James Cameron Spent $10 Million to Reach the Bottom — Here's What He Found

In March 2012, James Cameron became the first person to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench alone — almost eleven kilometers down, to the deepest point on Earth. The world called it a triumph. What the record books leave out is what was happening inside that sub: dying thrusters, a hydraulic leak, a sampling arm that couldn't grab a single rock, and a $10 million machine that never carried a human to the bottom again. This is the story of what Cameron actually found down there — a silent gray desert instead of monsters — why he cut the dive short, and how the record-setting Deepsea Challenger survived the crushing deep only to be nearly destroyed by a truck fire on a US highway. Plus the plastic bag waiting at the bottom of the world. ⚓ Subscribe for more stories from the deep. #JamesCameron #MarianaTrench #DeepSea