First Trip to the Deepest Part of the Ocean
Trieste, became renowned as the bathyscaphe that etched its name into history by venturing into the Challenger Deep on January 23, 1960. Named after the city of its construction, situated on the border between Italy and Yugoslavia, the vessel carried hydronauts Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard to a depth of approximately 11,000 meters beneath the ocean’s surface—equivalent to about 11 kilometers or 7 miles—exploring the deepest recesses of the Pacific Ocean.
Initially, the ship’s instruments recorded a depth of 11,521 meters, but subsequent recalculations revised the measurement to 10,916 meters. More recent assessments align with a depth of around 11,000 meters below sea level for the Challenger Deep. The Trieste’s momentous dive not only showcased human capability in exploring the extreme depths of the Earth’s oceans but also provided invaluable insights into the mysterious and challenging conditions prevailing in the deep-sea environment.
The Earth’s crust harbors its deepest point beneath the surface, hidden beneath the waters of the western North Pacific Ocean. This extraordinary location is marked by a convergent plate boundary, where the Pacific Plate undergoes a downward journey into the mantle beneath the Mariana Plate. This geological activity gives rise to a distinct feature known as a “trench,” and in this instance, it manifests as the Mariana Trench (refer to the accompanying map and illustration).
Oceanographer Jacques Piccard (1922-2008) collaborated with his father Auguste, a Swiss scientist known for high-altitude balloon flights, to design the Trieste. The Piccard family held records for both the highest balloon flight and the deepest ocean dive. Don Walsh (1931-2023), a U.S. Navy Lieutenant and celebrated oceanographer, joined Jacques Piccard in the Trieste’s small pressure sphere. Walsh’s 50-year dedication to oceanic research earned him recognition as one of Life magazine’s great explorers.
The descent into the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, consumed nearly five hours for the Bathyscaphe Trieste. Upon reaching the sea floor, hydronauts Walsh and Piccard, limited by a cracked Plexiglas window, observed a dark brown “diatomaceous ooze” and marine life like shrimp, flounder, and sole. Despite a brief 20-minute exploration, they successfully unloaded ballasts, initiating a three-hour, fifteen-minute ascent.
For over five decades, Piccard and Walsh remained the sole witnesses of the ocean’s depths. Following their historic journey in 1960, unmanned crafts like Kaiko (late 1990s) and Nereus (2009) explored the Challenger Deep. In 2012, James Cameron made a solo dive with Deepsea Challenger, and in 2019, Victor Vescovo descended to a record 10,928 meters in the Limiting Factor, the first person to make a repeated dive.
While future manned expeditions are likely, the indelible mark of bravery left by Piccard and Walsh in 1960, proving the feasibility of such voyages, holds a unique place in history.
You can read the source article on https://geology.com/records/bathyscaphe-trieste.shtml#google_vignette
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