Voyage to the 'real' North Pole

The ice above the 'real' pole

A man who voyaged to the very bottom of the sea now plans to be the first to visit the 'real' north pole. News Online's science correspondent David Whitehouse reports

In 1960 Don Walsh, along with Jacques Piccard, undertook an eight-and-a-half hour decent in the bathyscaphe Trieste to the deepest part of the ocean, the 10,911 metre (36,000ft) Challenger's Deep in the Mariana Trench off the coast of the Phillipines. No one has ever repeated the journey.

Now Mr Walsh of International Maritime Incorporated in California wants to dive again. This time to visit the 'true' North Pole.

"Many people have stood on the ice 4,000m (13,000ft) above the North Pole," he said. "But nobody has ever been to the actual North Pole which is on the sea floor under the ice."

He is planning an expedition with the Russian Academy of Science. Two submersibles will descend to the sea floor each with a pilot and two seats.

Tickets for the spare seats will be sold to help raise the $2m cost of the expedition.