Only two men have ever been to the deepest part
of the ocean and to the lowest point on our earth’s
crust. Don Walsh and Jacque Piccard, the son of
the bathyscaphe Trieste designer Auguste Piccard
made the first and only descent on January 23,
1960 – more than 50 years ago. The location was
Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, off the
coast of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
We’ve visited the roof of the world more often. In
fact, Mt. Everest isn’t as tall as the ocean is deep,
and the physical forces and dangers of deep water
exploration don’t exist above the sea.
Ninety-five percent of our underwater world has never been explored –
never even been seen by the naked eye. The part of the ocean floor that we
have explored is only the size of West Virginia. Imagine how we would view
our natural world if we never left the state borders of West Virginia. We would
never have learned of deserts, tropical rainforests, elephants, the Himalayas,
polar bears, or the Southern Cross.
What lies beyond the five percent of the ocean
we’ve explored? Another desert? A secret world
of life forms we’ve never set eyes upon?
Lost treasure? If we are ever to find out, it will
start now in the Triton 36,000 F.O.D.
