An American submariner has become the first person to reach the bottom of the earth’s deepest ocean trenches, setting a record in underwater exploration.

Victor Vescovo, 55, piloted the submersible Limiting Factor to the floor of the Kermadec Trench in the South Pacific Ocean last weekend, completing a goal of diving all four of the world’s 10,000-metre abysses – hostile realms of crushing water pressure, freezing temperatures and perpetual darkness.

“Exploration is such an extraordinary privilege … I feel like I’m in a spaceship, going into an alien world and getting to see things no one has ever seen before,”…