Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
naval officer,
explorerExploration is the act of searching or traveling a terrain for the purpose of discovery, e.g. of unknown people, including space , for oil, gas, coal, ores, caves, water, , or information.Although exploration has existed as long as human beings, its peak is seen as being during the Age of Discovery...
, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and
researcherA researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Job titles:...
who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the
aqua-lungAqualung was the original name for the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing sets; the type most familiar at the time was the twin-hose open-circuit scuba, as developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943, and since then made by various manufacturers with varying...
, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the
Académie françaiseL'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it was...
.
He was commonly known as "
le Commandant Cousteau" or "
Captain Cousteau".
Early life
Cousteau was born on 11 June 1910, in
Saint-André-de-CubzacSaint-André-de-Cubzac is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in south-western France.-Notable people:Jacques-Yves Cousteau is buried in the Cousteau family plot.It is also the birthplace of Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan.-References:*...
,
GirondeGironde is a common name for the Gironde Estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
, to Daniel and Élisabeth Cousteau. He had one brother,
Pierre-AntoinePierre-Antoine Cousteau was a French far right polemicist and journalist. He was the brother of the famous explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau....
. Cousteau completed his preparatory studies at the prestigious
Collège StanislasCollège Stanislas is the name of three schools:*Collège Stanislas de Paris, France*Collège Stanislas, with two locations in Quebec, Canada*Stanislas College, The Netherlands...
in Paris. In 1930 he entered the
École NavaleThe École Navale is the French Naval Academy in charge of the education of the officers of the French Navy.The academy was founded in 1830 by the order of King Louis-Philippe...
and graduated as a gunnery officer. After an automobile accident cut short his career in naval aviation, Cousteau indulged his interest in the sea.
In
ToulonToulon is a city in southern France and a large military harbour on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base...
, where he was serving on the
Condorcet, Cousteau carried out his first underwater experiments, thanks to his friend
Philippe TailliezPhilippe Tailliez was a friend and colleague of Jacques Cousteau. He was an underwater pioneer, who had been diving since the 1930s.- Biography :...
who in 1936 lent him some Fernez underwater goggles, predecessors of modern
diving maskA diving mask is an item of diving equipment that allows scuba divers, free-divers, and snorkelers to see clearly underwater. When the human eye is in direct contact with water as opposed to air, its normal environment, light entering the eye is refracted by a different angle and the eye is unable...
s. He later worked his way up the ranks as he became more famous and more useful to the navy. Cousteau also belonged to the information service of the
French NavyThe French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military...
, and was sent on missions to
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
and
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(1935–1938) and in the USSR (1939).
On 12 July 1937 he married
Simone MelchiorSimone Melchior Cousteau was the wife and business partner of undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The first woman scuba diver, Simone was at Jacques's side during his major underwater accomplishments...
, with whom he had two sons,
Jean-MichelJean-Michel Cousteau is a French explorer, environmentalist, educator, film producer, the first son of ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Céline Cousteau.-Summary:...
(born 1938) and
PhilippePhilippe Cousteau was a French oceanographer, the second son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Simone Cousteau.Born in Toulon, Philippe Cousteau first dived with an aqua-lung in 1945. He was a professional diver since he was 7 years old...
(1940-1979). His sons took part in the adventure of the
CalypsoRV Calypso is a former British Royal Navy Minesweeper converted into a research vessel for the oceanography researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau, equipped with a mobile laboratory for underwater field research. She was severely damaged in 1996, and is undergoing a complete refurbishment in 2009...
. In 1991, one year after his wife Simone's death from cancer, he married
Francine TripletFrancine Triplet Cousteau is the current President of the non-profit organization Cousteau Society. Francine Cousteau is the widow of the famous oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who died in 1997. Francine is the mother of Jacques Cousteau's third and fourth children . Simone Cousteau was the...
. They already had a daughter Diane Cousteau (born 1980) and a son Pierre-Yves Cousteau (born 1982), born during Cousteau's marriage to his first wife. Pierre-Yves is currently in training to become a professional diving instructor, completing his divemaster certification in Santorini, Greece in 2009.
Early 1940s: Innovation of modern underwater diving
The years of the Second World War were decisive for the history of diving. After the
armistice of 1940The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 18:50 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany and France...
, the family of Simone and Jacques-Yves Cousteau took refuge in
MegèveMegève is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.Megève is a famous ski resort near the Mont-Blanc in the French Alps...
, where he became a friend of the Ichac family who also lived there. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Marcel Ichac shared the same will to reveal to general public unknown and inaccessible places: for Cousteau the underwater world and for Ichac the high mountains. The two neighbors took the first ex-aequo prize of the Congress of Documentary Film in 1943, for the first French underwater film:
Par dix-huit mètres de fond (
18 meters deep), made without breathing apparatus the previous year in Embiez (Var) with
Philippe TailliezPhilippe Tailliez was a friend and colleague of Jacques Cousteau. He was an underwater pioneer, who had been diving since the 1930s.- Biography :...
and
Frédéric DumasFrédéric Dumas was part of a team of three, with Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Tailliez, in which he was nicknamed Didi. They had a passion for diving, and developed the diving regulator with the aid of the engineer Émile Gagnan...
, without forgetting the paramount part played, as originator of the depth-pressure-proof camera case, by the mechanical engineer Léon Vèche (engineer of Arts and Métiers and the Naval College).
In 1943, they made the film
Épaves (
Shipwrecks): for this occasion, they used the
aqua-lungAqualung was the original name for the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing sets; the type most familiar at the time was the twin-hose open-circuit scuba, as developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943, and since then made by various manufacturers with varying...
, which continued the line of some inventions of the 19th century (Rouquayrol's and Denayrouze's Aerophore) and of the early 20th century (Le Prieur). When making
Épaves, Cousteau could not find the necessary blank reels of movie film, but had to buy hundreds of small still camera film reels the same width, intended for a make of child's camera, and
cementedFilm cement is a special glue designed to join motion picture film. It is made of film base dissolved in a solvent. Two cut sections of film are spliced together in a film splicer using film cement....
them together to make long reels.
Having kept bonds with the English speakers (he spent part of his childhood in the United States and usually spoke English) and with French soldiers in North Africa (under Admiral Lemonnier), Jacques-Yves Cousteau (whose villa "Baobab" at Sanary (Var) was opposite Admiral Darlan's villa "Reine"), helped the French Navy to join again with the Allies; he assembled a commando operation against the Italian espionage services in France, and received several military decorations for his deeds. At that time, he kept his distance from his brother Pierre-Antoine, a "pen anti-semite", who wrote the collaborationist newspaper
Je suis partout (
I am everywhere), and was condemned to die in 1946. However this was later commuted to a life sentence, and Pierre-Antoine was released in 1954.
During the 1940s Cousteau is credited with improving the aqua-lung design which gave birth to the open-circuit scuba technology used today. According to his first book,
The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and AdventureThe Silent World is a 1953 book co-authored by Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas and edited by James Dugan. Although a French national, Cousteau wrote the book in English...
(1953), Cousteau started snorkel diving with a
maskA mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, concealment, performance, or amusement. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
, snorkel, and
finA fin is a surface used to produce lift and thrust or to steer while traveling in water, air, or other fluid media. The first use of the word was for the limbs of fish, but has been extended to include other animal limbs and man-made devices....
s with
Frédéric DumasFrédéric Dumas was part of a team of three, with Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Tailliez, in which he was nicknamed Didi. They had a passion for diving, and developed the diving regulator with the aid of the engineer Émile Gagnan...
and
Philippe TailliezPhilippe Tailliez was a friend and colleague of Jacques Cousteau. He was an underwater pioneer, who had been diving since the 1930s.- Biography :...
. In 1943, he tried out the first prototype
aqua-lungAqualung was the original name for the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing sets; the type most familiar at the time was the twin-hose open-circuit scuba, as developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943, and since then made by various manufacturers with varying...
— designed by Cousteau and
Émile GagnanÉmile Gagnan was a French-Canadian engineer and co-inventor of the Diving Regulator used for the first Scuba equipment in 1943...
— which made lengthy underwater exploration possible for the first time.
Late 1940s: GERS and Élie Monnier
In 1946, Cousteau and Tailliez showed the film "Épaves" to Admiral Lemonnier, and the admiral gave them the responsibility of setting up the Groupement de Recherches Sous-marines (GRS) (Underwater Research Group) of the
French NavyThe French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military...
in
ToulonToulon is a city in southern France and a large military harbour on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base...
. A little later it became the GERS (Groupe d'Études et de Recherches Sous-Marines, = Underwater Studies and Research Group), then the COMISMER ("COMmandement des Interventions Sous la MER", = "Undersea Interventions Command"), and finally more recently the CEPHISMER.
In 1948, between missions of mine clearance, underwater exploration and technological and physiological tests, Cousteau undertook a first campaign in the Mediterranean on board the sloop Élie Monnier of Group of Study and Underwater Research (GERS) of the National Navy, with Philippe Tailliez, Frédéric Dumas, Jean Alinat and the scenario writer Marcel Ichac. The small team also undertook the exploration of the Roman wreck of Mahdia (Tunisia). It was the first underwater archaeology operation using autonomous diving, opening the way for scientific underwater archaeology. Cousteau and Marcel Ichac brought back from there the Carnets diving film (presented and preceded with the
Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
1951).
Cousteau and Élie Monnier then took part in the rescue of Professor
Jacques PiccardJacques Piccard was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater vehicles for studying ocean currents. He is one of only two people, along with Lt...
's bathyscaphe, the
FNRS-2The FNRS-2 was the first bathyscaphe. It was created by Auguste Piccard. Work started in 1937 but was interrupted by World War II. The deep-diving submarine was finished in 1948. The bathyscaphe was named after the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique , the funding organization for...
, during the 1949 expedition to Dakar. Thanks to this rescue, the
French NavyThe French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military...
was able to reuse the sphere of the bathyscaphe to construct the FNRS-3.
The adventures of this period are told in the 2 books
The Silent WorldThe Silent World is a 1953 book co-authored by Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas and edited by James Dugan. Although a French national, Cousteau wrote the book in English...
(1953) by Cousteau and
Plongées Sans Câble by
Philippe TailliezPhilippe Tailliez was a friend and colleague of Jacques Cousteau. He was an underwater pioneer, who had been diving since the 1930s.- Biography :...
.
1950–1970s
In 1949, Cousteau left the
French NavyThe French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military...
.
In 1950 he founded the French Oceanographic Campaigns (FOC), and leased a ship called
CalypsoRV Calypso is a former British Royal Navy Minesweeper converted into a research vessel for the oceanography researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau, equipped with a mobile laboratory for underwater field research. She was severely damaged in 1996, and is undergoing a complete refurbishment in 2009...
from
Thomas Loel GuinnessGroup Captain Thomas Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness OBE , a Member of Parliament, usually known as Loel Guinness, was most well-known for his first marriage to the Honourable Joan Yarde-Buller, a daughter of the 3rd Lord Churston, who left him for Prince Aly Khan, the eldest son of the Aga Khan III...
for a symbolic one franc a year. Cousteau refitted the
Calypso as a mobile laboratory for field research and as his principal vessel for diving and filming. He also carried out underwater archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean, in particular at Grand-Congloué (1952).
With the publication of his first book in 1953,
The Silent WorldThe Silent World is a 1953 book co-authored by Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas and edited by James Dugan. Although a French national, Cousteau wrote the book in English...
, he correctly predicted the existence of the
echolocationEcholocation, also called biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several animals such as dolphins, shrews, most bats, and most whales. The term was coined by Donald Griffin, who was the first to conclusively demonstrate its existence in bats...
abilities of porpoises. He reported that his research vessel, the
Élie Monier, was heading to the Straits of Gibraltar and noticed a group of porpoises following them. Cousteau changed course a few degrees off the optimal course to the center of the strait, and the porpoises followed for a few minutes, then diverged toward mid-channel again. It was evident that they knew where the optimal course lay, even if the humans did not. Cousteau concluded that the cetaceans had something like
sonarSonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels. There are two kinds of sonar: active and passive. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo characteristics of "targets" in the water...
, which was a relatively new feature on submarines.
Cousteau won the
Palme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film...
at the
Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
in 1956 for
The Silent WorldThe Silent World is a French documentary film released in 1956, co-directed by the famed French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and a young Louis Malle. The Silent World is noted as one of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color...
co-produced with
Louis MalleLouis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
. With the assistance of Jean Mollard, he made a "diving saucer" SP-350, an experimental underwater vehicle which could reach a depth of 350 meters. The successful experiment was quickly repeated in 1965 with two vehicles which reached 500 meters.
In 1957, he was elected as director of the
Oceanographical Museum of MonacoThe Oceanographic Museum is a museum of marine sciences in Monaco-Ville, Monaco.- History :The museum is home to exhibitions and collections of various species of sea fauna both stuffed and in skeletal form...
. He directed Précontinent, about the experiments of diving in saturation (long-duration immersion, houses under the sea), and was admitted to the
United States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code....
.
In October 1960, a large amount of
radioactive wasteRadioactive waste is a waste product containing radioactive material. It is usually the product of a nuclear process such as nuclear fission. However, industries not directly connected to the nuclear industry may produce quantities of radioactive waste. The majority of radioactive waste is...
was going to be discarded in the Mediterranean Sea by the
Commissariat à l'énergie atomiqueThe Commissariat à l’énergie atomique or CEA, is a French “public establishment related to industrial and commercial activities” whose mission is to develop all applications of atomic energy, both civilian and military. CEA is headed by the high-commissioner for atomic energy , and by a board...
(CEA). The CEA argued that the dumps were experimental in nature, and that French oceanographers such as Vsevelod Romanovsky had recommended it. Romanovsky and other French scientists, including Louis Fage and Jacques Cousteau, repudiated the claim, saying that Romanovsky had in mind a much smaller amount. The CEA claimed that there was little circulation (and hence little need for concern) at the dump site between Nice and Corsica, but French public opinion sided with the oceanographers rather than with the CEA atomic energy scientists. The CEA chief,
Francis PerrinFrancis Perrin was a French physicist, the son of Jean Perrin.Francis Perrin was born in Paris, attended École Normale Supérieure, and became a faculty member of Collège de France....
, decided to postpone the dump. Cousteau organized a publicity campaign which in less than two weeks gained wide popular support. The train carrying the waste was stopped by women and children sitting on the railway tracks, and it was sent back to its origin.
A meeting with American television companies (ABC, Métromédia, NBC) created the series
The Underwater Odyssey of Commander Cousteau, with the character of the commander in the red bonnet inherited from
standard diving dressA standard diving dress consists of a metallic diving helmet, an airline or hose from a surface supplied diving air pump, a canvas diving suit, diving knife and boots...
) intended to give the films a "personalized adventure" style.
In 1973, along with his two sons and Frederick Hyman, he created the Cousteau Society for the Protection of Ocean Life, Frederick Hyman being its first President; it now has more than 300,000 members.
Three years after the volcano's last eruption, on December 19, 1973, the Cousteau team was filming on Deception Island, Antarctica when Michel Laval,
Calypsos second in command, was struck and killed by a propeller of the helicopter that was ferrying between Calypso
and the island.
In 1976 Cousteau uncovered the wreck of HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic was the third and largest of the White Star Line. It was the sister ship of and , and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. However, it was launched on the eve on the First World War and was quickly put to use as a hospital ship...
.
In 1977, together with Peter ScottSir Peter Markham Scott, CH, CBE, DSC, FRS, FZS, was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer and sportsman.-Early life:...
, he received the UNThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
International Environment prize.
On 28 June 1979, while the Calypso was on an expedition to
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, his second son,
PhilippePhilippe Cousteau was a French oceanographer, the second son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Simone Cousteau.Born in Toulon, Philippe Cousteau first dived with an aqua-lung in 1945. He was a professional diver since he was 7 years old...
, his preferred and designated successor and with whom he had co-produced all his films since 1969, died in a PBY Catalina flying boat crash in the Tagus river near Lisbon. Cousteau was deeply affected. He called his then eldest son, the architect
Jean-Michel CousteauJean-Michel Cousteau is a French explorer, environmentalist, educator, film producer, the first son of ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Céline Cousteau.-Summary:...
, to his side. This collaboration lasted 14 years.
1980-1990s
In 1985, he received the
Presidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is, along with theequivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress, the highest civilian award in the U.S...
from
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
.
On 24 November 1988, he was elected to the French Academy, chair 17, succeeding Jean Delay. His official reception under the Cupola took place on 22 June 1989, the response to his speech of reception being given by Bertrand Poirot-Delpech. After his death, he was replaced under the Cupola by Érik Orsenna on 28 May 1998.
In June 1990, the
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
Jean Michel JarreJean-Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is regarded as a pioneer in the electronic, synthpop, ambient and New Age genres, as well as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music which feature lights, laser displays and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon...
paid homage to the commander by entitling his new album
Waiting for CousteauWaiting for Cousteau is an album by Jean Michel Jarre, released in 1990 on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor. The album was dedicated to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and was released on his 80th birthday June 11, 1990. The title of the album is a reference to Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot...
. He also composed the music for Cousteau's documentary "Palawan, the last refuge".
On 2 December 1990, his wife Simone Cousteau died of
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
.
In June 1991, in Paris, Jacques-Yves Cousteau remarried, to Francine Triplet, with whom he had (before this marriage) two children, Diane and Pierre-Yves. Francine Cousteau currently continues her husband's work as the head of the Cousteau Foundation and Cousteau Society. From that point, the relations between Jacques-Yves and his elder son worsened.
In November 1991, Cousteau gave an interview to the UNESCO courier, in which he stated that he was in favour of human
population controlPopulation control is the practice of artificially altering the rate of population growth. Historically, population control has been implemented by limiting the population's birth rate, usually by government mandate, and has been undertaken as a response to factors including high or increasing...
and population decrease. The full article text can be found online.
In 1992, he was invited to
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, for the United Nations' International Conference on Environment and Development, and then he became a regular consultant for the UN and the
World BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to poorer countries for capital programs, tied to neoliberal market restructurings...
.
In 1996, he sued his son who wished to open a holiday center named "Cousteau" in the Fiji Islands.
On 11 January 1996 Calypso
was rammed and sunk in SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
harbor by a bargeA barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
. The Calypso was refloated and towed home to France.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau died on 25 June 1997 in Paris, aged 87. Despite persistent rumors, encouraged by some Islamic publications and websites, Cousteau did not convert to
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
, and when he died he was buried in a Roman Catholic Christian funeral. He was buried in the family vault at
Saint-André-de-CubzacSaint-André-de-Cubzac is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in south-western France.-Notable people:Jacques-Yves Cousteau is buried in the Cousteau family plot.It is also the birthplace of Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan.-References:*...
in France. An homage was paid to him by the city by the inauguration of a "rue du Commandant Cousteau", a street which runs out to his native house, where a commemorative plaque was affixed.
During his lifetime, Jacques-Yves Cousteau received these distinctions:
- Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur
The Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
- Grand-Croix de l'Ordre national du Mérite
The Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of Chivalry awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on December 3, 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...
- Croix de guerre 1939–1945
The Croix de guerre 1939-1945 is a French military decoration created in September 26 1939, to honour people who fought with the Allies against the Axis force at any time during World War II.-Recipients:...
- Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Maritime
The Ordre du Mérite Maritime is a French order established on 9 February 1930 for services rendered by the seafarers to distinguish the risks involved and the services rendered by seamen; stressed over the importance of the economic role of the Merchant Navy to the country...
- Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre National du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
- Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia on 14 February 1975 "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"....
.
Defense of the environment
Jacques-Yves Cousteau superimposed the geonymic vision of the sea and Earth elaborated in the 1930s by Jacques Grob and Philippe Tailliez with a conqueror's mentality. A cultivated explorer in the spirit of Jules Vernes, he fed the public's taste for wonder. "One protects what one likes.", Cousteau repeated, "and one likes what enchanted us." As Cousteau's oceanographic and cinematographic campaigns took place over more than 50 years (1945–1997), he was able to measure the degradation of the in-situ mediums: the conqueror-explorer, sure of his technical prowess and finding it natural to drive out marine animals gradually morphed into an ardent conservationist who leveraged his worldwide notoriety to promote the idea of the Earth as a limited and fragile spaceship that needed to be preserved. He was the only non-politician to take part in the 1992 Rio Summit.
After 1975, he briefly considered founding worldwide 'Cousteau Clubs' for young people, but eventually abandoned this idea in its original form (which would have involved significant work with few direct rewards) and instead published a few
fanzineA fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
s (Calypso Log, Le Dauphin) and made a documentary film about a trip to the Antarctic with children. Towards the end of his life, he became pessimistic and even misanthropic: An ideal planet, he confided to Yves Paccalet, would be one in which humanity is limited to 100,000 people who are both educated and respectful of nature.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau's star power rested not only on his personal image, but on the image of a united team striving towards a common goal. Late in his life, however, highly-publicized intra-family conflicts, internal divisions, and consequent lawsuits chipped away at this image, and that of his successors: son Jean-Michel and grandson Fabien on one side, and the Cousteau Team with his third wife Francine and their children of the other, do not have the public standing of the 20th century Cousteau Team.
On the other hand, the kind of underwater and adventure film that Jacques-Yves Cousteau launched has never been more popular: each year, hundreds of increasingly beautiful documentaries are produced, thanks to improvement of photographic techniques. The idea of a fragile planet and sea has not only made its way into the public consciousness, but also affects the political class who were slower to come to environmental awareness.
Legacy
Cousteau's legacy includes more than 120 television documentaries, more than 50 books, and an environmental protection foundation with 300,000 members.
http://www.cousteau.org/jyc.html
Cousteau liked to call himself an "oceanographic technician." He was, in reality, a sophisticated showman, teacher, and lover of nature. His work permitted many people to explore the resources of the oceans.
His work also created a new kind of scientific communication, criticised at the time by some academics. The so-called "divulgationism", a simple way of sharing scientific concepts, was soon employed in other disciplines and became one of the most important characteristics of modern television broadcasting.
Cousteau died on 25 June 1997. The Cousteau Society and its French counterpart, l'Équipe Cousteau, both of which Jacques-Yves Cousteau founded, are still active today. The Society is currently attempting to turn the original Calypso
into a museum and it is raising funds to build a successor vessel, the Calypso II.
In his last years, after marrying again, Cousteau became involved in a legal battle with his son
Jean-MichelJean-Michel Cousteau is a French explorer, environmentalist, educator, film producer, the first son of ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Céline Cousteau.-Summary:...
over Jean-Michel licensing the Cousteau name for a South Pacific resort, resulting in Jean-Michel Cousteau being ordered by the court not to encourage confusion between his for-profit business and his father's non-profit endeavours.
In 2007 International Watch Co introduced the IWC Aquatimer Chronograph 'Cousteau Divers' Special Edition. The timepiece incorporated a sliver of wood from the interior of Cousteau's Calypso research vessel. Having developed the diver's watch, IWC offered support to The Cousteau Society. The proceeds from the timepieces' sales were partially donated to the non-profit organization involved into conservation of marine life and preservation of tropical coral reefs.
Pop culture tributes and references
- Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a New York City-based hip hop group. Wu-Tang Clan consists of RZA, GZA, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, Masta Killa, the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, and Cappadonna...
member Old Dirty Bastard pays homage to Jacques Cousteau in the song Da Mystery of Chessboxin from Wu-Tang ClanThe Wu-Tang Clan is a New York City-based hip hop group. Wu-Tang Clan consists of RZA, GZA, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, Masta Killa, the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, and Cappadonna...
's Enter the 36 Chambers. "Here I go, deep type flow. Jacques Cousteau could never get this low."
- The song "Nice To Know You" from the American alt-rock band, Incubus
An incubus is a male demon that has sexual intercourse with sleeping women.Incubus can also refer to:In film:*Incubus , a number of films with a similar titles:* Incubus , a film in Esperanto starring William Shatner...
, references Cousteau, saying the writer's current feeling is "Deeper than the deepest Cousteau would ever go."
- American rapper Canibus
Germaine Williams, better known by his stage name Canibus, is an American rapper. He is a part of supergroup The HRSMN.-Early life:Germaine Williams was born in Jamaica in 1974. His father, Basil Williams, is a former Jamaican cricketer...
mentions Cousteau's name in his song Bis vs R.I.P.
- American rap group Jedi Mind Tricks
Jedi Mind Tricks is a hip hop group with two members from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and one from Camden, New Jersey. The group was founded by two high school friends, rapper Vinnie Paz and producer/DJ Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind...
uses his name as the chorus, saying "I'm a get deep like Jacques Cousteau; Jacques Cousteau could never get this low", from the song Get This Low.
- Belgian
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Belgium, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....
singer Plastic BertrandPlastic Bertrand is a Belgian musician, songwriter, producer, editor and television presenter, best known for his 1977 international hit single "Ça plane pour moi".-Early life and bands:...
made a song about Jacques Cousteau in 1981, under the title Jacques Cousteau.
- John Denver
John Denver was an American country music/folk singer-songwriter and folk rock musician. He was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the 1970s in terms of record sales, recording and releasing around 300 songs, of which about 200 were composed by him. He was named Poet Laureate of Colorado...
wrote a song called Calypso"Calypso" is a song written by John Denver in 1975 as a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his research ship Calypso. The 45 rpm single reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending September 27, 1975...
as a tribute to Cousteau, the ship, and her crew. The song reached the number-one position on the Billboard 100 charts.
- Director Wes Anderson
Wesley Mortimer Wales "Wes" Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials. He was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Royal Tenenbaums...
has referenced Cousteau a number of times. In his 1998 film RushmoreRushmore is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer , his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume , and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross . The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson...
, the main character Max Fischer finds a Jacques Cousteau quote handwritten in a library book and begins a search for the last person who checked out the book. The quote was "When one man, for whatever reason, has an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself."
- The 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is Wes Anderson's fourth feature length film, released in the U.S. on December 25 2004. It was written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach and was filmed in and around Naples, Ponza and the Italian Riviera....
, also directed by Wes AndersonWesley Mortimer Wales "Wes" Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials. He was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Royal Tenenbaums...
, is regarded as both a homage to and a send-up of Cousteau's career. It includes an end credit that reads "In memory of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and with gratitude to the Cousteau Society, which was not involved in the making of this film."
- Two New Age
New Age music is music of various styles, which is intended to create inspiration, relaxation, and positive feelings, often used by listeners for yoga, massage, inspiration, relaxation, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or...
composers, VangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou , is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
(who was heavily involved with Cousteau in the 1990s) and Jean Michel JarreJean-Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is regarded as a pioneer in the electronic, synthpop, ambient and New Age genres, as well as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music which feature lights, laser displays and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon...
, released albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
s including original numbers honoring Jacques-Yves Cousteau: Cousteau's Dreams (2000) and Waiting for CousteauWaiting for Cousteau is an album by Jean Michel Jarre, released in 1990 on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor. The album was dedicated to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and was released on his 80th birthday June 11, 1990. The title of the album is a reference to Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot...
(1990).
- The Swedish band Bob Hund
bob hund is a seven-piece rock band from Sweden. Swedish for Bob Dog – their name was borrowed from a television cartoon character. Their music, hard to classify, is by some described as "a frantic celebration of the power of music to invigorate and give life" whereas others have suggested that bob...
performed a tribute to Jacques Cousteau on their album Ingenting, released in 2002, with songs recorded in 1992–93. They refer to him as being "a brave aquanaut".
- The band The Flight of the Conchords references Jacques Cousteau in their song Foux du Fa Fa, when Bret holds up a fish- referring to Cousteau's study of the ocean.
- Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Chicago and currently splits his time between Chicago and a farm near the town of Elizabeth in northwest Illinois...
's song LullLull is a dark ambient side-project of Mick Harris.Lull was conceived in late '91 by former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris in an attempt to create music that would stretch, if not forsake entirely, the structures of conventional music by developing and exploring sound without beats...
, on his album Weather SystemsWeather Systems, released in 2003, is Andrew Bird's second solo album and his first after disbanding the Bowl of Fire. Bird has said that the album was simply a side project during his four or five year recording of Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs...
, begins, "Being alone, it can be quite romantic/Like Jacques Cousteau underneath the Atlanic."
- In Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series.The original Star Trek was an American television series, created by Gene Roddenberry, which debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons, following the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Federation...
, the captain's yacht of the USS Enterprise-E is named Cousteau.
- An internet rumour and disinformation
Disinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. It is synonymous with and sometimes called Black propaganda. It may include the distribution of forged documents, manuscripts, and photographs, or spreading malicious rumors and fabricated intelligence...
which has been running since 1989 says wrongly that Cousteau became a Muslim upon seeing the Koran.
- Around 1980 a scale model
A scale model is a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object . Very often the scale model is smaller than the original and used as a guide to making the object in full size...
of the Calypso research ship, complete with the marine helicopter was sold to children worldwide, along with leaflets calling for donations to the Cousteau foundation. These models are still being sold as toys.
- The futuristic novel The Deep Range
The Deep Range is a 1957 Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel concerning a future sub-mariner who helps farm the seas. The story includes the capture of a sea monster similar to a kraken....
written by Arthur C. ClarkeSri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, written in collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, a collaboration which also produced the film of the same name; and as a...
mentions a researchResearch can be defined to be search for knowledge or any systematic investigation to establish facts. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of...
submarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability...
named Cousteau.
- Gwar
Gwar is a Grammy Award-nominated thrash metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1985. The band is best known for their elaborate sci-fi/horror film inspired costumes; raunchy, obscene lyrics; and graphic stage performances, which consist of humorous re-enactments of political and moral taboo...
's first album, Hell-O, included a song named "Je M'Appelle J. Cöusteaü".
- The Actionslacks
Actionslacks are an American indie rock band, based primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, long associated with the region's Noise Pop scene.- History :...
released a song titled "Jacques Cousteau" on their EP "Kids With Guitars."
- The Swedish jazzband Esbjörn Svensson Trio
Esbjörn Svensson Trio was a Swedish jazz piano trio consisting of Esbjörn Svensson , Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström ....
tributed Cousteau on their album "Seven Days of Falling" with the track "Did they ever tell Cousteau?". Esbjörn SvenssonEsbjörn Svensson was a jazz pianist and founder of the jazz group Esbjörn Svensson Trio, commonly known as E.S.T...
died in a scuba diving accident on 14 June 2008.
- In the Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. The series revolved around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City, who occasionally live together and share living expenses. The series was produced by...
episode 'The One Where Ross Gets High', Phoebe mentions that she is 'in love with Jacques Cousteau'.
See also
- Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater for recreation, commercial or industrial reasons.Unlike early diving, which relied exclusively on air pumped from the surface, scuba...
- Aqua-lung
Aqualung was the original name for the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing sets; the type most familiar at the time was the twin-hose open-circuit scuba, as developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943, and since then made by various manufacturers with varying...
- HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic was the third and largest of the White Star Line. It was the sister ship of and , and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. However, it was launched on the eve on the First World War and was quickly put to use as a hospital ship...
- William Beebe
Charles William Beebe was an American naturalist, explorer, and author.Born in Brooklyn, New York, he went on to become Curator of Ornithology for the New York Zoological Society from 1899 to 1952. He was a self-styled naturalist and everything living seemed to hold a continuing fascination for him...
- Precontinent
Precontinent is a name of a set of projects to build an underwater "village" carried out by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his team. The aim of these projects was to show that people could live underwater for prolonged periods of time, while being subjected to the harsh environments of the deep see...
Jacques-Yves Cousteau's ships
- Calypso (ship)
RV Calypso is a former British Royal Navy Minesweeper converted into a research vessel for the oceanography researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau, equipped with a mobile laboratory for underwater field research. She was severely damaged in 1996, and is undergoing a complete refurbishment in 2009...
- SP-350 Denise ("the Diving saucer")
- Alcyone (ship)
The Alcyone is a ship operated by the Cousteau Society. It was created as an expedition ship and to test the operation of a new kind of marine propulsion system, the turbosail. The Alcyone is equipped with two of these unusual sails, which are used to augment its diesel engines...
- Calypso II (planned)
Books by Cousteau
- The Silent World
The Silent World is a 1953 book co-authored by Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas and edited by James Dugan. Although a French national, Cousteau wrote the book in English...
(1953, with Frederic DumasFrédéric Dumas was part of a team of three, with Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Tailliez, in which he was nicknamed Didi. They had a passion for diving, and developed the diving regulator with the aid of the engineer Émile Gagnan...
)
- Captain Cousteaus Underwater Treasury (1959, with James Dugan
James Dugan was a historian, editor and magazine article writer. Born in Altoona, Pennsylvania he is best known for his collaborations with Jacques Cousteau....
)
- The Living Sea (1963, with James Dugan)
- World Without Sun (1965)
- The Undersea Discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1970–1975, 8-volumes, with Philippe Diole
Philippe Victor Diole is a French author and undersea explorer.Diole was born in Saint Maur, France, son of Marcel and Elizabeth Diole. He married Marguerite Monsenergue on July 6, 1953...
)
- The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea (1970)
- Diving for Sunken Treasure (1971)
- Life and Death in a Coral Sea (1971)
- The Whale: Mighty Monarch of the Sea (1972)
- Octopus and Squid: The Soft Intelligence (1973)
- Three Adventures: Galápagos, Titicaca, the Blue Holes (1973)
- Diving Companions: Sea Lion, Elephant Seal, Walrus (1974)
- Dolphins (1975)
- The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau
The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau is an encyclopedia in 21 volumes, that forms an encyclopedia of marine life.It was published between 1973 and 1978.- List of books :# Oasis in Space# The Act of Life# Quest for Food...
(1973–78, 21 volumes)
- Oasis in Space (vol 1)
- The Act of Life (vol 2)
- Quest for Food (vol 3)
- Window in the Sea (vol 4)
- The Art of Motion (vol 5)
- Attack and Defense (vol 6)
- Invisible Messages (vol 7)
- Instinct and Intelligence (vol 8)
- Pharaohs of the Sea (vol 9)
- Mammals in the Sea (vol 10)
- Provinces of the Sea (vol 11)
- Man Re-Enters Sea (vol 12)
- A Sea of Legends (vol 13)
- Adventure of Life (vol 14)
- Outer and Inner Space (vol 15)
- The Whitecaps (vol 16)
- Riches of the Sea (vol 17)
- Challenges of the Sea (vol 18)
- The Sea in Danger (vol 19)
- Guide to the Sea and Index (vol 20)
- Calypso (1978, vol 21)
- A Bill of Rights for Future Generations (1979)
- Life at the Bottom of the World (1980)
- The Cousteau United States Almanac of the Environment (1981, aka The Cousteau Almanac of the Environment: An Inventory of Life on a Water Planet)
- Jacques Cousteau's Calypso (1983)
- Marine Life of the Caribbean (1984, with James Cribb and Thomas H. Suchanek)
- Jacques Cousteau's Amazon Journey (1984, with Mose Richards)
- Jacques Cousteau: The Ocean World (1985)
- The Whale (1987, with Philippe Diole)
- Jacques Cousteau: Whales (1988, with Yves Paccalet)
- The Human, The Orchid and The Octopus (and Susan Schiefelbein, coauthor; Bloomsbury 2007]
Books about Cousteau
- Undersea Explorer: The Story of Captain Cousteau (1957) by James Dugan
James Dugan was a historian, editor and magazine article writer. Born in Altoona, Pennsylvania he is best known for his collaborations with Jacques Cousteau....
- Jacques Cousteau and the Undersea World (2000) by Roger King
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau: His Story Under the Sea (2002) by John Bankston
- Jacques Cousteau: A Life Under the Sea (2008) by Kathleen Olmstead
Films
- The Silent World
The Silent World is a French documentary film released in 1956, co-directed by the famed French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and a young Louis Malle. The Silent World is noted as one of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color...
(1956)
- World Without Sun
World Without Sun is a 1964 French documentary film directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The film was Cousteau's second to win an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, following The Silent World in 1956.-Plot:...
(1964)
- Journey to the End of the World (1976)
- Cries from the Deep (1981) (Jacques Gagné, director)
- St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea (1982) (co-director)
Television Series
- 1966–68 The World of Jacques-Yves Cousteau
- 1968–76 The Undersea World of Jacques-Yves Cousteau
- 1977–77 Oasis in Space
- 1977–81 Cousteau's Odyssey Series
- 1982–84 Cousteau's Amazon Series
- 1985–91 Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World I
- 1992–94 Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World II
External links