Cameron completes first solo dive to earth's deepest point

James Cameron completed the first solo dive to the deepest known point on earth Credit: AP Photo/National Geographic, Mark Thiessen

Titanic film director James Cameron has completed the world's first solo dive to the deepest known point on earth.

The filmmaker arrived at the site known as "Challenger Deep" at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench in a specially designed submarine.

Cameron's first words upon reaching the bottom were "All systems OK," National Geographic said on its website.

The low point of the Mariana Trench, 35,756 feet or approximately 7 miles beneath the ocean's surface, has only been reached once before, in 1960 when US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard spent 20 minutes there.

Cameron, the first to make a solo dive to the spot, spent six hours there collecting research samples for marine biology and geology.

The expedition is a joint project by Cameron, National Geographic and watchmaker Rolex that has been called "Deepsea Challenge" and is designed to expand understanding of a little-known corner of the Earth.