“We All Knew”: James Cameron Slams Unnecessary OceanGate Sub Rescue Because Fate Was Obvious

James Cameron lambasted the multinational rescue effort carried out to reach the doomed Titan submersible that had five people onboard.

The legendary filmmaker said the owners of OceanGate, the parent company of Titan sub, “broke the rules” and cost the lives of all five people inside.

“We all knew they were dead. We’d already hoisted a toast to our fallen comrades on [the] Monday night,” he said in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia.

Highlights

James Cameron criticized the multinational rescue effort for the doomed Titan submersible and felt it was unnecessary
The Titan sub suffered a catastrophic implosion during its June 2023 expedition to the Titanic wreck
The sub's owners, OceanGate, is believed to have broke safety rules, leading to the deaths of five people onboard
The Titanic filmmaker believes the U.S. Coast Guard followed a procedure that was torturous for the families involved

James Cameron said the multinational rescue effort to reach the doomed Titan submersible was unnecessary

"We All Knew": James Cameron Slams Unnecessary OceanGate Sub Rescue Because Fate Was Obvious

Image credits: 60 Minutes Australia

In June 2023, the OceanGate Titan submersible was on an expedition to the Titanic wreck, the world’s most famous shipwreck.

The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion during its descent, killing all five individuals aboard and raising serious concerns about safety standards.

The Titan sub lost connection with its host ship merely hours after it began its descent on June 18, 2023. Even though the sound of a suspected explosion or implosion was detected around the same time by the U.S. Navy, the noise was deemed “not definitive,” and a widespread search involving the U.S., Germany, Britain, France, and Canada was carried out.

All five people aboard the doomed Titan sub, owned by OceanGate, were killed in the tragic incident that took place in June 2023

"We All Knew": James Cameron Slams Unnecessary OceanGate Sub Rescue Because Fate Was Obvious

Image credits: 60 Minutes Australia

James, who has completed more than 30 submersible dives to the Titanic wreck, slammed the search efforts that unnecessarily kept the world “waiting with bated breath.”

“It just transformed into this crazy thing,” he said. “Everybody running around with their hair on fire when we knew right where the sub was. Nobody could admit that they didn’t have the means to go down and look. So they were running all over the surface, and the entire world [was] waiting with bated breath.”

The Oscar-winner said he doesn’t think the U.S. Coast Guard lied, but he felt “they went by a procedure that was torturous for the family”

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When asked about whether he believed the U.S. Coast Guard lied, he replied: “I don’t think they lied.”

“I think they went by a procedure that was torturous for the family, unnecessarily torturous for the family,” he added.

“Now, could it have been something else? One in a trillion,” he also said about the implosion-like sound that came around the same time the sub lost connection with the host ship.

The Hollywood director and undersea explorer provided new details in the search for answers about the Titan sub catastrophe in the below episode of 60 Minutes Australia:

The Oscar-winning director is well-versed in underwater mysteries and made a record-breaking solo dive to 35,787 feet to the deepest point on Earth in 2012. He is also believed to have spent more time at the Titanic wreck than the captain of the ill-fated ship himself.

He slammed the OceanGate and said, “These guys broke the rules” with the creation of the Titan sub and by taking the passengers to the wreck without the required safety measures.

“They didn’t have classification. Theoretically, they should not have been legally allowed to carry passengers,” he added.

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What do you think ?

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LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago

I had a weird feeling about it from the start - this is going to sound stupid, but Americans sort of have this cultural thing with the suffix "-gate". We had the Watergate scandal back in the 70s, and ever since then, we've referred to similarly-scandalous things by tacking "-gate" on the end of a word (Gamergate in 2014, Deflategate in 2015, etc.) and we also remember the religious cult Heaven's Gate that committed mass unaliving of themselves in 1997. So I'd have been incredibly wary of calling the damn thing "OceanGate", myself.

5points

Chewie Baron 5 months ago (edited)

Oh we have it in the UK as well. For example, when Kimg Charles was caught making lurid phone calls to Camilla back when he was married to Diana in the 80s, that was known as Camillagate. When Diana was caught making phone calls to one of her lovers, that was known as Squidgygate. It happened last year with Boris Johnson and the news that he and people in Number 10 having parties whilst everyone was obeying the rules on isolation during the pandemic, that became Partygate.

5points

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Libstak 5 months ago (edited)

No one was going to deny the families the opportunity for closure regardless of the odds of them being alive. Who would sleep well at night knowing not everything that could be done was done? All this hindsight and "I knew it" is pointless, if they didnt do everything they could conspiracy theories and attacks on authorities for abandoning them to their doom would have gone on forever and ever.

4points

Mike F 5 months ago

There's a difference between the survivors knowing, understanding, and grasping the reality of that situation. We'd all like to say "I understand" after being presented with the facts. But I'd put $ on people looking for, at the very least, an attempt at rescue. We look for heroic measures in every instance where we feel like a life can be saved. Perhaps it's because we are indoctrinated to the probability on the TV shows and movies we watch where someone dies then someone else says "not on my watch" which is followed by 3 seconds of CPR and the person who died sits up and asks "what happened?". We're not programmed to accept the finality of death and the mechanics involved. The description of the implosion was horrific, but I'm sure that some of the survivors held out hope that one or more would survive that. It's just human nature to hope against hope that one or more of them would survive that. At the end of the day, who GAF what Cameron has to say? Does he have a degree in physics?

1point

LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago

"Cameron has experience with deep-sea exploration, in part because of his work on The Abyss and Titanic, and his childhood fascination with shipwrecks. He has contributed to advancements in underwater filming and remotely operated vehicles, and helped develop the 3D Fusion Camera System. In 2011, Cameron became a National Geographic explorer-in-residence. In this role, on March 7, 2012, he dived five miles deep to the bottom of the New Britain Trench with the Deepsea Challenger. 19 days later, Cameron reached the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench. He spent more than three hours exploring the ocean floor, becoming the first to accomplish the trip alone. During his dive to the Challenger Deep, he discovered new species of sea cucumber, squid worm and a giant single-celled amoeba." Want to open your mouth a little wider so you can insert your foot into it?

2points

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LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago

5points

Chewie Baron 5 months ago (edited)

5points

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Libstak 5 months ago (edited)

4points

Mike F 5 months ago

1point

LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago

2points

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“We All Knew”: James Cameron Slams Unnecessary OceanGate Sub Rescue Because Fate Was Obvious

James Cameron said the multinational rescue effort to reach the doomed Titan submersible was unnecessary

All five people aboard the doomed Titan sub, owned by OceanGate, were killed in the tragic incident that took place in June 2023

The Oscar-winner said he doesn’t think the U.S. Coast Guard lied, but he felt “they went by a procedure that was torturous for the family”

The Hollywood director and undersea explorer provided new details in the search for answers about the Titan sub catastrophe in the below episode of 60 Minutes Australia:

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“We All Knew”: James Cameron Slams Unnecessary OceanGate Sub Rescue Because Fate Was Obvious

James Cameron said the multinational rescue effort to reach the doomed Titan submersible was unnecessary

All five people aboard the doomed Titan sub, owned by OceanGate, were killed in the tragic incident that took place in June 2023

The Oscar-winner said he doesn’t think the U.S. Coast Guard lied, but he felt “they went by a procedure that was torturous for the family”

The Hollywood director and undersea explorer provided new details in the search for answers about the Titan sub catastrophe in the below episode of 60 Minutes Australia:

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