Years after the massively successful Titanic was released, James Cameron released Ghosts of the Abyss. The documentary was released in 2003 and was Disney’s first 3D movie which was directed by the Titanic filmmaker. The recent OceanGate tragedy launched a similar adventure where a group of five people dove deep into the sea to tour the wreckage of the Titanic ship. Unfortunately, their adventure turned into a disaster when they lost communication with the mother ship and the submersible eventually imploded killing all five members onboard.
The OceanGate Sub Tragedy
On 18th June 2023, a tourist submarine went missing in the North Atlantic Ocean while it was on its way to the Titanic shipwreck site. The submarine carried five passengers including a father-son duo. The young boy, Suleman Dawood was 19 years old. Other members of the submersible were billionaires- Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
After the Titan submersible lost its connection with the mothership, US Navy carried out a search operation for the same. Latest updates state that the US Navy had detected sounds “consistent with an implosion” shortly after the submarine went missing. However, these reports were not made public until June 23, 2023. It has been reported that due to pressure caused by the water, the submersible imploded. All five passengers have been reported dead.
Filmmaker James Cameron, who has completed 33 submarine dives near the shipwreck site, told BBC that he knew that the Titan submersible wasn’t reliable.
“I was very suspect of the technology that they were using. I wouldn’t have gotten in that sub,”
James Cameron’s Ghosts of the Abyss
In 2003, the Titanic director released a documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss, where he and his crew visited the Titanic shipwreck site. Cameron won an Oscar for his 1997 film and he went on to make a 3D documentary about the wreckage site of the ship. Ghosts of the Abyss also featured actor Bill Paxton who played the role of Brock Lovett in the award-winning movie. Cameron’s documentary gave insights into the wreckage of the tragic Titanic ship. Approximately 1500 people lost their lives due to the Titanic disaster.
Cameron gathered a team of history and marine experts to scour through the wreck site. His team were able to navigate through the entire site inside and out with the help of custom-built submarines. The exploration let the team and the viewers take a peek into the 1912 disaster that took thousands of lives. Cameron released the documentary in IMAX 3D to give the audience an immersive experience.
Ghosts of the Abyss was shot using two custom-built submarines named ‘Jake’ and ‘Elwood.’ The documentary allows the audience to see the difference between the ‘before and after’ pictures of the ship with the help of CGI. Actor Bill Paxton laid his voice for narration of the documentary where we can see the site of wreckage through his eyes. The submersibles carried the crew for a total of 12 dives which led them to complete the documentary successfully.
We also get to see the comprehensive research and preparation it took for the team to carry out this adventure. The documentary takes us through the whole ordeal where we see how Cameron teams up with marine experts to make sure he’s able to achieve this feat. It also puts things in perspective that such a risky job needs a lot of preparation and research to ensure that passengers are safe.
On the other hand, the OceanGate tragedy was reported to be a rushed project and not enough care was taken to ensure safety. While talking about the OceanGate tragedy, Cameron stated-
“We now have another wreck that is based on unfortunately the same principles of not heeding warnings. OceanGate were warned.”
