Deep-dive record holder visits Salt Lake City, revisits 50-year-old feat

SALT LAKE CITY — Only two men have been to the deepest part of the ocean. Don Walsh is one of them.

On Jan. 23, 1960, Walsh, a captain with the U.S. Navy, and Jacques Piccard, an oceanographer and inventor, traveled 36,000 feet below the level of the sea to the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the submarine-like bathyscaphe Trieste. It was a feat never done before or since.

Walsh was in Salt Lake City Wednesday to unveil a deep sea special exhibit at O.C. Tanner jewelry store commemorating the 50-year anniversary of that dive, featuring photos and information as well as a Rolex watch that was strapped to the Trieste during the dive. Also on display are other vintage watches dating back to 1906. The exhibit runs through Nov. 3.

Walsh had little idea what he was getting into when he volunteered for an underwater assignment. He was stationed on a submarine in San Diego, when the Navy asked for volunteers for a new program involving a bathyscaphe the Navy had recently purchased. "I thought it sounded interesting and raised my hand. I was selected — because no one else raised their hands," he said.

Who knew he would still be talking about it 50 years later. "It was exciting; it was fun. It was an exploration, and we did what we said we would do. And when some school children asked me to autograph their Guinness Book of World Records, I thought that was about as good as it gets." But from this vantage point, he sees himself as something of a "keeper of the legacy" — he's the only one left who was involved in the venture — but more importantly as an impassioned advocate for the ocean and its importance to us all.

"It is a frontier," he said; "there is so much still that we don't know."

In the 21st Century, global warming may have an impact on ocean levels; commercial fishing is removing many predators and prey, with what impact?; shipping is still responsible for 97 percent of the world's trade; minerals and vegetation are becoming increasingly important resources; scientists are still learning about its biodiversity.

"They have just finished an 10-year inventory of life in the sea that has revealed a couple of hundred new species, and that has just scratched the surface," Walsh said. "As they say, we don't know what we don't know. We've only properly studied about 5 percent to 10 percent of the ocean in any detail."

Yet, he said, "the ocean is vitally important. The United States is a maritime country. We sometimes forget that."