As the hunt for a party of five missing Titanic tourists continues, James Cameron’s stern warning about the risks that await those who seek to explore the famous wreckage has resurfaced. For his iconic film Titanic, starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet, the filmmaker made 33 dives to the ocean floor to explore the wreckage.
The ship, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing around 1,500 passengers and crew, became a thoroughly talked about historical event throughout the world when Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic became a huge box office hit.
Cameron and his affinity for “shipwrecks”
The Titanic had long piqued the imagination of filmmaker James Cameron, who directed the Oscar-winning film by the same name—dramatizing its tragic maiden voyage in 1912. The filmmaker, who has dived into the submerged wreckage more than 30 times, warned people seeking to explore the site in the Atlantic Ocean’s depths.
After OceanGate’s Titan submarine, carrying five guests on its way to explore the Titanic’s ruins was reported missing on Sunday, Cameron’s remarks have gained new attention.
In a 2012 interview, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker did, however, did warn anyone who wanted to follow in his footsteps and go exploring the wreckage. He said,
“You’re going into one of the most unforgiving places on earth.” “It’s not like you can call up AAA to come get you.”
High risk, higher pressure; the submersible lost deep underneath the surface of the Atlantic
OceanGate Expeditions has been organizing tours to the Titanic wreck since 2021, offering spots at prices of up to $250,000 as part of a thriving high-risk travel industry. During a recent dive of the Titan to the wreckage site, the vessel lost contact with the mothership that deployed it within an hour and a half of having dived into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Industry leaders had previously warned about potential “catastrophic” issues with the submersible’s design and expressed concerns over its compliance with certification procedures.
CBS News’ David Pogue, who traveled to the Titanic aboard the Titan last year, gained renewed attention when a segment of his report went viral. The Emmy-winning journalist described the submersible’s design as “jerry-rigged.“
“It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyvery jerry-rigged-ness. I mean you are putting construction pipes as ballast,”
Pogue told Oceangate CEO, Stockton Rush. To which he replied,
“I don’t know if I would use that description.” “Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go, [and] you’re still going to be safe;”
In 2018, over three dozen experts—including oceanographers, submersible company executives, and deep-sea explorers raised unanimous concerns about the submersible’s design and its failure to adhere to standard certification procedures.
In a blog post from 2019, the company defended its approach, stating,
“..bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.”
The submersible was piloted by Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions. The other passengers of the vessel included British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, and French maritime expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who has previously participated in over 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site.
Source: Daily Mail
