Deep-sea dive: the most significant achievements in history

On earth, there are many more places that we know less about than the vast expanses of space. It is primarily about the irreconcilable water depths. According to scientists, science has not actually begun to study the mysterious life at the bottom of the oceans, all research is at the beginning of the path.

From year to year there are all the new brave souls who are ready to perform a new record deep-water dive. In the presented material I would like to talk about swimmings without equipment, with scuba gear and with the help of bathyscaphes, which went down in history.

The deepest submergence of man

For a long time, French athlete Loic Leferm was the record holder in the field of freediving. In 2002, he managed to carry out a deep-water diving for 162 meters. Many divers tried to improve this indicator, but perished in the sea depths. In 2004 Leforte himself became a victim of his own vanity. During the training swim in the oceanic basin of Villefranche-sur-Mer, he sank 171 meters. However, the athlete did not manage to climb to the surface.

The last record deep-water dive was made by the Austrian freediver Herbert Nietzsch. He managed to descend to 214 meters without an oxygen cylinder. Thus, the achievement of Loic Leferm remains in the past.

Record deep water dive among women

Several records among women were set by the French athlete Audrey Mestre. On May 29, 1997, she dived as much as 80 meters with one breathing delay, without a balloon with air. A year later, Audrey broke her own record, descending into the sea abyss at 115 meters. In 2001, the athlete plunged as much as 130 meters. This record, which has the status of the world among women, is assigned to Audrey to this day.

On 12 October 2002, Mestre made its last attempt in life, sinking without equipment for 171 meters off the coast of the Dominican Republic. The athlete used only a special cargo, not carrying oxygen bottles. The ascent was to be carried out using an air dome. However, the latter was not filled. 8 minutes after the deep-water dive started, the body of Audrey was brought to the surface by scuba divers. As the official reason for the death of the sportswoman, problems with equipment for lifting to the surface were noted.

Record scuba dive

Now let's talk about deep-sea diving with scuba. The most significant of them was carried out by the French diver Pascal Bernabe. In the summer of 2005, he managed to descend into the sea abyss at 330 meters. Although it was originally planned to conquer the depth of 320 meters. Such a significant record was a result of a small incident. During the descent Pascal stretched rope, which allowed to swim for 10 extra meters in depth.

The diver managed to successfully climb to the surface. Surfacing lasted a long 9 hours. The reason for such a slow rise was a high risk of developing a caisson disease, which could lead to the arrest of breathing and damage to blood vessels. It is worth noting that to establish the record Pascal Bernabe had to spend as much as 3 years in constant training.

Record dive in the bathyscaphe

On January 23, 1960, scientists Donald Walsh and Jacques Piccard set a record for diving to the ocean floor in a manned vehicle. Being on board the small submarine Trieste, the researchers reached the bottom of the Mariinsky depression, at a depth of 10,898 meters.

The deepest dive in a human-powered bathyscaphe was achieved thanks to the construction of the Deepsea Challenger, which took designers 8 years to complete. This mini submarine represents a streamlined capsule weighing more than 10 tons and with a wall thickness of 6.4 cm. It is noteworthy that, before commissioning, the bathyscaphe was tested several times by a pressure of 1160 atmospheres, which is higher than that which was to affect the walls of the apparatus at the ocean floor .

In 2012, the famous American film director James Cameron, piloting the mini-submarine Deepsea Challenger, conquered the previous record, installed on the Trieste, and even improved it, plunging into the Mariinsky hollow for 11 km.