EYOS Expeditions has broken records with its pioneering Five Deeps Expedition, which explored the deepest points of the world’s oceans. Leading the mission is Rob McCallum, co-founder of EYOS Expeditions, who has previously led expeditions to the RMS Titanic and the battleship Bismark. He speaks to Gayatri Bhaumik about the challenges of the Five Deeps, breaking records, and the peace one finds sitting on the ocean floor.
What does it take to put on an expedition like this?
Expeditions of this size and complexity are a rare and exciting challenge; a real opportunity to conduct genuine exploration in the modern world. The Five Deeps Expedition required over a year of planning before we actually set off, and that has been the primary focus for a team of around 60 people since that time. We’re attempting many world firsts, which inherently means that for much of what we are doing there is no template to follow; we are learning by doing but there is no room for failure.
The physical components required are complex. We need a good ship to work from, so we refitted a 68m oceanographic vessel and equipped her with a full ocean depth sonar, a fleet of ‘landers’ which go down to the seafloor ahead of the sub, and of course, the submersible itself. Together, we call these assets the “Hadal Exploration System.”
What are the biggest challenges of doing dives like this?
The greatest challenges are in the engineering required to build and operate a vehicle at full ocean depth; that’s a pressure of 1,100 bar or 15,000lbs per square inch. The hull of the submersible is titanium – 90mm thick! – which protects the occupants.
On the surface we need to contend with bad weather and the movement of the ship, climatic challenges such as the heat in the tropics and freezing cold in the polar areas, shifting heavy loads around the deck with the crane (which can be quite dangerous on a moving vessel) and operating small support boats in oceanic conditions.
I think the biggest physical challenge is fatigue. A full ocean depth dive often requires a 20-hour day, often with people feeling the effects of jetlag and seasickness. Pacing ourselves and grabbing cat-naps is important.
This dive broke several world records and set some world firsts. Can you tell us more about this?
We set out to get a human to the deepest point of each of the world’s five oceans – hence the name “Five Deeps Expedition”. For many of the dives, it’s the first human foray into these remove trenches. We have dived deeper, stayed longer, seen more, and achieved more things than has ever been possible before.
Five Deeps set records for depth, dive duration, multiple dives, finding new species…virtually every dive breaks a record or discovers something new. That’s because on earth, which is 71 per cent covered in seawater, we have never had the ability to explore the hadal zone – that’s the area below 6,000m. We are exploring the earth’s last frontier.
A deep-sea research submersible was specifically designed for this expedition. Why was it important to have this?
Our core mission was to get to the bottom of each of the main oceans – the Atlantic, Southern, Indian, Pacific and Arctic. We are working in depths of 5,000m to nearly 11,000m, and there was no vehicle in the world that could do this. So, we had to design, build and operate our own.
It has been a tremendous achievement by Triton Submarines to create this extraordinary vehicle. Now that we have it, and have proven its ability, it’s poised to become the platform from which we can really start to explore the lower half of the world’s ocean.
The “Limiting Factor” can now explore any depth of the ocean. What implications does this have?
The Limiting Factor is now a well-proven vehicle that can explore in any ocean, to any depth, and from virtually any vessel. It has just become the world’s most potent marine exploration tool and opens up a whole world of possibilities to anyone interested in exploring the deep ocean. The LF will be a platform for scientists, filmmakers and explorers.
This dive uncovered plastic in the deepest parts of the ocean. What exactly did you find?
We have seen man-made debris from time to time. I guess it’s inevitable that when so much garbage is discarded into the sea that some of it is going to end up at the very bottom. The sighting of a plastic bag at full ocean depth certainly grabbed people’s attention and illustrated the fact that there are few places – if any – that humans have not impacted. Micro-plastics are literally everywhere and we have no real clue how to fix that. It will become the challenge of the next generation.
What is it actually like to sit at the bottom of the ocean?
It’s actually remarkably peaceful. There’s no real sense of movement. You can’t hear anything from outside the capsule. There’s no sense of pressure. All you can hear is the hum of the computer and the sound of your own breathing. It’s a very gentle and relaxed feeling, yet also tremendously exciting because almost everything that comes into view is something new.
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