Exploring Earth's final frontiers: Five Deeps Expedition attempts to visit the bottom of the world's oceans

For the last three years, a society of explorers, oceanographers, engineers and scientists has been secretly working on a project without precedent; now the adventurer Victor Vescovo will push the results of their labour to the limit.

A collaboration between undersea-technology company Caladan Oceanic, specialist tour operator Eyos Expeditions and Triton Submarines, the Five Deeps Expedition is the first global ocean journey to send a manned submersible to the five deepest points below the surface of the Earth’s oceans.

Having already climbed the world’s seven highest mountain peaks and trekked to the North and South Poles, Caladan Oceanic founder Vescovo knows all about extreme environments, but he’ll face his most formidable challenge yet when he pilots The Limiting Factor, the name given to the first commercially certified full ocean depth submersible developed for this task. Nobody has ever been to the bottom of four of the world’s oceans; Vescovo will be the first to see these unfathomable frontiers.

The project is due to commence later this week with a dive down 8,648m to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean’s Puerto Rico Trench and all going well it will continue throughout 2019. Later journeys in the two-person submsersible will descend to the South Sandwich Trench (8,428m/27,651ft below the surface of the Southern Ocean); the Java Trench in the Indian Ocean (7,725m/25,344ft); Marina Trench/Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean (10,898m/35,755ft); and Malloy Deep in the Arctic Ocean (5,669m/18599ft).

The Limiting Factor will be transported from one remote location to another aboard a ship named Pressure Drop, which has been adapted especially for this mission. Among the many support staff on board will be Rob McCallum, co-founder of Eyos Expeditions and the project’s expedition leader.

McCallum previously led expeditions to the wrecks of the RMS Titanic (which rests today at a depth of 4,000m/13,123ft) and the battleship Bismarck (5,000m/16,404ft), using twin ‘Mir’ submersibles. He will be responsible for the overall coordination of the Five Deeps expedition, and describes it as: “A dream project [that] allows us to finally explore the last frontier on Earth. I guess from here we head to Mars!”

Also supporting the project will be scientist Dr Alan Jamieson of Newcastle University, who has undertaken 50 deep sea exploration missions. He will play a vital role in interpreting the unexpected discoveries that likely await. “They will,” he says, “promise a world of new scientific innovation in almost every area of biological, geological and oceanographic study.”

There are plans, too, to share the team’s findings with the public. For now, this is a private rather than commercial endeavour but BAFTA- and Emmy-winning Atlantic Productions and lauded documentary filmmaker Anthony Geffen will also participate in the expedition. Footage they capture is expected to be screened by the Discovery Channel at a later date.

Says Geffen: “This is one of the most significant explorations and scientific expeditions… Each of the dives is like following a moon shot… [we will] bring millions around the world into the cockpit of the submersible and provide them with a viewing experience unlike any before it.”

Should an especially wealthy viewer be particularly inspired by the footage they will also have an opportunity to directly replicate Vescovo’s daring voyages. After the project is completed, The Limiting Factor and its support vessel will be offered for sale.

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