In an interview with ABC News, Titanic filmmaker James Cameron has expressed his shock over the recent tragedy of the Titan submersible that was lost while exploring the historic shipwreck. And he commented on the "similarity" of the Titanic wreck and the Titan implosion.
"Many people in the [deep-submergence engineering] community were very concerned about this sub… I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night. And many people died as a result."
He paralleled this with the Titan's plight, noting how the warnings for both went unheeded and resulted in a tragedy at the same site. Cameron, who has a profound interest in ocean-diving and has made several dives to the Titanic wreckage himself, stressed the importance of safety protocols in submersible engineering.
"As a submersible designer myself, I designed and built us up to go to the deepest place in the ocean, three times deeper than Titanic. So I understand the engineering problems associated with building this type of vehicle and all the safety protocols that you have to go through… deep submergence diving is a mature art. From the early '60s, where there were a few accidents, nobody was killed in the deep submergence until now."
He also said that his interest in the Titanic went far beyond just filmmaking, and claimed to have spent more time on the ship than its original captain did.
"I made Titanic because I wanted to dive to the shipwreck, not because I particularly wanted to make the movie… The Titanic was the Mount Everest of shipwrecks, and as a diver I wanted to do it right."
(Deadline)
