Titan submersible: James Cameron reflects on his Titanic dives

James Cameron, director of the 1997 film “Titanic,” regrets not speaking out sooner about the design of the Titan submarine that went missing on Sunday and was confirmed a few days later by a US Coast Guard official that it ended violently in a “catastrophic implosion.”

Speaking to Reuters Thursday, the day a Coast Guard official confirmed the news, Cameron said he knew the story would end in tragedy.

“That they would lose communication and tracking at the same time… the submarine was gone, I had no doubt about it,” he said. “For days I tried to run other scenarios that could explain this (but) I couldn’t think of anything.”

Cameron, known for directing blockbuster Hollywood movies, is also an avid explorer with 72 underwater dives under his name. Part of the community of deep sea adventurers, Cameron also explored the Mariana Trench in a custom submarine he co-designed.

On Sunday afternoon, the Titan, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, was reported missing to the US Coast Guard when the mothership lost contact with the vessel.

Five people were on board and are now presumed dead by officials.

The Titan was on its way to the shipwreck of the Titanic in 1912, a place about 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland and a Cameron has visited 33 times.

“It’s not lost on me as someone who has studied the significance of Titanic, it’s a greater significance to us, historically and societally,” Cameron said.

The Titanic crossed into the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912, sailing under a clear sky. The ship’s captain was warned of icebergs in the area, which Cameron said was ignored.

“That ship (Titanic) is at the bottom of the ocean, not because of the nature of its steel or the nature of its compartments, but simply because of bad seamanship,” he said.

Cameron says there are similarities between the Titan and the Titanic because both received warnings.

The construction of the Titan submarine had been criticized by people within the community in 2018 and later, during the search, other experts commented on the “unusual” building materials and fragile window.

According to OceanGate, the Titan was made of carbon fiber and titanium and measured 6.7 meters in length. It weighed 9,525 kilograms and could go up to 4,000 meters deep.

“I never believed in that wrapped carbon fiber technology…I hated the idea. I wish I had spoken up,” Cameron said. “But I assumed someone was smarter than me because I’ve never experimented with that technology, but it just sounded bad on the face of it.”

Cameron said submersibles are usually made of steel, titanium, ceramic and acrylic, cut in one large piece with fewer areas for seams.

“You can’t do that with a composite material, because it’s two dissimilar materials more or less mixed together,” Cameron said of the mix of carbon fiber and titanium. “So we (submersible community) all knew the danger was delamination, progressive failure over time with microscopic water ingress and fatigue (of materials).”

Click on the video at the top of this article to watch part of the interview.