Titan Unfinished: An Untold Story of Exploration, Innovation, and the OceanGate Tragedy

by Guillermo A. M. Söhnlein

A firsthand, never-before-told account of the creation of OceanGate, the heartbreaking Titan tragedy and the supposed villain behind it all, Stockton Rush, as told by the only person who his cofounder and friend.

In the summer of 2023, the entire world fixated on a single news story that captured every headline on every media the search and rescue operation for OceanGate’s Titan research submersible, and the ultimate tragic fate of its five crew members. The media frenzy was fueled by many captivating storylines, but its primary focus was the villain at the center of it all, Stockton cofounder and CEO of OceanGate, and the ill-fated vessel’s pilot and designer.

But was Stockton Rush truly the arrogant, rule-breaking, risk-taking con man the media insisted he was? Or was he a visionary altruistic technologist, philanthropist, and investor, someone willing to put his own personal wealth and life on the line in the name of exploring our planet’s deep oceans?

Titan Unfinished is more than a recounting of the events that led to the tragedy—it’s an up-close, personal account of Stockton’s journey, from the conception of OceanGate to his sudden death, told by one of the few people who was with Rush from the very start. Fellow cofounder Guillermo Sohnlein examines the full humanity of the man behind OceanGate’s ambitious mission and offers insights extending far beyond the attention-grabbing headlines, detailing Rush’s temperament, motivations, and tendencies, as well as the technology, operations, and key events at play in a story that has thus far been massively oversimplified.

Told by an insider with the deepest knowledge, and honoring the legacies of all those involved in the fatal accident, Titan Unfinished paints the full picture of an important but deeply misunderstood story.

A portion of author proceeds will be donated to charitable organizations.

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 18, 2025

Reviews

[Katie G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before you even start reading this, just know that the author left OceanGate ten years before the submersible imploded in the Atlantic, and his only real authority to speak on it is he still held stock in the company.

Sorry, dude. I've watched the docs and interviews with people who worked at OceanGate leading up to this disastrous event. Being a Stockton Rush apologist when he silenced or fired dissenters/whistleblowers is a take I can't get behind. You can't blame the media for Rush being an egotistical person and refusing to listen to ACTUAL engineers or accept that he was wrong about anything.

[Soph Thurlby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd for a few reasons. This book is written by a cofounder of OceanGate who had no input into the company for 10 years prior to the Titan Submersible’s creation, testing and ultimate demise, which means anything said about it cannot be taken with too much heart because he had nothing to do with it. Another reason for the oddity is the majority of the book is apparent conversations recited between himself and Stockton Rush whilst they worked together in the early stages of OceanGate’s creation - I find it hard to believe anyone would remember multiple conversations ‘word for word’ from that long ago, and even if they did, a lot of them are not really relevant.

The implosion incident itself is extremely tragic but this book doesn’t really have anything to say about it. There is a lot of defending Stockton Rush and his decision to dive a sub that we are led to believe from many sources outside of this book he was well aware was unseaworthy.

[Jessica Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure why the Titan story captured my attention so much, but I did watch the Netflix documentary. In that, Stockton Rush was very much painted like a Victor Frankenstein...a man whose ambitions led him to ultimate destruction. This story, from an insider, gives a better informed perspective of the entire story...from the beginnings of OceanGate to after the tragedy. I found this to be an interesting listen!

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting information on the founding and growth of OceanGate and the development of their concept of using submersibles to explore the deep parts of the ocean that very few people see and where little is known about there. The author has a lot of respect for his co-founder - Stockton Rush - who, of course, was killed, along with four other divers, when the sub Titan imploded. We get a view of Rush's personality and his engineering style from the author.

The author did not leave OceanGate after a nasty breakup, which sometimes happens in young companies, and obviously has a lot of respect for Rush. How much does that cloud his objectivity?

The book is written in kind of a weird style -- it is almost like some thriller novels where two or more characters engage with each other to clue the reader into what is going on and what they are thinking. So, in this book, there are a lot of "remind me again why..." or "tell me again why..." Also, they seemed to always answer each other with a "yup" or "nope." Do real people always talk that way? Why not just write about the history as he remembers it and quote Rush where needed?

I did not learn much about the actual sub that imploded, understandable, I suppose, since the author had left OceanGate about 10 years before the accident. I guess I learned a few things about Rush. The book uses a fairly large typeface with excessive spacing between lines; I do not see that I got a large print edition so this must be the way it was published. Fairly quick read as a result.

[Cassandra Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't imagine having a conversation with someone and then almost a decade later, recalling the exact words that were said. There was a lot of that in this book, and while the author may or may not be accurate in his memory, it still feels wrong to have direct quotes from conversations had many years ago.
While I can understand wanting to defend a friend, the perspective from this author definitely doesn't help the perception of OceanGate, Stockton, or the author himself. At best, both men were just trying to push humanity forward due to a shared love of exploration and a hope for humanity. At worst, they're horribly selfish and out of touch rich people, whom, despite all of the grandstanding about a better future for humanity, pushed on against warnings and cost people their lives.

I appreciate the author for ther perspective, but they're widly unlikeable.

That being said, I'm sorry for their loss.

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful

An insightful look at OceanGate’s lost sub (Titan), Stockton Rush and the story behind the tragedy, written by a former co-founder of the company. I learned a lot about submersibles, and the safety regulations (or lack thereof). Not the book to read if you are looking for a harsh analysis of the tragedy, from both sides, but not to be discounted either. The lack of certification had a lot more to do with the context, so it’s a worthwhile listen for that.
The PDF disappointingly contains about 20 acronyms, and nothing else

[Andrea A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for audio

Excellent account by one of Stockton Rush s associates as to how the company was formed that did the submersible tours, the research into the construction of the subs, the warning signs that were told and the tragedy in the end. Good listen. Recommend.

[Andi Argo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very interested in learning a more insider’s perspective on the titan implosion. And while I did learn a little more, I was mostly just fed a bunch of bullshit. It’s clear he’s just trying to save face. Also, their constant fan-boying of Elon makes we want to puke.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating.

[B Vo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apologist trash from a 10 year removed employee & stock holding shill.

[Cathie Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book hoping to learn more about what actually caused the implosion of the Titan submarine. If this too is your goal in reading Titan Unfinished you will be disappointed. The author knew CEO Stockton Rush for many years but wasn't involved with OceanGate beyond his departure in 2013. What you will learn from this book is how the company came to be and what its founders had envisioned for the future of ocean exploration for the general public. Do I believe that the stated noble goal was what led to the death of five divers including Stockton Rush himself? No. Stockton simply wanted to prove the existing submarine experts wrong about creating a hull from carbon fiber rather than the industry standard titanium and put all of his time and money into that end goal. I have watched the Netflix documentary, and I believe the accounts of those individuals who actually spent time with Mr. Rush leading up to this tragedy. I believe that money and power in the hands of the wrong people can and will lead to more tragedies that result from the overinflated ego's of these selfish individuals.

[Julie Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to LibroFm for the advanced reading copy.

I found this book a bit tedious with lots of reimagined historic conversations and although I found out a fair bit about the world of submersibles, in retrospect I don't know that I needed to.

It also didn't really come up with much explanation as to why it imploded as I think the book was published before the inquiry was concluded.