This is a new French record which has just been established, and not the least. On the night of October 12 to 13, Jérémie Morizet began a long descent into the abyss, which took him to a depth of… 10,806 meters!
So of course, the world record is still held by the American Victor Vescovo, who, in 2019, reached the depth of 10,927 meters by touching the bottom of the Mariana Trench, in the Pacific Ocean, with his submarine DSV Limiting Factor.
A dive into the second deepest trench in the world
But hey, we are still proud of our Norman, who is thus the first Frenchman to pass the barrier of -10,800 meters. To carry out this feat, this engineer from the company Deep Ocean Search placed himself at the controls of a submersible called Bakunawaspecifically dedicated to deep-sea exploration. For this dive, the Tonga Trench, in the Pacific, was chosen. Yes, such depths are not found anywhere in the oceans.
You should know that on average, the abyssal plains are located at a depth of around 5,000 meters. To go deeper, you have to go to very specific places: the zones de subductionzones de subduction. That of Tonga is located where the Pacific plate dives under the Tonga microplate, associated with the Australian plate. It is the titanic meeting between these two tectonic plates which is at the origin of this oceanic trench, the second deepest in the world after that of the Marianas.
A feat that was not without risk
It took Jérémie Morizet and Australian pilot Luke Siebermaier four hours and certainly a lot of composure to reach the bottom. For two hours, the two men then carried out a whole series of tests, notably on a positioning systempositioning system innovative and adapted to great depths. Then, it took them another four hours of ascent before they could open the airlock and breathe through it.airair free. A historic dive which was, however, not without risks. At these depths, the pressionpression of water is enormous and only specially designed equipment can withstand it. Added to the risk of loss of control is the risk of a dramatic implosion of the submarine. Everyone still has in mind theaccidentaccident fatality which cost the lives of five people during a dive on the Titanic in June 2023.
But Jérémie is not his first exploit.
In March 2022, he participated in the historic discovery of the wreck of the Endurance, explorer Schackleton’s ship which sank in 1915 off the coast of Antarctica.
