In reality it was more like being the person who hands the mechanic the tools they ask for, which does not require knowing how to use the tool, only where to find it. Rush really did monetize egos.
If you failed to meet your dreams , and did something else , a chance to do any part is what you feel you need as a second chance . The truth is , you’re limited due to liability and reluctance of the professionals to share . So you settle for washing dishes , doing laundry, cleaning . You are a free drudge , but in your mind you are important to the mission. Later on you miss skill acquisition and leave half full .
Why would a witness need a lawyer. He’s there on behalf of ocean gate.. she could admit to anything and wouldn’t need a lawyer. The recess is to go over her answers. And discrepancies and change the next line of questioning. They know she’s full of shit.. David got sued for being honest. So before you start calling him a liar. Remember they tried to keep David quiet.
She isn’t crying because she’s sad for the crew; she’s crying because she lost her dream of traveling to the Titanic and the importance of being a regular “mission specialist.” Stockton inflated her ego and made her feel important to his flawed mission.
She did actually get to see the Titanic . She was on one of the dives that actually reached the Titanic . She was on the dive where the thrusters were reversed but after overcoming that Issue they continued on with the Titanic expedition and she got to see the ship . She is crying because she knows the coast guard are not buying her BS about how safe oceangate .
@@silvo-sings she liked him and she liked hanging with billionaires. She called them “our friends” when crying at the hearing. I doubt they were her friends.
I remember hearing that she had decided not to get married or have a family so she could save money for a trip to the Titanic . If that it's true it's quite sad but to each their own .
@@adamwatson6916 Ya. Not to knock what she prioritizes for her life, but someone who says something like that and has by all measures behaved in kind while eschewing personal connections, has a problem they refuse to face and they need help. She said somewhere in everything that has been revealed so far, that as a teenager she wanted to be the first to get to the Titanic on the ocean floor. When that dream was ended by Ballard finding the wreck in the 80s, it think she had a serious psychological break. By the time she was a teenager she already had an obsession with the ship, decided she was truly going to make that her personal life’s project. Then when that was abruptly ended by someone else, she said she sought a finance degree or something, so that she’d always have a job where she could make enough money on the regular to put toward going to see the ship, meanwhile getting major scuba certs. In waltzes Rush and his rag tag outfit, she is put in touch with him, and suddenly Rush had himself a groupie. She has put all her life’s effort into this one thing; as far as anyone knows she has noone else (not that that is necessarily our business anyway), and she’s about to lose the “family” she decided to adopt on her terms alone. It really seems like she will be the last person on earth defending Rush and OG, and for what? The more I think about it, the lonelier and darker it seems her future will be.
Just rewatching this cause my toddler needed me for the rest of the afternoon yesterday. The more I observe Renata the more it's obvious that she's a civilian not a professional as Lockridge it shows in behaviour of keeping it cool, articulated, she's more nervous.
the people that still work for Oceangate, are quite vague, almost confused with every question. A substantial contrast to individuals who are resigned from Oceangate. They offer highly detailed testimony.
I get what you're saying, and agree. Although some of the ones that left I feel like are only doing so to boost their own ego. Nasser stood out the most to me. This woman keeps talking about the monitoring system and simultaneously explained she had zero clue what any of it meant. It was pointless essentially. Proven at this point by dang near countless experts in acoustics and engineering.
Why would Rojas, as nothing more than a paying customer, need a lawyer? Also, you discuss why they are called "mission specialists" at 3:01:34. I am certain that they were called this because if they were passengers, they had to go through a mass of certification bureaucracy, but they avoided this by calling them mission specialists.
At the timeof the accident, she was an unpaid volunteer. She helped to close the hatch on the sub on the fatal dive. She and everyone else who was working of OG on that day certainly face some level of liability. PH's daughter has sued OG for wrongful death.
@@loosilu I can't see that that would be enough to give her any liability whatsoever. OG are liable, of course, but I cannot see how she could possibly be held liable. Having said that, I am aware how acutely litigious things get in the US.
Her lawyer is giving the "less is more face". I think Ms Rojas is real-time facing the hard truth, that she was given more flattery than fact, by Rush.
@silvo-sings The lawyer is to cover herself. Rush had her snowed. She feels like a part of the team. In reality, she couldn't explain how anything worked, just the names of the items and terms used by others that did.
Hi Nick, thank you very much for posting this. I think as you said "Too many people drinking the kool-aid.." It's ridiculous how many educated, high IQ people were so naive. Stockton must have had incredible powers of persuasion. You look healthy and happy. My best to you and Timmy .Thanks again. ❤
@@metal--babble346 if that were true then why are they not pushing back on the witnesses who are condemning ocean gate in the strongest terms ? Everyone is acting like the Coast guard is showing deference towards the pro oceangate witnesses but they are being treated the same as the anti Oceangate witnesses .. This isn't a criminal investigation and the coast guard doesn't decide on criminal charges . Everyone seems to want some A Few Good Men courtroom scene This accident happened in international water so the Likelyhood of criminal charges is slim to none .
You are 100% correct. Have you noticed NO ONE from OceanGate has accepted any responsibility or admitted ANY mistake at all. No one on the mothership has said anything close to regret.
They are doing what the lawyers tell them. There are many pending lawsuits right now so anyone involved would have hired a lawyer immediately or least sought legal advice and they would have been told to sit tight and say nothing. We don't even know yet where the breakup started or what caused it . All evidence points to a terrible design but untill that is confirmed
Her testimony was predictable. This is an example of just how persuasive a certain kind of individual can be. Rush's spin sure paid dividends with some of these poor souls.
This is an excellent example of real specialist vs "mission specialist" view on the situation. Nissen guy is nervous (because he knows about all the bad things with Titan) , Lochridge is furious (because he also knows) , but for Renata everything is fine, she is still sort of in love with Stockton. That is the answer why the clients were so stupid to get into the uncertified sub. They just trusted a charismatic man. They wouldn't not be able to comprehend the danger, even if they were shown all the engineering data.
I hate to say it but there may have been more to her relationship with Rush than she let's on . He made her lifelong dream come true and he is was very charismatic. Some will call this cheap/crass speculation bur it can't be ruled out .
"I dont know what dive Lochridge was on" classic gaslighting, I hope she's fined for lying under oath (even though she truly believes everything she says is fact)
As a woman, I was wondering if Renata had a crush/thing (or more) on Rush. She seems overly emotional considering she is fine, I wouldn't have the nerve to cry when it wasn't my family that went down on Titan. She just seems a bit delusional and not being fully honest about the goings on. Also she's meant to be a diver and knowledgeable about diving etc, yet she's shown very little interest or concern over the safety of Titan. I just don't find her that credible. Just my opinion, obviously. And why has she got her lawyer hand-holding her?? Seems excessive considering it's not a court of law (unless I've misunderstood the legality of this hearing).
Who knows for sure? But in my opinion, no. I genuinely think she is just overly obsessed with undersea exploration and the Titanic and without Stockton Rush she never would have achieved her lifelong dream. So unless he done something downright evil it's hard for her not to feel some kind of love / gratitude to him. And as seemingly arrogant, incompetent, negligent etc things that Stockton Rush was I definitely dont think he killed himself and the others with intent so I wouldn't call him evil.
She was on the Polar Prince when Titan went down and so far it seems she is the only witness who has been called that was on the PO when the accident happened. Having I lawyer in these situations is never a bad idea . People seem to think having a lawyer is a sign of guilt. She may feel intimidated by the process and has a lawyer with her for reassurance. . She breaks down and cries at various points. Having a lawyer there can't hurt and it's her right. There are still 2 more weeks of testimony so we will probably see more lawyers
@@Chellistan This is not a court it is a coast guard accident hearing, this is a way for the coast guard to get more information about the circumstances that led to this accident. She is just afraid she is liable because she was on the PP to help out on the expedition. There are plenty of interviews with Renata Rojas on youtube from like 3 to 4 years ago. One thing is obvious she is obsessed with personally seeing the wreck of the titanic. In one interview she herself expressed (very emotionally) doubt about safety when for the 3rd time her dive was cancelled because of problems with the sub. She finally got to see the wreck in 2022 but after that kept hanging around ocean gate because she was friends with Rush and his wife. She also was a investor in the company. So that her testimony is somewhat in defense of Rush and his practices is obvious and logical. Ignorance is also bliss so portraying that while u are under oath is a way to make sure u cant be made liable. She holds tight to the ''mission specialist'' fallacy while in reality she was just a paying customer to see the titanic. What Rush was doing with his manned survey missions was just tourism. Underwater surveying a wreck is cheaper and easier with ROV's.
23:42 😂😂😂 the poor woman. She clearly idolises stockton even now. Just being asked these questions must be an eye opener that she was merely a passenger. Not a "mission specialist" not a "nautical operative" or any other BS make believe role Rush gave her to get her to open her purse and buy a ticket on his death trap.
With regards to the Andrea Doria episode the best way to establish the facts would be to see the videos taken during the mission. It is possible that either Ms Rojas has "insufficient justification" bias or Mr Lockridge has more negative memories of Stockton Rush simply because their relationship was so poor. Either way, getting those videos would be useful to help with witness credibility. Their stories are so different that it would be difficult to create a scenario where both could be true but the videos would give a better idea about what actually happened.
Renata will always praise OceanGate and will not say bad things, even though those things have happened because she saw Titanic with her own eyes. Her whole life dream OceanGate made happen. The lawyer is there so she will not say too much that OceanGate can sue her.
I think she’s downplaying what she knew and what she knows. She often mixes up her language, shifting between we to they. She tries to come across as having limited understanding of this field and uses basic language, then starts using more complex jargon contradicting that initial character portrayal. Also has been very well coached by her lawyer!
It makes you wonder if they had installed a floating bulkhead. To absorb the stress at depths. Could it had stopped this. 4 million pounds bearing down on that. Crazy to think 2 inches on the rings is crazy. He used the same epoxy to bond we used for body filler on carbon fiber cars. It didn’t have an acid etching properties. And it doesn’t expand and contract at same rate, I live in Washington state. I built cars out of composites in Lakewood Washington called CLASSIC REFLECTIONS COACHWORKS. In case you think I’m full of crap. The material he used was expired. It was left out in open air to long. Isn’t why it failed, it’s why they could afford it.
My concern here is she seems to be defending Oceangate at every turn, if you go by her Stockton Rush was the most perfect person in every way. She also seems very defensive to be there and the fact that she pointed out that she thinks David Lockridge is lying when he said nothing like that about her that all bothers me very much!!
I would like to know if Stockton took his own children in Titan. One thing to risk your own life but risking your children's lives is a whole other realm.
First of all, Lockridge never piloted the Titan -- he would not, by his own account, get on it. Rojas' dive to Andrea Dora was on the Cyclops. Titan wasn't available yet. Next, Lockridge indicated that there were "investors' on the dive where the controller was thrown at him. Unless she is being untruthful, I believe Rojas had to be present on a different dive then the one where Lockridge had the controller thrown at him. Who were the other passengers on Rojas' dive...??
The passenger that yelled at Rush has only ever been referred to as a “paying passenger”. Now that you mention it, I too would be curious if OG kept records for who was on which trip. One would assume so, but it would not have been beyond Rush’s personality to find a way to “lose” that information.
Ranata appears to be looking through 'rose tinted glasses', as we say, in the UK. She obviously fell for Rush's charms and persuasive remarks. Also, she seems to have a bit of the narcissistic idea of thinking, when it comes to saying, things happen, type of thing. Sorry, but I do believe David Lockeridge's testimony. He found problems which he didn't think were acceptable, especially knowing that Rush intended to take others with him, on dives to the Titanic. He and his wife went through a heck of a lot to try to get something done before it was too late. Sadly, no-one would listen and actually do the responsible thing and stop the dives, thanks to Rush and his denial of things he didn't want to hear.
Is it wrong for me to say that people like her are dangerous. Knowing that things are going wrong and choosing to turn a blind eye and willfully ignorant
I think as well in our thinking, we have to be proportionate. A lot of people have cranked themselves up as if going in experimental subs was a daily risk we all take and the sooner strict regulation is brought in, the better. Ironic for a country that tolerates 48,000 firearm fatalities per year without being able to introduce any effective regulation at all. In the end, what happened here ? A man with an obsession that trips to see a boat wreck could eventually be routine and affordable started a project, and 4 people (all but one of which had a history of favouring experiential though risky things) decided to go on it. It went wrong, they died. As will all mortals. And each mortal gets to decide what they will spend their short lived time on the planet doing, and for some, experience trumps longevity. Sometimes I think the tale of the Titan has become a distraction from the real sicknesses that society could and should be addressing, a proxy everyone can get behind and hate Stockton, carbon fibre, etc.
Love the coverage. Your insight and expertise shines through as usual. This recent interview of the “ Mission Specialst” ( for goodness sake thank god they don’t put them behind the yoke of an aeroplane after 5 minutes!”. This lady who seems quite nice reminds me of someone almost “ stage hypnotised” by Ocean Gate and especially Rush. As another aside they speak about her saving all her money for a lifetime.. well I’m on a moderate income with the NHS and never could afford to save $250.000… could you. Also did she save separately for the other dives she took previously with Oceangate? They could not have been cheap! Like I’ve said..” Mission Soecislist” is just an excuse that was designed to afford responsibility.. it proved to be the ultimate responsibility. Lives.😩
That long job description is absolute bullshit. I was on Mission III the description and duties are described in 1 paragraph the coast guard posted Thursday I believe. It would be a good idea to compare the document that is falsely being described as duties, with the duties in the 2023 contract. Money must’ve been tight there were zero requirements. ABSOLUTELY NO PHYSICAL was required. Period. The health waiver was received very shortly before leaving. There is zero mention of death in the contract and by the time the waiver was received- again the day before leaving- you received zero refund if you refused to sign. As far as refunds- they had the balls to ask for another 50% if I wanted to stay on for the next mission. Luckily I had been warned about the safety of the Titan by a crew member- who was much more forceful in our conversation than his testimony!
She talks like she is an established deep sea explorer. But it seems the reality is she was an unpaid skivvy that is still clinging on to the Oceangate con.
To be fair if I had the money to drop on being an Oceangate groupie.. I would be the kind of person who brought a lawyer to anything called a hearing. I would have way better insurance for everything... just...everything I did would be done like a person who can drop that kind of money on a "passion". A lawyer would pretty much be by me all the time. She... has that feel to her. Not trying to talk down on her. I would love to have a bunch of money. I would buy stuff too.
Other witnesses said that there were meetings that were closed to certain people - that is secretive not transparent. That means that there was no equality within the relationships . ( as we read about in Everest ) That means that some people were inner circle, "special", perhaps more a confidante. Perhaps being " special" was strategic emotional manipulation. Perhaps there was implied loyalty. Yes, Nick's highlighting that there were tears from Renata before any questions were asked seems odd behavior. Perhaps she had a fear that she might disclose a confidence or break loyalty.
By the way what qualifications dies she have as cleaning lady... because I'm a cleaner there is worlds apart of differences between private cleaner, crime scene cleaner or labatory or mechanic cleaner
"Mission Specialists" I'm sure, was for legal/insurance reasons, if it had the secondary effect of making a paying passenger feeling more than a bum on a seat that was a bonus. I have a suspicion there will be little empathy for this lady. The tears are for her. Does not live in the real world and is wasting their time. Promotes bad practice. What's with the lawyer? It's a hearing not a trial. When the CG pick apart the "Mission Specialist" it all falls apart...Stockton was taking the mickey out of them and parting them from their cash. None of her explanation of Andrea Doria make sense, the bit on the bottom particularly. Far too much hand movement etc. "No one was crying..." - what? I don't think she knows anything, she's polluted by her story. Are those tears because this hearing contradicts her narrative?
She said Stockton was transparent. She can look at the sound monitors if you want to. If you dont understand what your looking at, does it really matter?
She did say that Lockridge kept asking for the controller so obviously Rush didn't just hand it over . Lockridge said he was supposed to pilot the dive to Andrea Doria .
Starting @43:00 her language begins to display what really happened on that dive. The inquiry as to why Lockridge ended up with the controls is a crucial exposure of Rush's ineptitude. She [Rojas] certainly tried to cover that issue up with nonsense about Lockridge having a better view of the wreck. If Lockridge was in a position to have a better view, then why didn't Rush have Lockridge make the initial descent?
Didn't she make a previous statement that she put off getting married and having chilidren so she could save money for a trip to Titanic ? If that's true it's quite tragic but then again maybe having a family was never big priority for her . For some it isn't
You nailed the outfit and costume- but it was merely cosplay. But, honestly, you begin to believe it. I honestly told 1 person I was not a tourist but was participating in the dive and was on the crew. It’s actually sad. When I mentioned how I felt about the experience and the warnings I had been given another “mission specialist” totally disagreed and remains close friends with the OG crew. Most of them were fine, decent people. Let’s hope the Coast Guard makes public all of the videos, emails, and texts OG provided. For example, OG produced a video called “father and son” that was taken down. In light of the victims I have to ask how many scientific missions produce videos targeting “fathers and sons”!
@43:50, Rojas makes another mistake in her story. "...as we were trying to maneuver out of the prow", indicating that Rush had initially gotten the submersible into a difficult position in the bow.
Oceangate was a sham, to begin with. The maritime industry requires all COMMERCIAL vessels to be approved and certified by a flag state administrator and a class society in, designing,shipbuilding, maintenance and operations. In international waters no administrator has jurisdiction to control a ship, thus Stockton found a window in international law to do as he pleased in the high seas. Considering that this trash can was illigal to operate commercially, and he could have made it out of cardboard if he wished with no checks and balances, every Tom Dick and Harry with no maritime backround or marine science certification , were named mission specialists instead of customers! Renata had a dream, we respect that, but her dream required twice the cost and difficulty to bring to fruition, not to mention the long training she needed, if she tried to do that the right way, with a certified operator! Her attitude is no different than the women that go to Vietnam for a boob job just because its cheaper and easier, and end up dead. We cannot know what meaning Oceangate brought to her dull life, but there was nothing rosy about what she had gotten into!
Following that starting @43:54, "Lockridge...@44:07 ...was in a better position to kind of maneuver, and not touch anything, to maneuver (pause) out..." Gee, I wonder what was the reason for Lockridge to have to "kind of maneuver, and not touch anything, to maneuver (pause) out..." 😂😅😂😅
Keep in mind, too, that Rush was claiming for a while that OG was participating in “research” by taking people down to Titanic to “document changes”. It sounds like such a pathetic, quarter-assed excuse to throw a dash of relevance on what Rush was doing. Does anyone think he was taking any real researchers down for free? When he charges $250k for thrill seekers?
Ms. Rojas seems to be a somewhat emotionally maladaptive individual. Having a lifelong obsession-/ a genuine obsession like she has- is extremely worrying for me, as a forensic psychologist. I must say that given the circumstances, context, and her extremely emotional demeanor- such as losing her composure while just sitting there- I must say that is very inappropriate. She achieved her obsession so I fail to account for her emotionality. When she said that she was going to be the person to locate the Titanic but that “somebody beat her to it”, I was flabbergasted. Her ‘relationship’ with Titanic was not an indication of an individual who is reasonable & rational. And once someone had found the wreckage site, she was networking with countless people whom she believed would take her down there. She went for astronaut training thinking that if she couldn’t get down to the Titanic, she would instead pay for a ride on Virgin Galactic. What exactly was motivating her? Was it Fame, ego, a need for engaging in extremely risky adventure-type behavior? Without a face-to-face forensic evaluation, I simply cannot be certain of her motivations. BTW: many people who cultivate and nurture an obsession for going somewhere, doing something that few others , if anyone at all, has been able to do actually nurture their obsession and make it known to essentially everyone makes the obsessed person feel special.
Oddly, Stockton and his sub popped up UK tv several times over the years, not sure why. On early evening popular science, and magazine type shows. I'm trying to remember if he came on the iconic children's programme Blue Peter, I might be wrong about that one. I often think the explorer Hamish and the other Brits probably saw the same things I did and it struck them as something they wanted to do and so it came to pass. The thing is, and maybe this isn't acknowledged, but he was charming - if I'm honest I was a bit charmed by his drive and obsession to do something. But then I've always liked explorers. Fluff and pageantry ? Yes to a degree. But remember that blagging, blaggarding, showboating and income generation has always been a massive part of exploration. Shackleton and all that lot had to sell themselves to appeal to the,Royal Geographic Society to get patronage and funding, had to shape it through PR into the idea of empire and national pride to sell it.
Deceived them how? More like they colluded in a dangerous pursuit. He was honest that the 'mission specialist' business was a way to avoid red tape. They signed Contract that mentioed death 3 times on the first page. Nargeolot alone was more qualified than anyone who's shown up in court yet. Harding had his own 'extreme tourism' interests flying people to the Arctic. You talk of them like they are simpletons. They chose to do this.
It’s really unfortunate, but Ms. Rojas is completely bought in, still. She talks about nearly everything as if she was an employee; she’s flying to various and sundry places to watch them do their work and hang around for testing on her own time and dime; she’s describing in detail a years-long relationship for a thing everyone else treated as a transactional thrill. No other former, living “mission specialists” have raised a hand to corroborate her stories or detail their own years-long obsession. And she’s gotten herself into a serious predicament, now that Rush has left everyone holding his bag. She wants everything back the way it was so deeply and is giving all these details…but there are lawsuit-shaped holes in her story/defense of OG/Rush, and since the actual employees have all gone into CYA mode, she seems to be the last one willing to reveal all but the 2% that holds the truth. What’s the chance she finds herself the target of the lawsuits, and everyone drops her like a hot rock because she never realized she talked too much and gave everyone else an out? I’m not a lawyer, but Ms. Rojas has absolutely no idea how she’s coming across, and her lawyer has a big problem on his hands.
It's more than that. She's trying to rehabilitate Rush in the public's mind. It's probably an attempt to avoid admitting to herself that she too was swindled. She was otherwise not qualified to witness functional testing or to render any other engineering opinions. She's just a dive vacationer that's always up for a trip. Partucularly if it could be characterized as "scientific" in nature. By her admission, she once counted all the little fishies around the Andrea Doria. Some "science".
Stockton convinced Renata she's an underwater astronaut, who's helping the mission, as a way to monetize her. It's pretty sad.
In reality it was more like being the person who hands the mechanic the tools they ask for, which does not require knowing how to use the tool, only where to find it.
Rush really did monetize egos.
She was just another "mark" to him.
If you failed to meet your dreams , and did something else , a chance to do any part is what you feel you need as a second chance . The truth is , you’re limited due to liability and reluctance of the professionals to share . So you settle for washing dishes , doing laundry, cleaning . You are a free drudge , but in your mind you are important to the mission. Later on you miss skill acquisition and leave half full .
Why would a witness need a lawyer.
He’s there on behalf of ocean gate..
she could admit to anything and wouldn’t need a lawyer.
The recess is to go over her answers.
And discrepancies and change the next line of questioning.
They know she’s full of shit..
David got sued for being honest.
So before you start calling him a liar.
Remember they tried to keep David quiet.
@@shereesmazik5030 "...a free drudge..."? It appears that she paid for the opportunity to perform drudgery.
She isn’t crying because she’s sad for the crew; she’s crying because she lost her dream of traveling to the Titanic and the importance of being a regular “mission specialist.”
Stockton inflated her ego and made her feel important to his flawed mission.
She did actually get to see the Titanic . She was on one of the dives that actually reached the Titanic . She was on the dive where the thrusters were reversed but after overcoming that Issue they continued on with the Titanic expedition and she got to see the ship .
She is crying because she knows the coast guard are not buying her BS about how safe oceangate .
Just want to thank you for your coverage on this. I appreciate your observation and commentary of the witnesses.
@@Grigore360 thanks Grigore
Strange woman. Her life seems empty and she was used terribly. Stockton used so many people
I think Stockton gave her what she wanted.. that’s why she’s defending him. “ Mission Specialist”… “ pass me my bottle of water please!”
@@silvo-sings she liked him and she liked hanging with billionaires. She called them “our friends” when crying at the hearing. I doubt they were her friends.
I remember hearing that she had decided not to get married or have a family so she could save money for a trip to the Titanic .
If that it's true it's quite sad but to each their own .
@@adamwatson6916 Ya. Not to knock what she prioritizes for her life, but someone who says something like that and has by all measures behaved in kind while eschewing personal connections, has a problem they refuse to face and they need help.
She said somewhere in everything that has been revealed so far, that as a teenager she wanted to be the first to get to the Titanic on the ocean floor. When that dream was ended by Ballard finding the wreck in the 80s, it think she had a serious psychological break. By the time she was a teenager she already had an obsession with the ship, decided she was truly going to make that her personal life’s project. Then when that was abruptly ended by someone else, she said she sought a finance degree or something, so that she’d always have a job where she could make enough money on the regular to put toward going to see the ship, meanwhile getting major scuba certs. In waltzes Rush and his rag tag outfit, she is put in touch with him, and suddenly Rush had himself a groupie. She has put all her life’s effort into this one thing; as far as anyone knows she has noone else (not that that is necessarily our business anyway), and she’s about to lose the “family” she decided to adopt on her terms alone. It really seems like she will be the last person on earth defending Rush and OG, and for what? The more I think about it, the lonelier and darker it seems her future will be.
Ocean Gate's insistence on multiple Covid safety measures prior to taking people under the ocean in those patchwork subs is peak irony.
Wow that's so true!!!
At least they had their priorities in order!! 🤦♂️
Just rewatching this cause my toddler needed me for the rest of the afternoon yesterday. The more I observe Renata the more it's obvious that she's a civilian not a professional as Lockridge it shows in behaviour of keeping it cool, articulated, she's more nervous.
Fulfilling someone’s dream is powerful.
Renata seems to be remembering everything with rose colored glasses with a side of delusion.
I also detect a sprinkling of dishonesty.
the people that still work for Oceangate, are quite vague, almost confused with every question. A substantial contrast to individuals who are resigned from Oceangate. They offer highly detailed testimony.
She is not an oceangate employee and never have been .
Oceangate currently has zero full time employees.
I get what you're saying, and agree. Although some of the ones that left I feel like are only doing so to boost their own ego. Nasser stood out the most to me. This woman keeps talking about the monitoring system and simultaneously explained she had zero clue what any of it meant. It was pointless essentially. Proven at this point by dang near countless experts in acoustics and engineering.
Why would Rojas, as nothing more than a paying customer, need a lawyer? Also, you discuss why they are called "mission specialists" at 3:01:34. I am certain that they were called this because if they were passengers, they had to go through a mass of certification bureaucracy, but they avoided this by calling them mission specialists.
@@Dark_Nemesis4300 Yeah. And their ‘specialization’ qualifications? The ability to cut a check for $250K per person.
At the timeof the accident, she was an unpaid volunteer. She helped to close the hatch on the sub on the fatal dive. She and everyone else who was working of OG on that day certainly face some level of liability. PH's daughter has sued OG for wrongful death.
@@loosilu I can't see that that would be enough to give her any liability whatsoever. OG are liable, of course, but I cannot see how she could possibly be held liable. Having said that, I am aware how acutely litigious things get in the US.
@@Dark_Nemesis4300 Apparently she thinks she has liability.
@@loosilu Apparently so.
Her lawyer is giving the "less is more face".
I think Ms Rojas is real-time facing the hard truth, that she was given more flattery than fact, by Rush.
I agree… why on earth have a lawyer?
@silvo-sings
The lawyer is to cover herself. Rush had her snowed. She feels like a part of the team. In reality, she couldn't explain how anything worked, just the names of the items and terms used by others that did.
Hi Nick, thank you very much for posting this. I think as you said "Too many people drinking the kool-aid.." It's ridiculous how many educated, high IQ people were so naive. Stockton must have had incredible powers of persuasion. You look healthy and happy. My best to you and Timmy .Thanks again. ❤
Why the hell are they pandering to Ocean Gate's nonsense with all this 'Mission Specialist' bullshit?
the reason for this hearing, is so the Coast Guard can wash away criminal charges against Oceangate.
@@metal--babble346 if that were true then why are they not pushing back on the witnesses who are condemning ocean gate in the strongest terms ?
Everyone is acting like the Coast guard is showing deference towards the pro oceangate witnesses but they are being treated the same as the anti Oceangate witnesses ..
This isn't a criminal investigation and the coast guard doesn't decide on criminal charges .
Everyone seems to want some A Few Good Men courtroom scene
This accident happened in international water so the Likelyhood of criminal charges is slim to none .
@@metal--babble346What motivation would they have for doing that?
Renate was suffering from Stockton syndrome (stockholm syndrome). He was abusing her to fund his delusion. It so sad😢
You are 100% correct. Have you noticed NO ONE from OceanGate has accepted any responsibility or admitted ANY mistake at all. No one on the mothership has said anything close to regret.
They are doing what the lawyers tell them.
There are many pending lawsuits right now so anyone involved would have hired a lawyer immediately or least sought legal advice and they would have been told to sit tight and say nothing.
We don't even know yet where the breakup started or what caused it . All evidence points to a terrible design but untill that is confirmed
Her testimony was predictable. This is an example of just how persuasive a certain kind of individual can be. Rush's spin sure paid dividends with some of these poor souls.
This is an excellent example of real specialist vs "mission specialist" view on the situation. Nissen guy is nervous (because he knows about all the bad things with Titan) , Lochridge is furious (because he also knows) , but for Renata everything is fine, she is still sort of in love with Stockton. That is the answer why the clients were so stupid to get into the uncertified sub. They just trusted a charismatic man. They wouldn't not be able to comprehend the danger, even if they were shown all the engineering data.
Is Fred still in love with him too then? Or maybe we're just looking at people to whom this was their dream, hard though that is to understand.
I hate to say it but there may have been more to her relationship with Rush than she let's on .
He made her lifelong dream come true and he is was very charismatic. Some will call this cheap/crass speculation bur it can't be ruled out .
"I dont know what dive Lochridge was on" classic gaslighting, I hope she's fined for lying under oath (even though she truly believes everything she says is fact)
As a woman, I was wondering if Renata had a crush/thing (or more) on Rush. She seems overly emotional considering she is fine, I wouldn't have the nerve to cry when it wasn't my family that went down on Titan. She just seems a bit delusional and not being fully honest about the goings on. Also she's meant to be a diver and knowledgeable about diving etc, yet she's shown very little interest or concern over the safety of Titan. I just don't find her that credible. Just my opinion, obviously. And why has she got her lawyer hand-holding her?? Seems excessive considering it's not a court of law (unless I've misunderstood the legality of this hearing).
Who knows for sure? But in my opinion, no. I genuinely think she is just overly obsessed with undersea exploration and the Titanic and without Stockton Rush she never would have achieved her lifelong dream.
So unless he done something downright evil it's hard for her not to feel some kind of love / gratitude to him.
And as seemingly arrogant, incompetent, negligent etc things that Stockton Rush was I definitely dont think he killed himself and the others with intent so I wouldn't call him evil.
She was on the Polar Prince when Titan went down and so far it seems she is the only witness who has been called that was on the PO when the accident happened.
Having I lawyer in these situations is never a bad idea . People seem to think having a lawyer is a sign of guilt.
She may feel intimidated by the process and has a lawyer with her for reassurance. . She breaks down and cries at various points.
Having a lawyer there can't hurt and it's her right.
There are still 2 more weeks of testimony so we will probably see more lawyers
@@adamwatson6916Agree. You never want to go to court alone, it’s generally an awful experience.
@@Chellistan This is not a court it is a coast guard accident hearing, this is a way for the coast guard to get more information about the circumstances that led to this accident. She is just afraid she is liable because she was on the PP to help out on the expedition. There are plenty of interviews with Renata Rojas on youtube from like 3 to 4 years ago. One thing is obvious she is obsessed with personally seeing the wreck of the titanic. In one interview she herself expressed (very emotionally) doubt about safety when for the 3rd time her dive was cancelled because of problems with the sub. She finally got to see the wreck in 2022 but after that kept hanging around ocean gate because she was friends with Rush and his wife. She also was a investor in the company. So that her testimony is somewhat in defense of Rush and his practices is obvious and logical. Ignorance is also bliss so portraying that while u are under oath is a way to make sure u cant be made liable. She holds tight to the ''mission specialist'' fallacy while in reality she was just a paying customer to see the titanic. What Rush was doing with his manned survey missions was just tourism. Underwater surveying a wreck is cheaper and easier with ROV's.
@@salland12 Doesn’t matter…don’t go to court alone. This is enough like court to count.
She was is in love with Rush is evident
And she is given her rosy prospective he was her shine armor
23:42 😂😂😂 the poor woman. She clearly idolises stockton even now. Just being asked these questions must be an eye opener that she was merely a passenger. Not a "mission specialist" not a "nautical operative" or any other BS make believe role Rush gave her to get her to open her purse and buy a ticket on his death trap.
Totally true.👋👍
The pageantry, the outfits with patches. Reminds me of L Ron Hubbard
With regards to the Andrea Doria episode the best way to establish the facts would be to see the videos taken during the mission.
It is possible that either Ms Rojas has "insufficient justification" bias or Mr Lockridge has more negative memories of Stockton Rush simply because their relationship was so poor.
Either way, getting those videos would be useful to help with witness credibility. Their stories are so different that it would be difficult to create a scenario where both could be true but the videos would give a better idea about what actually happened.
they are her videos. She probably edited out the scary parts of the dive.
She's as delusional as Elizabeth Holmes.
Delusional, or dishonest? Damage control by LARPers who got exposed.
Renata will always praise OceanGate and will not say bad things, even though those things have happened because she saw Titanic with her own eyes. Her whole life dream OceanGate made happen. The lawyer is there so she will not say too much that OceanGate can sue her.
Wow she's so defensive, more than a fan girl I think.
She was in a dream world and still doesn't want to wake up. I doubt she believes Oceangate is finished.
I think she’s downplaying what she knew and what she knows. She often mixes up her language, shifting between we to they. She tries to come across as having limited understanding of this field and uses basic language, then starts using more complex jargon contradicting that initial character portrayal. Also has been very well coached by her lawyer!
She has a lawyer with her. She is obfuscating, and that lawyer would step in if she wandered into an area that might make her liable.
It makes you wonder if they had installed a floating bulkhead.
To absorb the stress at depths.
Could it had stopped this.
4 million pounds bearing down on that. Crazy to think 2 inches on the rings is crazy.
He used the same epoxy to bond we used for body filler on carbon fiber cars.
It didn’t have an acid etching properties. And it doesn’t expand and contract at same rate,
I live in Washington state.
I built cars out of composites in Lakewood Washington called CLASSIC REFLECTIONS COACHWORKS.
In case you think I’m full of crap.
The material he used was expired.
It was left out in open air to long.
Isn’t why it failed, it’s why they could afford it.
My concern here is she seems to be defending Oceangate at every turn, if you go by her Stockton Rush was the most perfect person in every way. She also seems very defensive to be there and the fact that she pointed out that she thinks David Lockridge is lying when he said nothing like that about her that all bothers me very much!!
Oh she was on PP when it happened, that's why she has a lawyer
What's PP?
@@kristenchauvin8755 Polar Prince
@@kristenchauvin8755Polar Prince, the ship Rush chartered to transport (essentially drag) his submersible from Nova Scotia out to the dive site.
I would like to know if Stockton took his own children in Titan. One thing to risk your own life but risking your children's lives is a whole other realm.
A malignant narcissist will risk their own children in a heartbeat if it profits the narcissist.
First of all, Lockridge never piloted the Titan -- he would not, by his own account, get on it. Rojas' dive to Andrea Dora was on the Cyclops. Titan wasn't available yet. Next, Lockridge indicated that there were "investors' on the dive where the controller was thrown at him. Unless she is being untruthful, I believe Rojas had to be present on a different dive then the one where Lockridge had the controller thrown at him. Who were the other passengers on Rojas' dive...??
Yeah, who was the passenger who yelled at Rush to give David the controller, I feel that footage might have been misplaced
Lockridge said Rojas was on board as one of the 3 paying passengers - according to him she was the one who shouted at Stockton to pass the controller.
The passenger that yelled at Rush has only ever been referred to as a “paying passenger”. Now that you mention it, I too would be curious if OG kept records for who was on which trip. One would assume so, but it would not have been beyond Rush’s personality to find a way to “lose” that information.
Ranata appears to be looking through 'rose tinted glasses', as we say, in the UK. She obviously fell for Rush's charms and persuasive remarks. Also, she seems to have a bit of the narcissistic idea of thinking, when it comes to saying, things happen, type of thing. Sorry, but I do believe David Lockeridge's testimony. He found problems which he didn't think were acceptable, especially knowing that Rush intended to take others with him, on dives to the Titanic. He and his wife went through a heck of a lot to try to get something done before it was too late. Sadly, no-one would listen and actually do the responsible thing and stop the dives, thanks to Rush and his denial of things he didn't want to hear.
Is it wrong for me to say that people like her are dangerous. Knowing that things are going wrong and choosing to turn a blind eye and willfully ignorant
Well said about "drinking the kool-aid"
great analysis. So she was present on the fatal dive which is why she needs her lawyer there
She wasn't present on the fatal dive otherwise she'd be dead.
She wasn't present on the fatal dive otherwise she'd be dead.
@@Flowersofromance6-fs4pb I meant she was present on that fatal trip but was not in the Titan
Didn't understand her having the lawyer until she started answering the questions a bit into the testimony. Cya, for sure.
I think as well in our thinking, we have to be proportionate. A lot of people have cranked themselves up as if going in experimental subs was a daily risk we all take and the sooner strict regulation is brought in, the better. Ironic for a country that tolerates 48,000 firearm fatalities per year without being able to introduce any effective regulation at all. In the end, what happened here ? A man with an obsession that trips to see a boat wreck could eventually be routine and affordable started a project, and 4 people (all but one of which had a history of favouring experiential though risky things) decided to go on it. It went wrong, they died. As will all mortals. And each mortal gets to decide what they will spend their short lived time on the planet doing, and for some, experience trumps longevity. Sometimes I think the tale of the Titan has become a distraction from the real sicknesses that society could and should be addressing, a proxy everyone can get behind and hate Stockton, carbon fibre, etc.
Well said
Renata lied under oath...bpretty clear.
Love the coverage. Your insight and expertise shines through as usual. This recent interview of the “ Mission Specialst” ( for goodness sake thank god they don’t put them behind the yoke of an aeroplane after 5 minutes!”. This lady who seems quite nice reminds me of someone almost “ stage hypnotised” by Ocean Gate and especially Rush. As another aside they speak about her saving all her money for a lifetime.. well I’m on a moderate income with the NHS and never could afford to save $250.000… could you. Also did she save separately for the other dives she took previously with Oceangate? They could not have been cheap! Like I’ve said..” Mission Soecislist” is just an excuse that was designed to afford responsibility.. it proved to be the ultimate responsibility. Lives.😩
That long job description is absolute bullshit. I was on Mission III the description and duties are described in 1 paragraph the coast guard posted Thursday I believe. It would be a good idea to compare the document that is falsely being described as duties, with the duties in the 2023 contract. Money must’ve been tight there were zero requirements. ABSOLUTELY NO PHYSICAL was required. Period. The health waiver was received very shortly before leaving. There is zero mention of death in the contract and by the time the waiver was received- again the day before leaving- you received zero refund if you refused to sign. As far as refunds- they had the balls to ask for another 50% if I wanted to stay on for the next mission. Luckily I had been warned about the safety of the Titan by a crew member- who was much more forceful in our conversation than his testimony!
Submit your info to the USCG they have a website for this
She talks like she is an established deep sea explorer. But it seems the reality is she was an unpaid skivvy that is still clinging on to the Oceangate con.
The delusions are strong with this one
She did not just say, "You're in the submersible, you're safe."
At a hearing for Titan imploding and ki!!ing 5 people. Wow.
she rolled the dice and lived to tell her tale. She is on a survivor ego trip.
To be fair if I had the money to drop on being an Oceangate groupie.. I would be the kind of person who brought a lawyer to anything called a hearing. I would have way better insurance for everything... just...everything I did would be done like a person who can drop that kind of money on a "passion". A lawyer would pretty much be by me all the time. She... has that feel to her. Not trying to talk down on her. I would love to have a bunch of money. I would buy stuff too.
Other witnesses said that there were meetings that were closed to certain people - that is secretive not transparent.
That means that there was no equality within the relationships . ( as we read about in Everest )
That means that some people were inner circle, "special", perhaps more a confidante.
Perhaps being " special" was strategic emotional manipulation.
Perhaps there was implied loyalty.
Yes, Nick's highlighting that there were tears from Renata before any questions were asked seems odd behavior.
Perhaps she had a fear that she might disclose a confidence or break loyalty.
Good comment… I completely agree. 👍
The crying is survivor’s guilt and cognitive dissonance.
By the way what qualifications dies she have as cleaning lady... because I'm a cleaner there is worlds apart of differences between private cleaner, crime scene cleaner or labatory or mechanic cleaner
"Mission Specialists" I'm sure, was for legal/insurance reasons, if it had the secondary effect of making a paying passenger feeling more than a bum on a seat that was a bonus. I have a suspicion there will be little empathy for this lady. The tears are for her. Does not live in the real world and is wasting their time. Promotes bad practice. What's with the lawyer? It's a hearing not a trial. When the CG pick apart the "Mission Specialist" it all falls apart...Stockton was taking the mickey out of them and parting them from their cash. None of her explanation of Andrea Doria make sense, the bit on the bottom particularly. Far too much hand movement etc. "No one was crying..." - what? I don't think she knows anything, she's polluted by her story. Are those tears because this hearing contradicts her narrative?
She probably has mission specialist in her Linkedin profile.
Smh
Who is very smart, stoic, calm and attentive?... while, always looking serious, bearded and deadly handsome. Any Schnautzer
of course!
She said Stockton was transparent. She can look at the sound monitors if you want to. If you dont understand what your looking at, does it really matter?
She did say that Lockridge kept asking for the controller so obviously Rush didn't just hand it over .
Lockridge said he was supposed to pilot the dive to Andrea Doria .
I’d also say there is more to her story on her level of involvement here…
Starting @43:00 her language begins to display what really happened on that dive. The inquiry as to why Lockridge ended up with the controls is a crucial exposure of Rush's ineptitude. She [Rojas] certainly tried to cover that issue up with nonsense about Lockridge having a better view of the wreck. If Lockridge was in a position to have a better view, then why didn't Rush have Lockridge make the initial descent?
Didn't she make a previous statement that she put off getting married and having chilidren so she could save money for a trip to Titanic ?
If that's true it's quite tragic but then again maybe having a family was never big priority for her . For some it isn't
She didn't notice any problems? Wow
You nailed the outfit and costume- but it was merely cosplay. But, honestly, you begin to believe it. I honestly told 1 person I was not a tourist but was participating in the dive and was on the crew. It’s actually sad. When I mentioned how I felt about the experience and the warnings I had been given another “mission specialist” totally disagreed and remains close friends with the OG crew. Most of them were fine, decent people. Let’s hope the Coast Guard makes public all of the videos, emails, and texts OG provided.
For example, OG produced a video called “father and son” that was taken down. In light of the victims I have to ask how many scientific missions produce videos targeting “fathers and sons”!
@43:50, Rojas makes another mistake in her story. "...as we were trying to maneuver out of the prow", indicating that Rush had initially gotten the submersible into a difficult position in the bow.
Oceangate was a sham, to begin with. The maritime industry requires all COMMERCIAL vessels to be approved and certified by a flag state administrator and a class society in, designing,shipbuilding, maintenance and operations. In international waters no administrator has jurisdiction to control a ship, thus Stockton found a window in international law to do as he pleased in the high seas. Considering that this trash can was illigal to operate commercially, and he could have made it out of cardboard if he wished with no checks and balances, every Tom Dick and Harry with no maritime backround or marine science certification , were named mission specialists instead of customers! Renata had a dream, we respect that, but her dream required twice the cost and difficulty to bring to fruition, not to mention the long training she needed, if she tried to do that the right way, with a certified operator! Her attitude is no different than the women that go to Vietnam for a boob job just because its cheaper and easier, and end up dead. We cannot know what meaning Oceangate brought to her dull life, but there was nothing rosy about what she had gotten into!
I feel like her lawyer must be cringing at things she is saying
So you need special training to pass a wrench to someone .
Wrench passing makes you a mission specialist apparantly
Following that starting @43:54, "Lockridge...@44:07 ...was in a better position to kind of maneuver, and not touch anything, to maneuver (pause) out..."
Gee, I wonder what was the reason for Lockridge to have to "kind of maneuver, and not touch anything, to maneuver (pause) out..." 😂😅😂😅
It's almost funny that for people who don't worry about quater of milion - cleaning is an adventure
Keep in mind, too, that Rush was claiming for a while that OG was participating in “research” by taking people down to Titanic to “document changes”. It sounds like such a pathetic, quarter-assed excuse to throw a dash of relevance on what Rush was doing. Does anyone think he was taking any real researchers down for free? When he charges $250k for thrill seekers?
47:16 maybe she’s not smart enough or brainwashed to realize there were major issues
Ms. Rojas seems to be a somewhat emotionally maladaptive individual. Having a lifelong obsession-/ a genuine obsession like she has- is extremely worrying for me, as a forensic psychologist. I must say that given the circumstances, context, and her extremely emotional demeanor- such as losing her composure while just sitting there- I must say that is very inappropriate. She achieved her obsession so I fail to account for her emotionality. When she said that she was going to be the person to locate the Titanic but that “somebody beat her to it”, I was flabbergasted. Her ‘relationship’ with Titanic was not an indication of an individual who is reasonable & rational. And once someone had found the wreckage site, she was networking with countless people whom she believed would take her down there. She went for astronaut training thinking that if she couldn’t get down to the Titanic, she would instead pay for a ride on Virgin Galactic. What exactly was motivating her? Was it Fame, ego, a need for engaging in extremely risky adventure-type behavior? Without a face-to-face forensic evaluation, I simply cannot be certain of her motivations. BTW: many people who cultivate and nurture an obsession for going somewhere, doing something that few others , if anyone at all, has been able to do actually nurture their obsession and make it known to essentially everyone makes the obsessed person feel special.
She is fangirling hard for Rush, to the point of delusion. So I wonder if she has feelings for him. She behaves like she was Rush's girlfriend.
Oddly, Stockton and his sub popped up UK tv several times over the years, not sure why. On early evening popular science, and magazine type shows. I'm trying to remember if he came on the iconic children's programme Blue Peter, I might be wrong about that one. I often think the explorer Hamish and the other Brits probably saw the same things I did and it struck them as something they wanted to do and so it came to pass. The thing is, and maybe this isn't acknowledged, but he was charming - if I'm honest I was a bit charmed by his drive and obsession to do something. But then I've always liked explorers. Fluff and pageantry ? Yes to a degree. But remember that blagging, blaggarding, showboating and income generation has always been a massive part of exploration. Shackleton and all that lot had to sell themselves to appeal to the,Royal Geographic Society to get patronage and funding, had to shape it through PR into the idea of empire and national pride to sell it.
He knowingly deceived people, took their money and killed them. I think that's pretty evil.
Deceived them how? More like they colluded in a dangerous pursuit. He was honest that the 'mission specialist' business was a way to avoid red tape. They signed Contract that mentioed death 3 times on the first page. Nargeolot alone was more qualified than anyone who's shown up in court yet. Harding had his own 'extreme tourism' interests flying people to the Arctic. You talk of them like they are simpletons. They chose to do this.
@@Flowersofromance6-fs4pb He clearly presented his craft as being safer than it evidently was.
People and personalities like hers are always the ones to fall for the bs.
Seems very dishonest to me.
It’s really unfortunate, but Ms. Rojas is completely bought in, still. She talks about nearly everything as if she was an employee; she’s flying to various and sundry places to watch them do their work and hang around for testing on her own time and dime; she’s describing in detail a years-long relationship for a thing everyone else treated as a transactional thrill. No other former, living “mission specialists” have raised a hand to corroborate her stories or detail their own years-long obsession. And she’s gotten herself into a serious predicament, now that Rush has left everyone holding his bag. She wants everything back the way it was so deeply and is giving all these details…but there are lawsuit-shaped holes in her story/defense of OG/Rush, and since the actual employees have all gone into CYA mode, she seems to be the last one willing to reveal all but the 2% that holds the truth. What’s the chance she finds herself the target of the lawsuits, and everyone drops her like a hot rock because she never realized she talked too much and gave everyone else an out?
I’m not a lawyer, but Ms. Rojas has absolutely no idea how she’s coming across, and her lawyer has a big problem on his hands.
This lady is allergic to letting people finish their statements 😂 I mean if she can see the future, it kinda goes without saying.
She's no specialist.
Cognitive dissonance or the wife got to her
Covid tests and masks. 😅😂
Like listening to Kamala Harris.
A lot of words coming out of her mouth, but nothing of importance.
That’s your hangup, not hers.
CYA
It's more than that. She's trying to rehabilitate Rush in the public's mind. It's probably an attempt to avoid admitting to herself that she too was swindled.
She was otherwise not qualified to witness functional testing or to render any other engineering opinions. She's just a dive vacationer that's always up for a trip. Partucularly if it could be characterized as "scientific" in nature.
By her admission, she once counted all the little fishies around the Andrea Doria. Some "science".
I've never heard anyone over the age of 5, this side of Richard Allen, so excited to look at fish 😂