James Cameron Made More Than 30 Dives To the Titanic Wreckage And Warned About the Dangers of Explorers Tempted To Pay A Visit

In the bonus features released with ‘Titan’ DVD, director James Cameron shows the deep-sea exploration from 2012 “You’re going into one of the most unforgiving places on Earth,” he told the New York Times.  Adding, “It’s not like you can call up AAA to come get you.”

Cameron admits he wanted to visit the famous site because of his love for shipwrecks.

Cameron’s comments have taken off again after OceanGate’s Titan submersible carrying five passengers en route to view the Titanic’s remains was reported missing on Sunday.

With roughly no oxygen left, the Titan has Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, at the controls. His fellow travellers paid upwards of US$250,000 to visit the wreck. The Titan lost contact with the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince an hour and 45 minutes into its journey.

Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic was a massive box-office success and spurred worldwide interest in the ship, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing roughly 1,500 passengers and crew.

Cameron, who has also travelled to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific, acknowledged why he could see people wanting to visit the hulking Titanic at the bottom of the sea. “I can think of no greater fantasy than to be an explorer and see what no human eye has seen before,” he told the Times in 2011.

In a previous interview with Playboy in 2009, Cameron said he made the film “because I wanted to dive into the shipwreck.”