Titanic director James Cameron says he knew that the deep-sea Titan it was destroyed in less than 24 hours after the vessel lost contact. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, June 23, 2023, the director said he learned about the audio findings within a day and knew what it meant.

“I emailed everyone I know and said we’ve lost some friends. The submarine had collapsed. It’s lying on the bottom in pieces right now. I sent this on Monday morning“, he recalled.

Cameron said he wished he had sounded the alarm about OceanGate’s technology sooner. The director, who has dived on the Titanic wreck 33 times, said he is part of the small and tight-knit underwater expedition community.

When he heard OceanGate was building a carbon fiber and titanium submersible, Cameron said he was wary. “I thought it was a horrible idea. I wish I had spoken up, but I assumed someone was smarter than me, you know, because I never experimented with this technology“, he said.

Finally, the director pointed out the similarities between Titan and Titanic, saying that for both tragedies there were “warnings” that were ignored. “Let’s be here again. And at the same point. Now there is one wreck sitting next to another wreck for the same damn reason“, he added.