The host of the Discovery show "Expedition: Unknown" shared the concerns that led him to pass on a 2021 mission to the wreckage of the Titanic in the submersible that has now been missing for four days.
Josh Gates spoke with NBC News correspondent Tom Costello on TODAY about his experience two years ago with the submersible Titan owned by the company OceanGate. The search for the vessel with five men on board continued Thursday as rescuers feared their oxygen supply is about to run out.
Gates' interaction with OceanGate came when the company was still in the testing phase. It had not completed the submersible's first manned mission to the Titanic shipwreck.
"We had issues with thruster control," he said. "We had issues with the computers aboard, we had issues with comms. I just felt as though the sub needed more time, and it needed more more testing, frankly."
OceanGate completed successful expeditions in 2021 and 2022 to the wreckage, which is nearly 13,000 feet below the surface, before going missing on the third trip.
Gates and his crew for "Expedition: Unknown" went down in the Titan for about two or three hours, but did not go on a full journey to the Titanic.
"I have to say there are aspects of the sub’s design that are incredibly impressive," he said. "There were also aspects of it that frankly just seemed like they needed more time or more work."
Gates also tweeted on June 21 that "Titan did not perform well on my dive" and that he walked away from the rare opportunity to film the Titanic wreckage due to safety concerns.
Gates also gave more insight into the submersible.
He told Costello he was most impressed by its ability to transport five people because most vessels that can travel that deep into the ocean, like the one used by "Avatar" and "Titanic" director James Cameron in 2012, are much smaller and more claustrophobic.
Gates added that the oxygen systems in the Titan are manually controlled, not controlled by computer. There also are four different mechanisms in the submersible that allow it to drop weight and return to the surface.
"From a performance perspective, more work had to be done on it," he said. "And I think for us, we ultimately just felt, and I personally felt, that it just wasn’t for me."
Gates said he is "hoping for a positive outcome" when it comes to the rescue of the five men on board.
He also addressed criticism of the mission and why the men would pay $250,000 each to take that kind of risk to see the Titanic wreckage.
"(Shipwrecks) are this moment from another era in our history," he said. "And there are people who that’s very meaningful for, who really want to have this experience, to go down and see that history firsthand.
"And I have to tell you, as someone who manages risk and does a lot of risky things for a living, it takes a lot of determination, it takes a lot of courage for somebody to go down on a mission like that."