Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jacques Cousteau.  It is hard to overstate Cousteau’s influence as an inventor, writer, filmmaker, explorer and ecologist.   His first book, the Silent World, written with Frédéric Dumas in 1953, was a memoir which describes how Cousteau and Émile Gagnan designed, built and tested the aqua-lung in 1943.  It was  an immediate best seller and is still in print, having been published in 22 languages and selling over 5 million copies.  The documentary, Silent World, based on the book, co-directed by Cousteau and Louis Malle,  earned Cousteau the first of his two Academy Awards.   In his lifetime Cousteau would go on to write over 50 books and to produce more than 120 television documentaries.  Jacques Cousteau died on 25 June 1997  at age 87.

Most of films and television programs were shot from the RV Calypso, a converted Royal Navy minesweeper. The ship was accidentally rammed by a barge in Singapore in 1996 and sank.  In honor of the centennial of Cousteau’s birth, the Cousteau Society has announced that the restored Calypso will sail again.

Jacques Cousteau’s ship sails again

To mark the centennial of marine explorer and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau’s birth, the Cousteau Society is relaunching his remarkable ship, Calypso, as a touring educational centre.

The Calypso was sunk and badly damaged when a barge in Singapore accidentally rammed it in 1996, a year before his death.

The renovated ship will include the Cousteau-designed mini-submarines, the underwater scooters, aqualungs, diving suits, cameras and other emblematic equipment used during his expeditions.