KING OF THE DEEP

James Cameron made history in 2012 when he became the first person to complete a solo journey to the Challenger Deep – the deepest-known point of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, which is the deepest of all the world’s oceans.

The dive, which he did alone aboard Deepsea Challenger, a specially built 7m submersible, took him to a depth of almost 10 908m (just short of 11km).

His was the first manned trip to the area since the US Navy submersible Trieste reached a depth of 10 912m in 1960 piloted by Lieutenant Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard. But James’ odyssey went down in the record books as the first successful solo expedition.

The filmmaker, who was the brain behind the 1989 deep-sea set blockbuster The Abyss, described it as “the culmination of a lifelong dream”.

“Most people probably know me as a filmmaker, but really the ocean and the idea of exploration has been the stronger driver in my life,” says James, who in 2002 dived down more than 4 800m off the coast of France to explore the wreck of the World War 2 German battleship Bismarck.

He added that as he started his descent for his Mariana Trench dive, he felt like “a kid in the car going to Disneyland”.

It took him two hours and 36 minutes to reach the bottom and he then spent three hours exploring. But as this part of the ocean is cloaked in perpetual darkness because it’s so deep, there actually wasn’t a lot to see.

James captured photos and video as well as

‘I WAS EXCITED, LIKE A KID IN THE CAR GOING TO DISNEYLAND’

collecting sediment samples.

“We did find 68 new species, most of them bacteria, but some small invertebrates as well that were brought back,” he says.

In 2019 American explorer and multimillionaire Victor Vescovo claimed to have broken James’ Mariana Trench solo record by attaining a depth of 10 927m – 19m deeper. But James contests this.

“What he’s done is quite remarkable,” James said. “Where I take exception is his saying he went deeper. You can’t go any deeper because the Challenger Deep is flat.”