An earlier purchase-leaseback company called Cyclops 1 LLC that dealt with Titan’s predecessor submersible had for some backers returned nearly 90 percent on their initial investment.

Tony Nissen is the former engineering director for OceanGate, the company that owned the Titan submersible. Nissen was the first witness at a Coast Guard hearing in South Carolina on Monday.

The lead engineer for an experimental submersible that imploded ... Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast ...