week," reads the Facebook post, which has more than 1,900 shares, in an apparent reference to the disaster in which five people died, including OceanGate's CEO, Stockton Rush.

However, following the tragedy, no job posting was made. In reality, it had been disseminated for at least three years before the incident.

Operations were suspended following the incident, according to OceanGate. On July 5, 2023, its website was taken down and was no longer accessible.

The company has come under increasing fire, including accusations that it disregarded safety warnings issued by Titanic director James Cameron.

The Manned Underwater Vehicles Committee, a non-profit industry organisation, also stated that OceanGate was "unwilling" to go through a typical certification procedure for the Titan submersible.

Guillermo Soehnlein, who started OceanGate with Rush in 2009 before leaving the company in 2013, said his late friend was "extremely committed to safety".

How misinterpretation of the ad was spread

The job posting was extensively shared on Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter accounts all over the world, including those in the US, Australia, and the Philippines.

Various news outlets also reported on the job ad, including Business Insider, TMZ and Seven News in Australia. The reports said it was "unclear" when the ad was first published.

However, some social media users appeared to believe OceanGate published the job description shortly after the implosion.

"Really distasteful but are we shocked?!" one Facebook user commented.

"They posted this job opportunity when they were carrying out the search for the missing sub," another wrote.

"What were they thinking? Who pressed the button? So many questions."

OceanGate terminated activities

The job posting vanished from OceanGate's website after the submersible accident, leaving no trace of it.

On July 1, a company representative announced that all commercial and exploratory operations had been suspended.

The Port of Everett in Washington, where OceanGate operates as a tenant, tweeted on June 22 that the firm was "closed indefinitely while the staff copes with the tragic loss of their team member".

A search on Wayback Machine — a site that archives webpages — found the job ad was published on OceanGate's website as early as August 3, 2020.

Additionally, traces of the ad were found on OceanGate's website in 2021, 2022, and June 22, 2023, when debris from the sub was found.

The earliest Facebook post suggesting the job ad was published after the implosion appears to be from US-based comedian Nick Tigges.