James Cameron becomes first man to reach Earth’s deepest point solo

London -  James Cameron added another feather in his cap as he became the first solo diver to reach seven miles below the ocean’s surface - the deepest point on Earth.

The ‘Titanic’ director reached 26,700 feet around an hour into his bid to dive nearly 11 kilometres below the ocean’s surface.

As he reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 200 miles southwest of the Pacific island of Guam, he sent out a tweet announcing his feat.

“Just arrived at the ocean’s deepest pt. Hitting bottom never felt so good. Can’t wait to share what I’m seeing w/ you,” the Telegraph quoted him as tweeting.

He hopes to become the first person to explore the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 200 miles southwest of the Pacific island of Guam.

The dive, in a specially designed submarine called the Deepsea Challenger, began at around 5.50 am Monday local time, after being delayed for several days due to bad weather.

He gave his team the instruction to begin the dive and send the 12 tonne, lime-green vessel into the ocean by shouting “Release, release, release.”

Once on the surface, Cameron, who also directed ‘Avatar’ and ‘The Abyss’, plans to spend six hours collecting samples for biologists and geologists to study, before making the 70-minute journey back to the surface.

The only other people to reach the bottom are Jacques Piccard, a Swiss Engineer, and Don Walsh, a US Navy captain, who ventured down in 1960. However, their sub kicked up so much silt from the sea

floor that they were unable to observe anything, and returned to the surface after 20 minutes.