[PSUBS-MAILIST] Karl's FB post

[Alec Smyth via Personal_Submersibles]

For those not on Facebook, Karl Stanley made a post I think is incredibly
revealing, and which ought to go straight into any lawsuit or documentary
about this episode. He mentioned it's good to share, so here you go.

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This is what I wrote Stockton hours after I did the dive in the Bahamas-
Karl Stanley <subkarl at gmail.com>
Apr 18, 2019, 11:44 AM
to Stockton

Stockton,
Thanks again for the amazing opportunity you afforded me yesterday.
While I know we have a special connection running "sister subs" , the
quality of the work I did for you in WA was excellent, and you enjoyed
reading my exchange with Bruce Jones, I think the main reason I got this
opportunity to dive might have the most to do with if there was such a
thing as "expert in risk assessment in one-off , uncertifiable deep sea
manned vehicles" my resume is hard to beat, and you know we are like minded
when it comes to judging how far things can safely be pushed.
As such this is my opinion / analysis of what I have seen here.
 While I think your concept of RTA is sound, I am not sure it applies in
this case. The sounds we observed yesterday do not seem consistent with
glue joints breaking, air cavities breaking, or the random weak fiber
breaking. What we heard, in my opinion, and I think after the discussion
Joel and I had last night, I can say he shares this opinion, sounded like a
flaw/ defect in one area being acted on by the tremendous pressures and
being crushed/ damaged.  From the intensity of the sounds , the fact that
they never totally stopped at depth, and the fact that there were sounds at
about 300 feet that indicated a relaxing of stored energy /would indicate
that there is an area of the hull that is breaking down/ getting spongy.
I understand you are under enormous pressure from investors, people that
have been waiting to go, people that are literally dying to go and might
not be around if you push it another season.
     A useful thought exercise here would be to imagine the removal of the
variables of the investors, the eager mission scientists, your team hungry
for success, the press releases already announcing this summer's dive
schedule. Imagine this project was self funded and on your own schedule.
Would you consider taking dozens of other people to the Titanic before you
truly knew the source of those sounds ??
I believe in what you are doing. I think the use of composites is long
overdue for MUVS. You have already shown the idea can work, 95% of that
hull is performing great, but that spot is clearly talking to anyone that
will listen , saying something is not right there. Even that is a
validation of your material choice, it is giving you plenty of warning.
Another way I like to  make decisions is by considering worst case
scenarios. The worst case scenario of delaying diving until you have
identified the defect making all that noise is some disappointed customers
and financial woes. The worst case scenario of pushing ahead and not
listening to the hull yelling at you involves Patrick Lahey and some
russian oligarch tooling around a russian nesting dolls version of a wreck
site in a made for TV special, telling his version of how things went
wrong.  I hope you see option B as unacceptable as I do.
   Karl Stanley
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