A billionaire was offered cut-price tickets to embark on Titan’s ill-fated voyage – but backed out because of scheduling issues.

Jay Bloom has shared some of his texts with Stockton Rush, who was on the doomed vessel and founded the company which ran the expedition.

Messages from February reveal Mr Bloom’s son was scared to go on the deep-sea dive because one of his friends had researched what could go wrong and “put a scare in him”.

These concerns included whether a sperm whale could attack the sub, or a giant squid could compromise the hull.

Mr Rush said such criticism was “uninformed” and “really stupid” because the vessel would be travelling at depths where sperm whales aren’t found.

And the CEO went on to insist that the submersible – which had not received international certification – was “way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving”.

At the end of March, Mr Rush once again contacted Mr Bloom to ask whether he wanted to reserve spots – and a month later, the entrepreneur offered “last-minute prices” of $150,000 (£118,000) per person.

The tickets eventually went to businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son Suleman, who were both British citizens.

It has since emerged that the 19-year-old had been “terrified” before the trip, but had gone along as a Father’s Day present.

Read more:
What happened to the Titan sub
Titanic director says he ‘knew submersible was destroyed’

On Thursday, the US Coast Guard confirmed Titan suffered a “catastrophic implosion” during its descent to the Titanic – killing all five men on board.

In a post on Facebook, Mr Bloom said Mr Rush was “absolutely convinced” that his vessel was safer than crossing the street – “but he was very wrong”.

He went on to pay tribute to all those who lost their lives, and wrote: “Tomorrow is never promised. Make the most of today.”