Tell me, O Muse, of the man who dove to the depths of the sea, heeding the siren call of piles of money. Stockton Rush, the millionaire founder and CEO of OceanGate, Inc. and Xbox-controller-wielding pilot of the Titan, was confirmed dead on Thursday after his nonrated, custom-made submersible predictably imploded under the pressure of millions of tons of water, instantly killing him and his four passengers. Alongside him died Hamish Harding, a British billionaire; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani millionaire, and his son Suleman; and French billionaire Paul-Henri Nargeolet, the director of underwater research at RMS Titanic, Inc., the company that claims to own to the Titanic wreck, and had to settle its debts by auctioning off relics from the site, a practice commonly known as “graverobbing.”

Rescue efforts by the United States Navy and Coast Guard will likely total in the millions, after OceanGate was wholly unprepared for any kind of search and rescue operation for their deep-sea boondoggle: the vessel did not have a locator beacon onboard, and it was even painted white, the color of breaking waves, making it nearly impossible to locate on the surface. Rush’s philosophy for his undersea exploration company was, “I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.”

David Lochridge, an engineer on the sub, thought differently in 2018, pointing out, among other flaws, that the main viewing port was only rated to a dive depth of 1,300 meters, less than a third of the depth to the seafloor where the wreck of the Titanic lies. He was promptly fired. So now, after years of safety warnings, open letters, and legal proceedings, the American public will pay for the futile, days-long search for a white strand of hay in a white haystack, even after the US Navy heard the vessel implode.