Titanic director James Cameron says he wishes he'd sounded alarm over lost submersible

Part-owner of Triton Submarines says he didn't say anything because 'I assumed somebody was smarter than me'

Film director and submersible maker James Cameron said on Thursday he wishes he had sounded the alarm earlier about the Titan sub that imploded on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage, saying he had found the hull design risky.

All five aboard the vessel were killed.

Cameron became a deep-sea explorer in the 1990s while researching and making his Oscar-winning blockbuster Titanic, and is part owner of Triton Submarines, which makes submersibles for research and tourism.

He is part of the small and close-knit submersible community, or Manned Underwater Vehicle industry. When he heard, as many in the industry had shared, that OceanGate Inc was making a deep-sea submersible with a composite carbon fibre and titanium hull, Cameron said he was skeptical.

"I thought it was a horrible idea. I wish I'd spoken up, but I assumed somebody was smarter than me, you know, because I never experimented with that technology, but it just sounded bad on its face," Cameron said.

Inside the submersible vessel Titan on a previous dive. The vessel was used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. PA

The cause of the Titan's implosion has not been determined, but Cameron presumes the critics were correct in warning that a carbon fibre and titanium hull would enable delamination and microscopic water ingress, leading to progressive failure over time.

Other experts in the industry and a whistle-blowing employee raised alarms in 2018, criticizing OceanGate for opting against seeking certification and operating as an experimental vessel. OceanGate has not addressed queries about its decision to forgo certification from industry third parties such as the American Bureau of Shipping or the European company DNV.

The US Coast Guard said on Thursday the submersible appears to have imploded on its expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic on the bottom of the North Atlantic, but a conclusive investigation will take time.

A secret US Navy acoustic detection system recorded "an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost," the Navy told the Wall Street Journal.

Cameron said his sources reported similar information and he knew the submersible was lost from the start of the four-day ordeal, suspecting it imploded at the time the Titan's mother ship lost communications with and tracking of the submersible one hour and 45 minutes into the mission.

The pilot of a Royal Canadian Air Force maritime surveillance aircraft flies over the Atlantic during the search for the missing OceanGate submersible. Reuters

A Royal Canadian Air Force serviceman drops sonar buoys from a surveillance aircraft. Reuters

Capt Jamie Frederick of the US coastguard speaks to reporters about the search for the submersible, during a press conference in Boston, Massachusetts. AFP

Carl Hartsfield, director and senior programme manager Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, faces reporters as Royal Navy Lt Cdr Rich Kantharia, left, and Capt Frederick look on during the news conference. AP

Undated handout photo issued by OceanGate Expeditions showing staff at work inside their submersible vessel named Titan, which is used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. Rescue teams are continuing the search for the submersible tourist vessel which went missing during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck with British billionaire Hamish Harding among the five people aboard. Issue date: Wednesday June 21, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story SEA Titanic. Photo credit should read: OceanGate Expeditions/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Titan went missing on a dive to the Titanic wreck site this week. PA

Businessman Shahzada Dawood, the vice-chairman of Karachi conglomerate Engro, and his son Suleman are on board the missing sub. AFP

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, French explorer and director of a company that owns the rights to the Titanic wreck, is on board the submarine. Reuters

The Titan submersible was taking five people to view the wreck of the Titanic when it went missing. AP

UAE-based British space explorer Hamish Harding posted this image of himself in Canada a day before the expedition. Photo: Instagram

Mr Harding, a businessman, receives his Blue Origin astronaut pin after a successful flight to space in June 2022. AP

The submersible usually carries a pilot, three paying guests and a 'content expert'. It has enough oxygen for up to 96 hours. AP

The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, killing more than 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers on board. Getty

The wreck, which was located in 1985, sits 3,800 metres at the bottom of the Atlantic, about 600km off Newfoundland. AFP

"We got confirmation within an hour that there had been a loud bang at the same time that the sub comms were lost. A loud bang on the hydrophone. Loss of transponder. Loss of comms. I knew what happened. The sub imploded," Cameron said. He added that he told colleagues in an email on Monday, "We've lost some friends," and, "It's on the bottom in pieces right now."

The five who died mark the first deep-sea fatalities for the industry, Cameron said.

The industry standard is to make pressure hulls out of contiguous materials such as steel, titanium, ceramic or acrylic, which are better for conducting tests, Cameron said.

"We celebrate innovation, right? But you shouldn't be using an experimental vehicle for paying passengers that aren't themselves deep ocean engineers," Cameron said.

The director said both the Titanic and the Titan tragedies were preceded by unheeded warnings. In the ship's case, the captain sped across the Atlantic on a moonless night despite being told about icebergs.

"Here were are again," Cameron said. "And at the same place. Now there's one wreck lying next to the other wreck for the same damn reason."