American explorer explains how he dived into world’s 'deepest points in the ocean'

On November 28, Guinness World Records shared the thrilling footage of the US naval officer and undersea explorer Victor Vescovo who made the first-ever dive into the world’s deepest point in the ocean. Texan adventurer Victor Vescovo (USA) explored the Calypso Deep, known as the deepest point in the Mediterranean Sea. Vescovo undertook a deep-sea exploration in a submersible that inspired the US Five Deeps Expedition (FDE), the first manned descent to the bottom of each of the world’s five oceans, according to the Guinness World Record. The five-part Discovery Channel series “Expedition: Deep Planet” was aired on Discovery. 

"I was amazed, and a bit saddened, to understand that in 2016 – 2016 – we had not been to the very bottom of four of the world’s five oceans. I honestly felt that that is something that we as a species should have done by then,” a retired US naval officer told Guinness. "I thought, what a great adventure it would be to build the machines and undertake the journey to finally see that through,” he added. Across Dec 2018 and Aug 2019, Victor Vescovo plunged to the lowest points of the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern, and Arctic oceans, achieving the deepest crewed dive of all time.

[All five of the primary descents were noteworthy in their own ways. Credit: Guinness World Record]

[Critical to determining where to dive, the Five Deeps Expedition uses a state-of-the-art Kongsberg EM124 sonar suite for precise mapping of the ocean floor even to full ocean depth. Credit: Five Deeps Site]

The submarine, which was used to explore the deepest bottoms were designed by Florida-headquartered Triton Submarines. According to the co-founder Patrick Lahey, the task was challenging but ultimately, DSV Limiting Factor turned out to be the “most advanced deep-sea sub” designed ever for deep-sea voyages. Vescovo dived braving the oceanic pressures of 16,000 psi (1,125 kg/cm2) using the 90-mm-thick (3.5-in) titanium durable hull that stood against the gruelling battering of the currents. 

[FDE kicked off with a visit to the Puerto Rico Trench. Credit: Guinness World Record]

[Two-seater craft is not only equipped to cope with all the ocean can throw at it, including pressures of 16,000 psi (1,125 kg/cm2) thanks to its 90-mm-thick (3.5-in) titanium hull. Credit: Guinness World Record]

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Dive to ‘deepest point on Earth’

“FDE  kicked off with Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, followed by visits to the Southern Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific and ending with a descent to the Molloy Hole, the nadir of the Arctic Ocean,” Guinness informed. It took supplemental dives at the world’s most famous shipwreck joint of RMS Titanic in the Atlantic and explored 10,817 m (35,489 ft) Pacific's Tonga Trench north of New Zealand. In a breakthrough dive, the FDE plunged into the ‘Challenger Deep’, located in the Mariana Trench about 400 km (250 mi) from the Pacific island of Guam, known as the ‘deepest point on Earth’. Vescovo set a new record as he explored the trench’s bottom-most pits at a depth of 10,909 meters (35,790 feet) in the western Pacific Ocean which is an estimated 1500 miles long, 43 miles wide on average, and has a crushing depth of almost 7 miles (or just under 36,201 feet). 

[Skaff, one of three robotic landers on the FDE. Credit: Guinness World Record]

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