Director James Cameron Calls ‘Similarities’ Between Titan Sub Tragedy & Titanic Sinking ‘Astonishing’

Titanic director James Cameron addressed the recent tragedy of the five lives lost on the Titan submersible calling the incident “astonishing.”

Cameron is an expert on the Titanic. He directed the film, has studied the wreck for years and even visited it himself on 33 different dives. He has also designed submersibles himself and is knowledgeable about the safety risks. 

Cameron shared a specific expedition he went on with Russian submersibles that were tested and proven to be safe. He specifically explained why these subs were safe and that he felt assured that they were prepared for any emergencies. 

“They used very well-understood design methodologies and they had an excellent operating record… We felt confident that if one of the subs got snared, you’d still have communication and you’d still have power, you’d have another sub that was there to help you manage the problem,” Cameron told ABC News in an interview. 

He compared this to the Titan sub and explained how it was severely lacking in its safety systems and design, which led directly to the tragedy. 

“This sub had no backup. It didn’t have a lot of backup systems, from what I understand,” he said. “And it was predicated on what I think of as a fundamentally flawed design principle.”

Cameron was not the only person worried about the Titan sub – many experts voiced their concerns, even sending letters to OceanGate, which were seemingly ignored.  

“A number of the top players in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company saying what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and that needed to be certified,” he said.

Instead of heading these warnings, OceanGate ignored them and continued to send several people to the wreck. 

Cameron notes the similarities between the Titanic tragedy and the incident with the sub. He was “struck” by how alike they were as they both warned about the possible dangers that could occur. 

“The similarity of the Titanic disaster itself where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed up full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many people died as a result. And for a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheaded to take place at the same exact site with all the diving that’s going on all around the world. I think it is just astonishing.” 

The search and rescue for the Titan passengers ended yesterday after a four-day mission, which garnered international support. The Coast Guard announced that it is extremely likely that an implosion occurred after finding debris from the Titan sub on the ocean floor.