In the far-flung reaches of the south Pacific Ocean, there is a point so remote that the closest living people are the astronauts on the International Space Station
Known as Point Nemo, it is the furthest place from all land on earth, and it is believed that until last week, no person has possibly ever been there before.
Enter British explorer Chris Brown, who has become the first person ever recorded to swim at Point Nemo, completing a 10-day sailing voyage on Friday last week (March 22).
Point Nemo lies in the remote south Pacific Ocean, with the nearest land a minimum of 2677 kilometres away in any direction.
Even though other ships have almost certainly passed near the point before, Brown told 9news.com.au that he believes he “can claim to be the first person to get in the water and swim at Point Nemo”.
Named in 1992, Point Nemo was styled after the character Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas”.
Embarking on his own nautical epic, native Yorkshireman Chris Brown has made dozens of expeditions to the world’s most inaccessible places.
While the 10-day journey to Point Nemo was simpler in some ways to his journey to Antarctic’s most remote place, Brown told 9news.com.au this expedition “still entails a degree of danger”.
“If anything were to happen to the Hanse Explorer [his expedition’s ship] we are hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres off any shipping lanes.
“Help would be a long time coming”.
Overcoming a bout of sea-sickness, his crew made it to Point Nemo otherwise unscathed, and became the first people in recorded history to swim these un-swam waters.
Brown said that even “getting into the water carries a degree of danger.”
With high waves, and strong currents, there was a distinct risk of being washed away from the boat, dragged quickly out of sight by the ocean.
In fact, while Brown and his son Mika were in the water, a nearby albatross became agitated by their presence.
“One of the albatrosses seemed to take a dislike to us being in his or her territory”, Brown later wrote.
“If you’ve never floated next to an angry Albatross, let me tell you not to try.”
The duo took a quick dip, and some photos to prove it, then boarded the ship once again.
Cross-pacific sailing races like the Great Ocean Race pass the vicinity of Point Nemo, but Brown said that “nobody has specifically recorded proof of having been there”.
“What we have done is remove that uncertainty”.
“All of that is a long winded way of saying ‘yes’, I think I can claim to be the first person to get in the water and swim at Point Nemo.”
After maneuvering around a hurricane that threatened to form in nearby waters, Brown said his next plan was to take a simple holiday.
“After more than 8000 km at sea, a beer on the beach or at a pool bar sounds particularly attractive.”
Point Nemo has become a dumping ground for space debris from satellites and rocket parts over recent decades .
The United States, Russia, Japan, and other European nations with space agencies have used Point Nemo to dump some 263 pieces of space debris since 1971, according to a 2019 report by NASA.
With the ocean floor 4000 metres below the waves, Point Nemo will also soon become the final resting place of the ISS, when it is decommissioned in 2030.
