‘Haunting’: Chilling sub sight spotted by tycoon’s son

This father and son were meant to be on-board the Titan sub, however they were so spooked by what they saw in a video that they pulled out.

A submersible venturing to the extreme depths of the ocean, controlled by a gaming device.

A hull built out of a lightweight carbon fibre, the first of its kind.

These were the signs that made Las Vegas tycoon Jay Bloom and his son Sean get icy cold feet about their plans to go on-board the doomed vessel.

So they pulled out of what was meant to be their “bucket list” item.

And when Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate who tragically died on-board the vessel during the ill-fated trip, came to see Jay in a bid to convince him about how safe it all was, it ended up backfiring.

The father and son were even offered a last-minute price of $150,000 per person, a reduction from the usual fee of $250,000. It was still a clear no from them.

Jay told The Project that while there was initially great enthusiasm about their planned trip, his son Sean, aged 20, had first raised concerns about the vessel.

“I was excited to go, I was excited to be able to provide this for my son, because he was an enormous fan of the Titanic story ever since he was a little child,” Jay said.

“He was excited initially as well and then he spoke to his close friend who raised all kinds of doomsday scenarios; if there’s a problem there’s no escape, there’s no real way to recover from this and it put some fear into him.

The father and son were meant to be on the sub. Picture: Channel 10/Supplied

“He started to research it and started to get concerned about a carbon fibre hull, this was the first time a sub has had a carbon fibre hull. It’s untested, this was an experimental vehicle even though it was sold to us as being extremely safe.”

That’s when Jay decided to look further into the safety of the Titan himself, and he didn’t like what he discovered.

“He was very concerned it wasn’t (safe) and the more I researched it the more concerned I became. He also found a video of Stockton Rush the owner showing the controls and the controls were basically a video game controller, and that’s it, that’s what controller the sub. “An Xbox controller, Logitech controller. I became very concerned at that point that this company was using consumer grade electronics for a commercial application in probably the most hostile environment on the planet.”

Jay Bloom and his son Sean narrowly avoided a catastrophic family tragedy after they made a last-minute decision to turn down seats on the doomed Titanic submersible. Jay explains how they raised safety concerns to the CEO, Stockton Rush. pic.twitter.com/eUBUdj0l31

— The Project (@theprojecttv) June 25, 2023

There were more red flags for Jay when Rush flew to Vegas in a futile attempt to allay his fears about the sub.

When asked by Project host Michael Hing why his bid to win him over didn’t succeed, Jay said: “The fact that he was coming to see me in a two-seater experimental aircraft that he had built, to pitch me on going on a five-seater experimental sub to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to view the Titanic wreckage.

Chief Executive and founder of OceanGate Inc Stockton Rush was named as one of the five crew members on the vessel. Picture: OceanGate

“The fact that he flew an experimental aircraft to come see me, that threw me. And he viewed the safety concerns that I raised as more of a difference of opinion than a factual problem … I thought he was being somewhat cavalier about real risk.

“Obviously he believed in the safety of what he was doing because he was on the ship himself, he was wrong.”

Jay Bloom said he has experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. Picture: Channel 10

Jay said it has been a haunting time for the family.

“The past week has been quite surreal for us,” he said. “The eyes of the world have been on this tragedy that unfolded over the past week and it’s very strange when my son and I were supposed to have been on that trip and elected not to go.

“We were substituted by another father and son, the son about the same age as my son, and it’s been a rollercoaster. When the sub went missing it was shock and disbelief and some optimism and hope they will be found soon enough.

The vessel has not been recovered. Picture: OceanGate Expeditions/AFP

“By day four and day five every time I would look at the news … I would see pictures of these people and see pictures of the father and the son and all I could think of was but for the grace of God there go me and my son. That would be my picture and our picture instead of the picture I’m looking at.

“A harrowing, haunting experience.”

Jay had previously revealed he had been send messages by Rush claiming his vessel was safer than scuba diving.