Deepest dive by a head of state
Last updated: June 3, 2020 at 20:32 pm
5,109 m (16,762 ft) — HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco accompanied Victor Vescovo to the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea, the Calypso Deep, on February 9, 2020. The joint mission by Caladan Oceanic and Explorations of Monaco took place off Kalamata, Greece, where the Sovereign boarded Vescovo’s research vessel, the DSSV Pressure Drop, which serves as the base of operations for the deep submergence vehicle (DSV) Limiting Factor. The dive was initiated at 8:50 a.m. and the record depth was reached at 11:12 a.m. The record-setting dive ended when the submersible broke the surface at 2 p.m. (DSSV: Deep-submergence support vessel)
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EDITOR’S NOTE
The 2020 dive was not the first to reach the deepest point in the Mediterranean Sea. The first manned descent to the Calypso Deep was conducted by Capt. Gérard Huet de Froberville (France), Dr. Charles Drake (USA), and Henri Germain Delauze (France), aboard the French bathyscaphe Archimède on 27 September 1965.
Caladan Oceanic
Five Deeps Expedition
Monaco Explorations
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Jeffrey Gallant is the Editor-in-Chief and Records Keeper of the Diving Almanac. He is also a contributing editor of DIVER Magazine, and the scientific director of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG). Jeffrey started diving in 1982.
