Former Titan submersible passenger who visited the Titanic last summer said 'you drop like a stone' for 2.5 hours and the compass was 'acting very weird'

• A former passenger on OceanGate's Titan submersible recalls dropping "like a stone" for hours on his trip.
• Mike Reiss told the NYT it was "very comfortable" onboard but the compass was "acting very weird."

A former passenger on the Titan submersible that is now missing recalled dropping "like a stone" during his own trip on the vessel last summer.

Mike Reiss, a producer and writer for "The Simpsons," told The New York Times that his journey with OceanGate, the company that operates the submersible, was "very comfortable" despite the vessel's tight configuration, adding that he even fell asleep on the way down to the Titanic wreckage.

"You just drop like a stone for two and a half hours," he told the Times.

Reiss added, however, that the Titan's compass was "acting very weird," and he and his fellow passengers ended up about 500 yards off course after being hit with underwater currents.

Reiss separately told CNN that he feared he might die on the trip as he prepared to embark on it.

"You get on with a lot of excitement but just constant trepidation, constantly knowing this could be the end."

"I kissed [my wife] goodbye knowing that that might be the last time I'd ever see her," he added. "Nobody walked into this thinking it was going to be a pleasure cruise, especially the experts involved."

And the waiver he had to sign before the trip made that clear, he told the BBC.

"You sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip," he said. "They mention death three times on page one, so it's never far from your mind."

The Titan submersible, carrying five passengers on its latest journey to view the wreckage of the Titanic, has been missing since Sunday. OceanGate's website says the Titan has 96 hours of life support for a crew of five. US Coast Guard officials said the Titan was down to about 40 hours of oxygen supply left by early Tuesday afternoon.