Cameron makes deepest solo sub dive

HAGATNA, Guam, March 26 (UPI) -- Canadian filmmaker James Cameron Monday became the first person to ride a submarine solo nearly 36,000 feet down into the Mariana Trench, his support crew said.

"All systems OK," the 57-year-old Cameron typed upon plummeting to the deepest reaches of the world's oceans, National Geographic said on its Web site. Cameron made it down to the Challenger Deep, the deepest portion of the Mariana Trench, which is in the Pacific Ocean near Guam.

National Geographic, which sponsored the expedition, said Cameron is only the third person to reach the floor of the trench and the only one to do it alone.

Cameron was expected to spend 6 hours collecting data and specimens before jettisoning weights attached to the sub and soar back to the surface where the research ships Mermaid Sapphire and Barakuda awaited.

Cameron is known for making such movies as "Avatar," "Titanic" and "The Abyss."

"If we get lucky," Cameron said before the dive, "we should find something like a cold seep, where we might find tube worms."

Cold seeps are areas at the ocean bottom where fluid chemicals are found at the same temperature as the surrounding water.