Five Deeps Expedition Sets World Depth Record for a Manned Submersible

Shantel Harris -
W a s h i n g t o n ,   D C ,   U S A - 

Triton 36000/2 model submersible.

Five Deeps Expedition has successfully dived to the bottom of one of the world’s five oceans.

The team completed a mission to reach what is commonly known as the deepest point on planet Earth: Challenger Deep within the Mariana Trench. Victor Vescovo set a new deep-diving record and is the first human to make multiple dives, solo, to its hadal depths in the DSV Limiting Factor (Triton 36000/2 model submersible) the world’s deepest diving, currently operational submarine. The expedition reached a maximum depth of 10,928 meters/ 35,853 feet deep, 16 meters/52 feet deeper than any previous manned dive.

Victor Vescovo.

The last visit to the bottom of Challenger Deep was made in 2012 by filmmaker and explorer James Cameron, who reached a depth of 10,908 meters on a dive in his submersible, the Deepsea Challenger. Prior to Cameron’s dive, the first ever dive at Challenger Deep was made by the Trieste, a US Navy deep submergence bathyscape, in 1960 to 10,912 meters by Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard. Both the Trieste and Deepsea Challenger only descended to the bottom of Challenger Deep once.

Between April 28 and May 5, 2019, the Limiting Factor completed four dives to the bottom of Challenger Deep and one final dive on May 7, 2019 to the Sirena Deep which is also in the Mariana Trench, approximately 128 miles to the northeast. Two of the dives, including the deepest one made on April 28, were solo dives piloted by Vescovo.

Victor Vescovo.

Victor Vescovo becomes the first human to dive to the deepest point of the Indian Ocean: The Java Trench.

Five Deeps Expedition has successfully dived to the previously-unvisited bottom of one of the world’s five oceans. The team completed a mission to reach one of the most isolated points on the planet: the deepest point of the Java Trench in the Indian Ocean. Now measured at 7,192 meters/23,596 feet deep, Victor Vescovo is the first human to dive to its depths in the DSV Limiting Factor (Triton 36000/2 model submersible) the world’s deepest diving, currently operational submarine.

Bottom dwelling comb jelly.

At the bottom of the trench, the team managed to capture footage from the sub and from the landers of what are believed to be entirely new species, yet unseen by humans. From the sub, a new species of hadal snailfish was observed amongst many other bottom dwelling organisms, and the landers observed an extraordinary gelatinous animal – thought to be a bottom dwelling comb jelly – which does not resemble anything seen before.

Expedition scientist Dr. Jamieson said “amongst many other rare and unique observations, the hadal comb jelly was a really significant moment. It is not often we see something that is so extraordinary that it leaves us speechless. At this point we are not entirely sure what is was, but we will find out in due course.”

The Five Deeps Expedition is being filmed by Atlantic Productions for a five-part Discovery Channel documentary series due to air in late 2019.

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