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Comment by Luker88 | Hacker News Reader

I don't know how anything works at sea.

Assume I have the money to go on a trip, am I supposed to do background checks on people and technology by myself?

From this report I gather that either the sea industry is completely unregulated, or this guy ignored all rules and nobody did a check even after something like 80 dives.

Both options sound kinda insane to be honest.

Can anyone more knowledgeable elaborate?

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Typically ships need to be certified by a classification society (an organization that inspects ships and makes sure they meet technical safety standards) in order to operate commercially. The Oceangate sub was not certified by any of these authorities because certification was viewed as “red tape” in the way of their “innovations”, and they would have almost certainly failed to be certified (a bad look if you are trying to convince people it is safe).

I think the rules/laws around commercial deep sea sub companies were unclear because most deep sea subs are research vessels or private projects (e.g. James Cameron’s sub), not tourist operations.

Traditionally deep sea exploration has been under regulated and gotten by because everyone involved is very cautious and spending a ton of money on over engineering. Rush wanted to change that in order to make it an accessible tourist industry thing, so we might see safety regulations now.

If you're going on a trip, just avoid signing a contract that looks like this

https://media.defense.gov/2024/Oct/22/2003569244/-1/-1/0/CG-...

> The experimental submersible vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and is constructed of materials that have not been widely used for manned submersibles. As of the date of this Release, the experimental submersible vessel has conducted fewer than 90 dives

Or a contract that redefines you from a passenger to a "mission specialist"

https://media.defense.gov/2024/Sep/20/2003550574/-1/-1/0/CG-...

Maritime regulation exists in layers (flag states, classification societies, port authorities), but OceanGate deliberately operated in regulatory gaps by classifying Titan as an "experimental" vessel and launching from international waters to bypass oversight.

And there were no "passengers", legally speaking, just "mission specialists".

Move fast & break things plus zero regulations seem to be what our American oligarchs want on land too. Seems like the same attitude.

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