Titanic missing sub: Tycoon pulled out of Titan voyage over 'shoddy' design

A digital marketing tycoon who almost went on the missing Titan submersible says he pulled out of the voyage to the Titanic's wreckage due to concerns over the vessel's design.

Chris Brown, 61, said that he thought parts of OceanGate's sub seemed "a bit shoddy" when he went to see some of the testing process in the Bahamas in 2018.

The friend of British billionaire Hamish Harding, who is among the five people trapped on board, also raised concerns over a lightning strike that he claims blew out all of the sub's electronics during a test.

"They're using industrial piping for ballast, they're using an Xbox controller for the steering strip lighting is something at a DIY shop," said Brown, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

"Small, cramped spaces. I wasn't happy with some of the design, like the thrusters on the outside with the cables there. I thought that was a snagging hazard.

Read more: Titanic sub missing - LIVE: Oxygen timeline is 'artificial', says expert

"What really did it for me was they flatly refused to get any form of certification and it seemed that they had no intention of getting any certification for going down to those depths once, let alone several times.''

Similar concerns were echoed in 2018 by the Marine Technology Society, who wrote to OceanGate CEO Rush Stockton, warning that an "experimental" approach to Titan's development could have potentially "catastrophic" consequences.

The group accused the firm of "misleading" the public by saying Titan met the safety standards of DNV - a leading certification body in the maritime industry - despite having no intention of undergoing its safety checks. The full letter can be seen here.

On its website, DNV explains that its certification process consists of informal interviews, examinations, observations of the system in operation, a review of relevant documentation, and checking that the body's safety standards are complied with.

Watch: Tycoon Chris Brown explains why he backed out of the missing Titan voyage

For Brown, hearing that a lightning strike during testing had reportedly blown out all of the electronics on board the Titan was enough to put him off from embarking on the trip.

"You know, these things happen, but they didn't have backup, it ended the testing," he said.

Brown said that it's normal for submersibles carrying people to have a "redundant" separate system that could be put into use if the main system cuts out for whatever reason, claiming this wasn't the case for Titan.

"The fact that one lightning strike blew the whole thing was a bit, well, where's the safety measures here? So just all of those things together, made me think there's a lot of risks here that I'm not able to mitigate and don't seem in control. So I pulled out to that point. That was the end 2018.'

Read more: Missing Titanic sub: When is the next US Coast Guard press conference?

Despite Brown's concerns about "Xbox controllers" (Titan is actually controlled with a Logitech F710 controller) - these types of devices are actually quite commonly used for both military and civilian vehicles.

The US military has used Xbox controllers to pilot drones for many years, while the US Navy also uses them for periscopes on submarines.

After the Titan lost contact with crew members on land on Sunday, the chairman of the mothership used to launch the submersible has jumped to OceanGate's defence.

Sean Leet, co-founder and chairman of Horizon Maritime Services, which owns the Polar Prince, defended the company at a press conference on Wednesday.

Read more: Inside the Titanic sub: Video shows conditions explorers are facing as search continues

Read more: 'There's no way to escape': Missing tourist sub locked with bolts from outside

He said: “OceanGate runs an extremely safe operation. Our full focus right now is getting that submersible located and getting those people brought back safely.

“We’re in constant contact with the crew of the Polar Prince. Our emergency procedures kicked in immediately.

“Our emergency room is staffed 24/7 with a group of extremely capable people and there’s live communication with the vessel at all times. We’ve got 17 people on board the ship.”

According to CNN, a former OceanGate subcontractor named Doug Virnig said using pre-existing components to build the submersible was a deliberate decision.

Virnig told the US network: "It seems kind of cheesy, but if you knew the amount of technology that was packed in that controller and its capabilities, and the amount of money that it costs to develop something like that, it's just off the charts."

He added: "So if you can take these components off the shelf and incorporate them into a project like this, where you don't have the research and development timelines and expense, that I believe is a wise choice."

Yahoo News has contacted OceanGate for comment.

Search efforts by US, Canadian and French crews were intensified on Thursday amid warnings that the submarine, which is around 900 miles east and 400 miles south of Newfoundland, was due to run out of its emergency oxygen supply.

Despite the deadline passing, the chief coordinator of a multinational mission to find the sub insisted that rescuers were still focussed on rescuing the five-member crew alive.

On Wednesday rescuers from the US Coast Guard said they remained "optimistic and hopeful" after a Canadian plane picked up "banging" sounds from underwater - potentially giving personnel a lead of where to search.