La Minerve Press Release

DALLAS, TX (February 4, 2020) – Through collaboration between investor and explorer Victor Vescovo, Triton Submarines and EYOS Expeditions, the 2020 Caladan Oceanic expeditions will yet again visit never before seen ocean depths and famed historic sites. A first of its kind two-person research submersible, designed and manufactured by Triton specifically for extreme deep-sea exploration endeavors, will bring its stories of the voyage to the world in near-real time between February and July of 2020. The vessel, the Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) Limiting Factor, is the first commercially certified full-ocean-depth submersible. It will be transported and deployed into the ocean depths by the Deep Submergence Support Vessel (DSSV) Pressure Drop, a former US Navy ship specially retrofitted for the expedition. Vescovo will pilot the submersible on almost all of its dives.

”Following up on the success of our mission last year to dive to the bottom of all five of the world’s oceans, we look forward to diving two seas and two oceans in the recently-enhanced Limiting Factor on a new series of ‘first’ manned dives,” Vescovo said from Toulon, France, where he had just completed the first phase of the voyage.

The mission will include five phases:

• Phase I: “La Minerve” (West Mediterranean)
• Phase II: The Calypso Deep (East Mediterranean)
• Phase III: The Red Sea
• Phase IV: Indian Ocean/Nekton Expedition
• Phase V: The “Ring of Fire” Expedition

Phase I: “La Minerve”

After completing sea trials off the coast of Spain on January 31st, the Caladan Oceanic team sailed to the southern coast of France where on February 1-2 they twice dove on the tragic wreck of the French submarine, Minerve. Caladan worked closely with French authorities and the family of its crew to organize the expedition. On the first dive, Vescovo was accompanied by retired French Rear Admiral Jean-Louis Barbier, a submarine expert who conducted a detailed investigation of the wreck to gather new evidence on what might have caused the vessel’s unexpected sinking in 1968. Herve Fauve, the son of the submarine’s Captain, accompanied Vescovo on the second dive when a memorial plaque was placed on the remains of the sunken vessel at over 2,250 meters depth. This was the first manned visit to the site since the Minerve’s sinking in 1968, which was only discovered last summer. Vescovo later said: “It was very moving to be with the son of the Minerve’s Captain, at the actual wreck, and pay our respects to the brave sailors who gave their lives in the defense of France. As a former naval officer myself, I was very honored to partner with our French allies to do this.”

Phase II: The Calypso Deep

From France, the expedition will sail to Kalamata, Greece and attempt to dive to the deepest point in the Mediterranean Sea, the Calypso Deep. To the surprise of the Caladan team, a thorough review of historical records indicate that no submarine has ever visited the actual bottom of the Mediterranean Sea at approximately 5,627 meters (17,280 feet), so this could be the “first descent” of this particular deep. Caladan will be conducting the dive in conjunction with the government of Greece and the scientific organization, Explorations de Monaco.

Phase III: The Red Sea

After its dives in the Mediterranean, the ship and crew will head through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea. In cooperation with the Saudi Arabian scientific community at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Caladan hopes to make multiple dives in the little-explored Red Sea and make a manned dive – for the first time – to its deepest point: the Suakin Trough. The expedition expects to conduct its operations during mid-February in and around Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

Phase IV: Indian Ocean/ Nekton Expedition

In the Indian Ocean, Caladan will partner with the Nekton Organization for a series of extensive scientific dives in the Seychelles and Maldives as part of their “First Descent” program. For more details on this month-long expedition, see: www.nektonmission.org  Following these dives, the Caladan team will proceed to Singapore for refueling and provisioning.

Phase V:  The “Ring of Fire” Expedition

The “Ring of Fire” is a common name given to the geologically active area that borders the roughly circular Pacific tectonic plate. It is, overall, the most active plate in the world and causes many volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. The Caladan team will conduct several dive series around the western portion of the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean, starting with attempts to dive multiple World War II-era wreck sites including the suspected USS Johnston, wrecks from the 1944 Typhoon Cobra off the Philippine islands, and the USS Indianapolis. These would be the first manned dives to all these wrecks and would help commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the end of the War in the Pacific in World War II. If confirmed, the dive on the suspected wreck of the USS Johnston off Samar island could be the deepest manned wreck dive in history if completed. The Johnston and Indianapolis were located in 2017 and 2019, respectively, by Paul Allen’s Research Vessel Petrel and a team led by Robert Kraft of Vulcan Inc..

The team will then proceed to the Yap and Palau trenches for almost two weeks to conduct extensive scientific investigations with multiple deep-sea lander deployments.

The Limiting Factor will then return to the deepest point in the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, for up to eight scientific and survey dives to all three “pools” that constitute the Deep. The team hopes they will be able to execute the first dive by a woman to the bottom of the ocean, with US astronaut and former NOAA Director Dr. Kathy Sullivan. Later in this dive series, Vescovo plans to descend to the same location that the Trieste visited in 1960 during the first descent into the Challenger Deep. In commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of that dive, Vescovo intends to make the journey with Kelly Walsh, the son of the Trieste’s captain, Dr. Don Walsh.

The expedition will conclude with a further two weeks of dives along the north-south “spine” of the Mariana Trench, with a goal to execute first descents of numerous deeps and canyons that have never before had manned visitation. The team hopes to observe volcanic vents, identify new species, and conduct extensive mapping of the US Exclusive Economic Zone at the request of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). All mapping done by the expedition will also be contributed to the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. The expedition is expected to conclude on or about July 20^th in Guam.