The U.S. Coast Guard recovered an ink pen that remained intact, along with several other personal effects, while sifting through the debris of the doomed OceanGate Titan submersible.
In a recently released video, a Coast Guard official explained the meticulous process of retrieving the Titan wreckage, noting that the pen—confirmed to have belonged to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush—was found amid the waterlogged debris from the deep-sea disaster. Besides the pen, investigators also recovered a wide range of items, such as business cards, Titanic-themed stickers, fragments of clothing, and human remains. All of the recovered artifacts have been documented and cataloged by the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation.
No Damage Even After Two Years
The Titan submersible—a carbon fiber and titanium craft built to transport paying passengers to the Titanic wreck site nearly 3,800 meters beneath the ocean’s surface—suffered a catastrophic implosion during its descent in June 2023, resulting in the deaths of all five passengers on board.
In a TikTok video shared by Discovery, a U.S. Coast Guard official explained the procedure for examining the debris, noting that the sub’s “endcap” remained intact amid the wreckage.
“Let’s consider the endcap to be a bowl, a mixing bowl,” the Coast Guard official explained. “Items that were inside of the Titan at the time now become incased inside of the endcap.”
After all the water was drained out, officials meticulously sifted through the submersible’s thick, sludge-like debris—which contained carbon fiber, fiberglass, and electronic components—and eventually uncovered an intact sleeve from Stockton Rush’s suit.
“We were all just kind of getting all-hands-in and separating what needed to be considered as human remains and what was just other wreckage pieces,” the official said. “As we were pulling it apart that is how we realized it was Mr. Rush’s clothing.”
Surprising Finds Underneath the Sea
OceanGate
The official said that the Titan pilot’s clothing was found embedded in sand. “It was a piece of his sleeve that survived, not the whole suit, just that. Inside of the sleeve of it was the ink pen, business cards and stickers for the Titanic and there was nothing else but that,” the official said.
Given the extreme conditions, finding anything intact was unexpected, but the fact that the ink pen survived in perfect condition left investigators stunned.
“Each one of those pieces, even the pen, was still intact. It hadn’t been broken. All of this debris, all of these things shattered but his pen was still intact,” the Coast Guard official said.
Rush was a strong advocate for innovation in deep-sea exploration and played a key role in the development and operation of the Titan for underwater tourism.
The Marine Board of Investigation is still analyzing the recovered wreckage.
