back to article Titanic director James Cameron prepares for deep sea dive

James Cameron, the man behind water-logged blockbusters like Titanic and The Abyss, has announced his intention to dive alone to the deepest point in the ocean in the next few weeks and bring back some of the alien creatures that live there. Cameron has already dived deeper than any other human on a solo mission, when he …

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  1. g e
    Happy

    If he brings an creatures back...

    Won't they explode from suddenly not having 1 tonne/cm2 pressure on their exterior?

    Humans get messy enough when they get just 15psi (apprx 1 bar) less exterior pressure (outer space)

    1. Vic

      Re: If he brings an creatures back...

      > Won't they explode from suddenly not having 1 tonne/cm2 pressure on their exterior?

      Unlikely.

      Marine animals are (predominantly) water, and that is incompressible. So although they might experience problems from the reduction in pressure, there will be essentially no change in volume.

      I have used the "predominantly" qualifier because some marine life has a swim bladder - a gas-filled space. This would definitely burst. It was exactly that problem that led to Richard Pyle deriving his deep-stop decompression system...

      > Humans get messy enough when they get just 15psi (apprx 1 bar) less

      Humans have large airspaces (e.g. lungs). Gases expand and compress readily under changing pressure.

      Vic.

      1. Triggerfish

        Re: If he brings an creatures back...

        Swim bladder is an issue if a fish is brought up quickly. But deep sea fish are adapted to pressure and bringing them up runs a good chance of killing them anyway.

        Oceanopolis aquarium in Brest has just built an aquarium for deep sea fish display and its designed to exert huge pressure so they can survive., the aquarium only holds about 16L of water, the aquarium itself with all the kit needed to keep that pressure weighs 600kg.

        Dunno how they bring the fish up to get it in there though must take some planning with deco and such.

    2. LarsG

      Re: If he brings an creatures back...

      I'd be extremely unhappy if I was a deep water creature being brought back by him.

      1. 142
        Facepalm

        Re: I'd be extremely unhappy if I was a deep water creature being brought back by him.

        well... you probably wouldn't care anymore after you and all your trench dwelling friends have had your eyes permanently destroyed by an 8ft-tall array of LED lights...

        1. David 45

          Re: I'd be extremely unhappy if I was a deep water creature being brought back by him.

          Surely if they've been at those dark depths for so long, eyes would have long-since vanished through non-use? Believe it's called.....er.....let me see now - ah yes. I have it......EVOLUTION!

          1. Vic

            Re: I'd be extremely unhappy if I was a deep water creature being brought back by him.

            > Surely if they've been at those dark depths for so long, eyes would

            > have long-since vanished through non-use?

            I don't know about the creatures living in the Trench, but no - many deep-sea creatures still have eyes - often far better-developed than our own. Despite the enormous attenuation of the light, there is still enough to see by if you have the right equipment.

            There are even deep-water fish who are not bottom-dwellers that have bioluminescent undersides so that hunters don't see them as a shadow above...

            Vic.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I'd be extremely unhappy if I was a deep water creature being brought back by him.

            So those anger fish and species who have glowing dangly bits are just wasting their time, because no other fish can see them?

            Are you sure about that?

  2. Spiracle

    Point of order

    The Virgin Oceanic is a single-beardy machine.

  3. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    Brave bugger.

    Damn sure I wouldn't do that.

    <Meatloaf> "I'd do anything for love..but I won't do THAT </Meatloaf>

    1. Vic

      Re: Brave bugger.

      > Damn sure I wouldn't do that.

      I would.

      Vic.

      1. Andus McCoatover
        Windows

        Re: Brave bugger.

        You're a better man than me, Gunga Din.

        1. Vic

          Re: Brave bugger.

          > You're a better man than me, Gunga Din.

          Not at all.

          I just like my diving :-)

          Vic.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Brave bugger.

          I'd do it.

          I'd be scared senseless, but I'd still want to do it!

  4. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    S'funny...

    Why is it when they test a deep submersible, they take it to 'crush depth', to make sure it doesn't.

    Fill it with a few squishy 'jobseekers' for good measure.

    Never understood why they don't test aircraft the same way, and give the squishies parachu...

    Oh, wait...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: S'funny...

      They don't, do they? They take it to test depth, which is 2/3 of design depth, which is a little less than crush depth.

  5. Figgus
    Joke

    Can we jettison a few of his films down there instead of the steel plates? Steel is actually worth something...

  6. DF118

    Splendid

    As long as he's down there he's not making Titanic II

    1. Big-nosed Pengie

      Re: Splendid

      If only they'd leave him there.

    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: Splendid

      Been done: "Raise the Titanic".

      A budget-busting, gold plated turkey that prompted one of the all-time great quotes from Lew Grade; "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic".

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He's quite barmy, you know

    but I wish him every success

  8. Dick Emery
    Thumb Down

    What?

    No breathing of specialised fluorocarbons like in The Abyss? Son I am disappoint.jpg

  9. Lance 3

    I've heard the Loch Ness monster goes there on holidays.

  10. Dan 10

    Movie

    Following the release of Avatar, there was a rumour that a sequel was coming, focusing on an underwater environment. I wonder how much of this is connected to ideas/inspiration for that?

    Agree about the LED array - I wonder what the impact of his visit might be? A load of blind fish and corroding steel junk to kill off those that don't die of starvation/become prey? Doesn't sound too clever.

    1. Vic

      Re: Movie

      > A load of blind fish and corroding steel junk

      The corrosion thing is interesting. At those depths, the water should be pretty close to anoxic, so normal rusting won't occur.

      The same is true of the Titanic - where long, rust-coloured trails known as "rusticles" occur. These are actually bacteria-created; the ship is being digested by the bacteria.

      The Mariana Trench is quite a bit deeper than the Titanic site. I wonder how much there will actually be to see down there...

      Vic.

      1. Dan 10

        Cheers

        You obviously *really* love your diving, thanks for the info.

    2. Gordon 10

      Re: Movie

      Think the rumours confused 2 things. The avatar sequel and the 3-d cave diving film that he supported and lent all his equiment to.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmmm...

    So he's going to visit the unknown depths, and then thank them for the visit by dumping a great slab of metal down there... Oh well, normal service by us humans I guess.

  12. Slabfondler
    Childcatcher

    Risking the wrath...

    of Cthulhu, Dagon and others?

    1. Gordon 10
      Alien

      Re: Risking the wrath...

      Or Blue Hades

      0€

  13. Ed 13
    FAIL

    Units, please!

    "1,125kg per square centimetre"

    If you're going to insist on using non-register units, then please use ISO units of Pascals. At least you'll get a really big number! (I personally dislike the Pascal as a unit, as a Newton isn't much force, and a metre squared is a relatively large area, so you rapidly start having to use MegaPascals by the time you have significant pressures).

    So what would the El Reg unit of pressure be, as there doesn't seem to be one in the list?

    1. nick turner
      Headmaster

      Re: Units, please!

      Elephants per head of a pin?

      1. Psyx

        Re: Units, please!

        Jinx... nearly.

        elephants/pinhead sadly would result in quite a small and unimpressive number, sadly.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Units, please!

          14,725,023 E/FBF, is that?

          Or do I need more coffee?

    2. Psyx

      Re: Units, please!

      Elephants per football field.

    3. Steve Dulieu

      Re: Units, please!

      Might I humbly suggest the "Cuban Virgin's Thigh". With one CVT equal to one half of the pressure (two legs used in'it) required during the rolling of one standard Monti-Christo cigar?

      Cheers, Steve.

  14. SImon Hobson Bronze badge

    It's not just "air spaces" ...

    It's not just air spaces like swim bladders and lungs. As pressure is reduced, gasses come out of solution. For an example of this, consider the liquid inside your unopened bottle of <preferred fizzy beverage>. When you release the seal on the cap, the pressure drops and CO2 comes out of solution to form bubbles.

    Read more about the effects here :

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness

    I think it's safe to say nothing from that depth will survive being brought to the surface - even if you allowed years for the decompression.

    As for leaving lumps of steel down there, it's won't bother anything. In fact, some organisms will positively thrive on the tasty feast left for them - yes, there are marine organisms that "eat" steel.

    1. Triggerfish

      Re: It's not just "air spaces" ...

      Some things will survive see my post earlier about Brests public aquarium.

      But I still am not sure how they will do so, a big issue will be other biochem changes in the body, metabolisms and chemicals adapted to working at those depths and tempratures may do things like speed up and go into overdrive in warmer near surface tempratures.

    2. Vic

      Re: It's not just "air spaces" ...

      > It's not just air spaces like swim bladders and lungs.

      Yeah, it is for deep-sea marine animals...

      How much dissolved gas do you think there will be?

      > even if you allowed years for the decompression.

      You might want to read up on saturation diving before making such assertions; there is a limit to how much gas goes into any tissue space, and hence how much can ever come out.

      Whatever might happen to a marine animal on the way to the surface, getting bent isn't going to be the problem.

      Vic.

  15. Vic

    Well, how's about that, then?

    We've just had notification elsewhereville that the life-support kit in this sub is British-built.

    It comes from a company in Cornwall called Ambient Pressure Diving. These are the guys that make my dive kit. Cameron will be diving an overgrown version of my rebreather :-)

    Congratulations to Martin and his team at AP.

    Vic.

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  17. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
    Paris Hilton

    Use of icons

    Cameron is going to dive to the deepest point known to mankind.....

    ... and nobody’s used a Paris icon??

    C’mon, people get with the program.

    1. Vic

      Re: Use of icons

      > nobody’s used a Paris icon??

      Well I, for one, would never have associated the word "deep" with Her Parisness...

      Vic.

      1. Gordon 10
        Holmes

        Re: Use of icons

        Depends on how you use deep.

  18. andy gibson

    Maybe we should do a trade?

    Deep sea creatures in return for Celine Dion?

  19. perlcat
    Joke

    Where's your headline writing foo?

    Come on -- how about

    "Hollywood director sinks to new depths"

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