Expedition Deep Ocean: The First Descent to the Bottom of All Five of the World's Oceans

by Josh Young

The riveting story of the history-making mission to reach the bottom of all five of the world’s oceans – the ultimate frontier of our planet.

Humankind has explored every continent on earth, climbed its tallest mountains, and gone into space. But the largest areas of our planet remain a mystery: the deep oceans. At over 36,000 feet deep, these areas closest to earth’s core have remained nearly impossible to reach—until now.

Technological innovations, engineering breakthroughs and the derring-do of a unique team of engineers and scientists, led by explorer Victor Vescovo, brought together an audacious global quest to dive to the deepest points of all five oceans for the first time in history.

Expedition Deep Ocean tells the inside story of this exploration of one of the most unforgiving and mysterious places on our planet, including the site of the Titanic wreck and the little-understood Hadal Zone. The expedition pushed technology to the limits, mapped hidden landscapes, discovered previously unknown life forms and began to piece together how life in the deep oceans affects our planet—but it was far from easy.

Vescovo and his team would design the most advanced deep-diving submersible ever built, able to withstand the deep ocean’s pressure on the sub of 8 tons per square inch—the equivalent of having 292 fueled and fully loaded 747s stacked on top of it. The hurricane-laden ocean waters and the byzantine web of global oceanographic politics only heightened the challenges.

Expedition Deep Ocean reveals the marvelous and other-worldly life found in the ocean’s five deepest trenches, including several new species that have posed as of yet unanswered questions about survival and migration between oceans. Then there are the newly discovered sea mounts that cause tsunamis when they are broken by shifting tectonic plates and jammed back into the earth’s crust, something that can now be studied to predict future disasters. 

Filled with high drama, adventure and the thrill of discovery, Expedition Deep Ocean celebrates courage and ingenuity and reveals the majesty and importance of the deep ocean.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Adventure, Audiobook, History, Nature

384 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[DDB73 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel like I’ve read an ad for Vescovo - that I paid for.

[Sadie MacMillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not really a book about science. Maybe I just didn't read the description of the book closely enough before asking for it for Christmas, but I was expecting something different. I was expecting a book about deep-ocean science -- oceanography, marine biology, marine geology, that sort of thing -- and yes, there were some scientific tidbits scattered throughout. But there were also infuriating sentences like, "He and Lahey were marveling at the exotic sea creatures they could see through the viewports," which appear and then disappear without any discussion of the topics they tease.

What this is, is a book about project management. Anybody with an interest in the field of project management might find this book more enjoyable than I did.

Overall, I suppose I don't regret reading this book, but the science-loving reader should be informed about what it does and does not offer.

[Nikki Fuller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Millionaire whines about regulations, doesn’t care about the science.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as consistently good as I hoped it would be, there was still some fun to be had here. For readers wanting to explore the subject - the very tantalising one of what it's like at the bottom of the world five great oceans - they might be a little disappointed to find that Young focuses much more the human tasking rather than the abyssal environments themselves. Much less what they found and what it means, than what they did and how they did it. Personally, I think it should have been the other way around.

[Hal · Rating 2 out of 5]

The exploits of investor and explorer Victor Vescovo who formed the endeavor of assembling a team and equipment to become the first person to explore the five deepest oceans. The title I found appealing the story not quite as much. The idea was rather intriguing, and not to short shrift the feat but the nuts and bolts of putting the project together was not nearly so engrossing.

Vescovo had aside from the adventurous spirit and drive to take on this challenge but the deep pockets that would finance it, very deep pockets. The amount of money was truly staggering and outside of the fame and getting ones name in the record books it is head scratching to contemplate the motivations behind that financial commitment.

Much of the book dwells on the technological setbacks which were innumerable. Also the squabbles that surfaced from many of the technical, scientific, and film production people. This bogged down much of the story and the actual dives and time spent in covering them were quite diminished in comparison. This made for a not so entertaining book as I had hoped for.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible, but extremely drawn out. I should have read Ben Taub's New Yorker article instead. Young doesn't dig deep into Vescovo's character and comes across as fawning. In any conflict, Vescovo was right, and Vescovo always has the last word. Was that a condition for getting this access? If so, then it unfortunately has an effect opposite to what was intended. Vescovo comes across more as a rich, superficial dilettante, nothing like the explorers he admires, like Shackleton, or entrepreneurs, like Musk. He's a tourist with far too much money, buying his achievements. A little skepticism, of Vescovo and of the expeditions' "science" program, would have made the book much stronger. (No, a slightly more precise depth reading for the Marianas Trench is not going to revolutionize ocean science. Vescovo pretends to care about science and exploration, but he admits at the very beginning that he would be happy to descend in a blank steel ball with no windows or sensors whatsoever.)

I did like getting some of the details of designing and operating the submersible. From briefer press reports, you might get the impression that this is a turnkey operation, and it definitely isn't.

> Vescovo wanted to dive solo to the bottom of the deeps, and he wasn't convinced that having viewports was worth the expense or the risk.

> The centerpiece of the sub, a titanium hull, would be negatively buoyant, as opposed to the acrylic-hulled subs that Ramsay had usually designed for Triton, which were positively buoyant. This meant that the sub would have to be much taller to accommodate enough syntactic foam for buoyancy, as the hull would weigh several tons. However, the drawback of a tall sub was it would rock on the surface

> Export controls were placed on any vehicle above 1,500 mm, classifying them as military grade, meaning that a hull above that size would not be able to freely move from country to country. This meant that the two seats and all the necessary electronics and controls would need to fit inside a sphere less than five feet wide.

> "When you are up on Everest and it's storming, you are saying to yourself, ‘I'm glad I bought the best money could buy and I'm with the best team. When I'm down there at 16,000 PSI, I'll say I'm glad I spent the money I spent and have the best team."

> the leaking in the pressure hull was the result of the opposing halves of the main pressure hull sliding, ever so slightly relative to each other against the equatorial ring plate around them, whenever the sub was lifted by crane. This was being caused by movement in the frame attached to the hull that held the syntactic foam. His solution, which he cleared with certifier DNV-GL, was to install what he called a Circumferential Preload System. This basically entailed placing a tight metal band around the hull at an angle to prevent the two halves from shifting

> "We just lost the arm," Vescovo said. Lahey's eyes widened. "No …" Without saying a word, Vescovo pointed for him to look outside his portal and see the detached arm. "Oh my God …" Lahey lamented. Vescovo stowed the arm's control lever and leaned back in his seat, utterly deflated. "I don't know where we go from here, Patrick." Without the significant weight of the manipulator arm, the sub began an unplanned ascent.

> The great irony was that losing the manipulator arm had made the dive successful. The conductors freed up by not having an arm ended up providing Blades a method to fix all of the other electrical faults by rewiring the sub.

> He thought the whole thing was ridiculous, and that everyone else was being unreasonable and completely ungrateful given the massive resources he had personally deployed to make this opportunity happen for all of them. And he had a point.

> Jamieson had spent eighty-eight days on the ship since the beginning of the FDE and felt he had little to show for it. His position was that the science had been getting short shrift from day one. His week in the Puerto Rico Trench for science was killed. The loss of the manipulator arm handcuffed the gathering of sediment samples in the Puerto Rico Trench or in the Southern Ocean. Even the big victories weren't scientifically relevant.

> putting them closer to the center of the Earth than any human had gone. (The actual closest point, according to geologist Heather Stewart, is in the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean under the ice cap, where, of course no one has ever been.)

[Kyle Atwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's really difficult to be a rich man with all of the promotion and a ton of support to have your own submarine made so you can go to the bottom of each ocean and fulfill your own seemingly impossible dreams.

I find it crazy how many investors are willing to fund a rich geek's fantasy AFTER he failed to fulfill one crucial obligation he made.

Still, where the book did shine is in the FEW scenes describing what the bottom of the oceans were like.

[Chloe Bagnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened on Audible

[Scott Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) This work follows the ambitious process to dive the deepest spots in the ocean. This involves a lot of technical advancements, money from rich folks who can fund such a project to help their egos and possibly science, and dealing with the challenges of the deep ocean. Most of the work starts out with the life story of the main benefactors of the project, men who made their fortunes in various fields, but who had an overarching desire to explore the most remote parts of the planet, the deepest parts of the ocean.

The technical challenges and the struggles of getting the expedition together take up much of the first part of the book. It is not always the most fun to read, but it sets the stage for what is to come. However, the best parts of the book are when they actually start exploring the oceans. They try to start with the Titanic, but as is a constant theme, technical issues interrupt their plans.

Eventually, they take their shots at what most figure are the deepest parts of the respective oceans. In some cases, mainly the Pacific and Indian Ocean, they are able to effectively explore the depths and offer insights into an unknown realm. However, the oceans are a challenging place, especially in the Southern Ocean, where they were lucky to get a dive in at all. They did eventually make it back to the Titanic and did discover the current state of the wreck.

Overall, this was an informative read, but maybe not the greatest book of all time. The best parts were the tales about what they saw at the depths and that people made the effort to explore the unexplored is incredibly awesome. However, the positive spin for all the super rich to make this happen I could do without. Can’t lie that it was fun to see James Cameron get into a spat about who made the deeper dive the Marianas Trench. A decent read, but probably not one to dwell on after reading. The pictures from the depths are a major bonus.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up Expedition Deep Ocean at a Canadian bookstore on a work trip, and even though I only paid $5 for it, it turned out be well worth the investment. As other reviewers have noted, it is more of a dramatic project saga than a science report. But, because I have been on several dramatic project sagas myself, I found it highly entertaining.

The story follows Victor Vescovo, a millionaire with a penchant for exploring, and the diverse team he hires on his quest to become the first person to solo dive to the deepest points of all five oceans in 2019. Before his efforts, no one had even confirmed the deepest points of most oceans, much less touched them.

Not only is the book full of dramatic dives and scientific finds, but it also covers the tortuously lengthy process of first designing and building the submersible, then getting it out to sea and back with proper governmental approvals, and oh my gosh, the technical drama and angst was just TOO REAL. Schedule delays, cost overruns, upset partners, legal spats, terse emails, unfounded optimism – let all the engineers shake their heads and say, “yup, I’ve been there…”

This story hit me on a personal level because it illustrated how universal some experiences are in building and testing custom equipment. Everything takes twice as long and costs three times as much as you expect, and you never chase all the gremlins out of the system until right about the time the project is over. But when people pull together, great things can still happen…even if your hydraulic gripper arm fails AGAIN and the only rock you manage to bring back from the deepest ocean ever is the one stuck in your battery compartment from when you accidentally ran into an overhang (no joke).

After reading about the umpteenth pre-dive check where yet another piece of equipment faulted out on the sub, I felt surprisingly soothed about my own struggles with machinery at work...

[William Schram · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ocean deeps are the true final frontier of exploration. Expedition Deep Ocean is a book by Josh Young discussing the difficulties and engineering challenges of exploring these locations. The book could have been about that. Instead, the book follows the exploits of an entitled man with money to burn, Victor Vescovo.

There are five oceans across the world: the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian, the Arctic, and the Southern. The deepest point in all the seas is Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean. Until Vescovo came along, no one challenged the five unplumbed depths. Josh Young admires Vescovo. Vescovo built a radio at age eight! Oh my! He plays chess. No one has ever done that before. Vescovo completed the Seven Summit Challenge. Holy Christ! He loved flying helicopters and airplanes so much that he bought one of each! Sweet Baby Jesus! Forgive my sarcasm.

Beyond the engineering requirements lies the practicality of diving that deep. It isn't like Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, where you can sail almost anywhere you want with impunity. You need permits and procedures and all sorts of unfun things. Some diving locations may be in international waters, but you need ports to resupply. A bit of the book devotes itself to these issues.

The book was disappointing. Thankfully, I got it from the Library. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up

Deep sea diving has fascinated me for years, so adding this book to my to-read shelf was a no brainer. I was hoping to get a book about the actual exploration of the oceans at their deepest points, but instead got a blow-by-blow description of one man's effort to have a submersible built that would withstand the pressure at such depths.

While I appreciated the time, effort and massive amounts of money that went into building this machine and I applaud the eventual success, it seemed more like a massive ego trip than any desire to further the scientific exploration I hoped to read about. That said, I did learn a few things, and several points were raised that gave me something to think about, so the book wasn't a total waste of time.

I've avoided reading book blurbs for years because they tend to either give away spoilers or have nothing at all to do with the book they're supposed to describe. It might be time to rethink that practice so books like this don't end up being such a surprise.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

A billionaire who has already done the 7 summits and both poles (explorer's grand slam) decides he wants to dive to the deepest point of the 5 oceans. It was interesting to me to hear about the challenges that were encountered in designing, building, and testing the ship as there are a lot of similarities to the obstacles faced in my industry. It's also intriguing that the team was able to achieve an engineering feat never before accomplished (a manned submersible did make it to the Challenger Deep in the 60's but never to all 5). I was surprised at how few submersibles are out there that can go to significant depths. The one negative on the book is that it's hard to not be disillusioned by the fact that Victor Vescovo is really doing it for selfish reasons and was largely successful due to other people and a large pocketbook. It takes away some of the inspiration and awe.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent example of "being there to tell the story". And, that is exactly what the Author Josh Young has accomplished. He documented the exciting story of the world's most prolific explorer ,Victor Vescovo, in his quest to be the first man to descend to the bottom of all five of the world's oceans. Vescovo is obviously an explorer of the first order, having previously summited the highest peak on every continent and skied across both the North and South poles. His decent to the deepest part of the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Artic and Southern Oceans is an achievement beyond comparison. This book should be required reading for any individual who seeks a career in Project Management or any Advanced Management Degree.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victor Vescovo was determined to be the first person to reach the bottom of each ocean. In order to do so, he had to build a submarine that was capable of withstanding the pressures of the deep. This book takes you on the journey of the idea, the planning, messes, and of course, the adventure.

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to hear the backstory behind the plan to reach the bottom of all five oceans. It was cool to hear about the dive near the Titanic too, as the history of that ship has long captured many readers.

Great read, especially if you enjoy natural history.

[Shirley Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thankfully went into this book knowing it was a biography/history book not a science book. It was a good detailing of all the struggles involved in creating a new submersible that could go to the bottom of the oceans and be reusable. The first couple chapters were tedious as they just described Victor, but beyond that, the book went into the actual project. One warning: there is strong language in this book as that is how one of the team members talks.

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a few times I almost put this down but in the end I'm glad I pushed through. Despite knowing whether or not they achieved their mission when I began I felt that there was enough interesting bits about the journey it took to keep me reading. Four stars might be high, and I certainly won't be giving this out to friends, yet it did become a compelling read.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an incredibly interesting listen. I bet you didn't know that someone had gone to the bottom of all five oceans. I didn't and I think I'm pretty knowledgeable about the world. I really enjoyed listening to this. It is full of history, anecdote, and knowledge that isn't readily available to your average person. How they made all of this happen, is just incredible.

[Brooke Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved hearing about the scientific discoveries, although those were not the focus of this endeavor. The engineering process was a bit harrowing and overall it was a pretty fun book. I'm very interested to go find YouTube videos and interviews about all of this now. I'd love for ocean research to be prioritized more.

CW, lots of language in quoted passages.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to Audible version. Explorer Vescovo and his team experience so many roadblocks and escalating expenses to meet the goal of diving to the deepest part of the 5 oceans. Personally I find I enjoy non fiction like this better as an audio book.

[Michael Karpusas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is interesting & well written and it provides a a good understanding of the difficulties of Vescovo's endeavor. However in some chapters it becomes a bit tedious because there are too many details on the financing and conflicts of interests of involved parties.

[KerryO · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolute thrill ride of adventure. Frightening at times and then joyful exhilaration at other times. Thanks to Josh Young for a great documentation of Victor Vescovo's incredible accomplishment! If you love the ocean, this is a great read !!!

[Nicole Geub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure what I expected from this other than I didn't think I was gonna like it. Turns out, I found this to be a pretty well done book. Not really about the ocean but about a millionare with money to burn.

[Hind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Instead of putting together a compelling tale of what appears to be a pretty cool adventure, the author tells it like he’s reading a list of events, many which are mundane. Interesting story but it’s not told that interestingly.

[David Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with many of the negatives the other reviews have stated, but it was an example of the many hurdles, mistakes/failures, etc life can take on when you’re trying to achieve a goal not many, if any have attempted to achieve.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of a technically challenging multi-year deep sea diving expedition led and funded by Texan Victor Vescovo. You can learn a lot about project management from this story in addition to the technical challenges of deep ocean diving. Well written.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part bio, part adventure story, it’s an intriguing look at the expedition to explore the last unknown frontier on earth: the bottom of the ocean.

[Anne Wampole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rich people, doing rich people stuff. Not really about the science.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did the titanic sun disaster prompt me to finally pick this up, yes. Do I regret it, no

[Staci Pauly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intriguing that someone can just dream up what they want to do and then have unlimited resources to make it happen.