OceanGate, the deep sea exploration company that operated the Titan submarine, received $447,000 in government loans in the course of the pandemic under the Payday Protection Program, in line with the federal loan tracker ProPublica.
PPP is a program supported by the Small Business Administration that helped businesses from April 2020 to May 2021 by issuing checks that allowed them to afford payroll costs, including advantages, for as much as eight weeks.
It was also allowed to spend funds on mortgage interest, rent and utilities.
The total amount of OceanGate’s loan was forgiven under the terms of this system, which was available to US-based small businesses with fewer than 500 employees who met certain criteria, in line with ProPublica data.
OceanGate had 22 employees on the time.
Nonetheless, OceanGate’s LinkedIn page says has 48 employees, in line with the social media page, although the corporate description says it could have as much as 50.
One of those employees was the co-founder and CEO of research firm Stockton Rush, who died in what the Coast Guard called a “catastrophic implosion” while traveling to the wreck of the Titanic aboard OceanGate’s Titan submarine.
![OceanGate reportedly received $447,000 in government loans during the pandemic under the Paycheck Protection Program. The funds are designed to help small businesses cover payroll costs.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000013044718-3.jpg?w=800)
Rush founded OceanGate in Everett, Washington in 2009 with Argentinian-born American social entrepreneur Guillermo Söhnlein, who has since left his top job at the corporate.
It stays a minority shareholder in OceanGate.
It is just not clear how Rush and Söhnlein are, although each are graduates of the University of California, Berkeley.
Rush, 61, was on board the ill-fated Titan together with passengers Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, British adventurer Hamish Harding and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
in October 2020 Rush told Geekwire that the corporate spent most of the time of the COVID lockdown creating a recent hull for the Titan after deep water testing, which raised concerns that it was not strong enough to resist repeated pressurization cycles.
All of the testing was in preparation for the doomed voyage 12,500 feet underwater to the Titanic, which departed from St. John’s Newfoundland Canada last Friday.
Tickets for this one-of-a-kind experience cost passengers $250,000 each.
It wasn’t clear how much money it took to construct the Titan, although Rush in January 2020 said it had raised $18.1 million in investments to expand its fleet of five-man submarines, in line with Geekwire.
In keeping with the Pitchbook financial databaseOceanGate – which is listed as having 47 employees – has raised nearly $37 million in total funding since its inception.
The Polar Prince, a Canadian support vessel that was monitoring the Titan, lost contact with the submarine about an hour and 45 minutes later after it reached the location of the Titanic wreck on Sunday.
![OceanGate reportedly spent a lot of time during the pandemic fabricating a new hull for Titan after failed deep-sea tests.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000013112255.jpg?w=1024)
The submarine’s last known position was near the Titanic, whose stays lie about 370 miles southeast off the coast of Newfoundland.
It was revealed on Thursday that the stays of the 22-meter ship were found on the ocean floor 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow.
The invention suggests the submarine suffered a “catastrophic implosion” that immediately killed everyone on board, US Coast Guard officials said.