BOSTON – EXCLUSIVE: Stockton Rush, the 61-year-old adventurer and CEO who died this week along with four other crew members in a catastrophic implosion near the bow of the Titanic, appeared in a series of never-before-seen surreal images captured during testing of the vehicle years ago.
In the series of May 2018 photos taken in Abaco, Bahamas, and obtained by Fox News Digital, Rush can be seen peering through the vessel’s lone porthole, testing out computer equipment inside and posing next to the 21-foot submersible on the deck of a ship before the test run.
They were captured by underwater photographer Becky Kagan Schott, who said Rush had tested the vehicle numerous times in the area and she befriended the adventurer.
The Titan was designed to reach depths of 4,000 meters, according to OceanGate, the company Rush founded in 2009. It was meant for a variety of purposes, including scientific research, media production, and site surveying.
He became an F-15 flight test engineer and later worked with sonar and wireless technologies for marine applications.
“In 1989, Rush personally built a Glasair III experimental aircraft, which he still owns and flies,” according to OceanGate. “He obtained his BSE in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 1984, and his MBA from the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business in 1989.”
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is seen through the porthole of the Titan submersible in the Bahamas in May 2018. Rush had extensive experience in aviation and deep-sea diving. (Becky Kagan Schott)
“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,” U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters. “On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.”
WHO WAS ON THE OCEANGATE TITANIC SUB
Inset, from left: Suleman Dawood, Shahzada Dawood, Stockton Rush; Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Hamish Harding were aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible. (Engro Corp. | Reuters/Shannon Stapleton | @OceanGateExped/Twitter | Felix Kunze/Blue Origin via AP | Ocean Gate/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The OceanGate CEO was piloting the vessel. Crew members included British businessman turned adventurer Hamish Harding; father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who are members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families; and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy officer and leading Titanic expert.
“This is incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor, and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel, and so we’ll continue to work and search the area down there, but I don’t have an answer,” he said.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and Greg Norman contributed to this report.