Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 50: The Dynamic Duo's Dynamics

StLF and MYKA  had long conversations about what they could do personally to bring about change: letters to the editor; emails to congressmen; articles submitted to magazines; and, speaking out at rallies.  But, as members of this research team, every idea they had considered required approval by the foundation first.  The problems were not limited to one or two countries.  The issues had become so widespread and so invasive that the idea of reversing the current course seemed impossible.

During these private late evening conversations, MYKA  began to open up to StLF, about the family history and the many generations of the Cousteau clan, and the many dire warnings that had been predicted more than half a century earlier.  As family stories were revealed, StLF began to realize that there was far more to understand than merely watching "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" on Dad's video tapes to understand the passion and commitment of this family.

The personal story of the patriarch of the family had begun in France, with Jacques being born in 1910 and spending time with grandparents who lived without electricity and running water and lived off of the land.   As a child, Cousteau traveled to the United States to attend a summer camp.   Because of his fear of horses, he was punished by the head of the camp.  His punishment?  He was given the awful job of going underwater to remove the aquatic weeds around the diving pier.   When he was a bit older and again at a camp, he found he enjoyed submerging himself and using reeds to bring air to himself below the surface.

As a young child, Jacques was fascinated with trains, once chasing after one in hopes of finding where it went over the horizon.  Police found him exhausted and took him home to his worried family.

Later, his fascination was with airplanes.  In fact after serving at the French naval base in Shanghai, Cousteau enrolled in the Navy's School of Maritime Aviation.   He was studying to be a pilot.

But, a terrible automobile crash occurring in a rural area where Jacques had to self-rescue himself in an extremely painful way put an end to training to be a flyer.  The devastating injuries, included two seriously damaged arms and shoulders.  To recover, Jacques put himself through rigorous exercise, swimming being the best type of exercise.  Jacques did not feel fully recovered for ten years.

Cousteau forged friendships during his time in the French navy that continued for many years. While in the navy, after his automobile accident, during his 1936 recuperation by swimming to strengthen his arms, Jacques became friends with Commandant Philippe Tailliez.   Tailliez introduced his good friend, Frederic Dumas, called "Didi", who was a spearfishing champion. The three of them formed a solid friendship, sharing their love of diving and working to improve their dives by introducing such items as goggles like those worn by pearl divers. They became well known for their fishing and diving skills that they became known as the "musketeers of the sea".  It was during this time, that Jacques married Simone, creating a team of four.

Jacques Cousteau went through formal training to be a French Naval officer, traveling the world and ever observant of the many seas and harbors and how they were being used by the local citizens.  He began hobbies of spearfishing and deep water diving, and thinking of inventions to facilitate these hobbies and make them safer.

Cousteau had a young wife and two small sons, when World War II came to their homeland and bombings began.  He had many reasons to worry for their safety and yet he was always giving his service to France without hesitation.

As part of the French military, Jacques agreed to hazardous work, including espionage to help with decoding of the movements of the Fascists from Italy.  MYKA  detailed some of the secret operations, including undercover work where Cousteau posed as an Italian military officer and led a team of locals, including a locksmith and motley band of questionable characters to perform a covert operation of collecting code books from the Fascist headquarters.  Cousteau knew very little Italian and could have been captured.   For his bravery, Cousteau was presented many prestigious medals and awards.

MYKA  also shared about Great-grandmother Simone Melchior Cousteau who was only seventeen when she married Jacques.  Her own heritage was steeped in seafaring, having both a grandfather and a great-grandfather who served in the French navy as admirals of great reputation.   The Melchior Islands in the Antarctic were named for one.  Simone herself would have loved to serve in the navy, but women were not permitted to have naval careers.  By marrying Jacques, she fulfilled her dream of a naval career, traveling the world on the Calypso. Arrière-Grand-Père always referred to her as the true captain of the RV Calypso.

The purchasing and refurbishing of the ship was itself an interesting tale.   Simone had found a benefactor, Sir Thomas Guinness to finance the purchase of the ship back in 1950.   Guinness wanted to fund oceanographic research and his part was to lease the ship to Cousteau for a symbolic one franc per year.

The ship had been built in the United States using Oregon pine.   It had been used by the British Royal Navy as a minesweeper, the wooden hull being a way to avoid detonation of magnetic bombs.   After the war, a private party bought the vessel and renamed it the Calypso, after the "Iliad's sea nymph.  The owner was using the ship as a ferry on the island of Malta when Jacques first saw it.   Cousteau liked the name "Calypso" so much he kept it, and it became legendary even inspiring songs.

Cousteau arranged installation of cutting edge modern navigational equipment (for its time), and specially designed features such as an observation well, where one could step down below the waterline to observe the sea life through portholes.  Divers also had the advantage of going straight into the sea through a trapdoor in the galley, and not having to go on deck in cold, windy conditions.

The crew of Cousteau's research vessel was the best and most imaginative to be found.   They had been working together and innovating for many years prior to 1950 and the luxury of "their" research vessel.  Simone Cousteau was an active participant of the brainstorming, even back in the early 1940s.

One example, was the need for changes for the use of a single air tank with a regulator to control the air pressure of oxygen.  Prior to diving with tanks of oxygen, divers practiced apnea, which is diving by holding ones breath.  Not much time to look around underwater.  And, even with using one's own breath of air, the quickly increasing air pressure, created deadly obstacles for deep diving.  No wonder no one knew what lies below in the deep abyss.

Simone's father could help with the design of a regulator envisioned by Cousteau, one that corrected for the problem of uninterrupted air flow.  Instead of having to be constantly adjusting a valve, that was in an inconvenient spot and added a drag in the water, Cousteau wanted a demand valve, a "regulator" that supplies air only when the diver inhales.   It also would shut off when the diver exhaled and, most importantly, automatically regulate the air pressure as the diver descended into the deep.

Simone's father was an important executive of a company known as Air Liquide, a supplier of natural gas.  He knew a brilliant engineer who for this company, succeeded in designing a wartime regulator to allow automobiles to run on cooking gas, when there was a shortage of petroleum.  This scientist worked along with Cousteau to adapt such a regulator to work for divers.

The three "mousque-mers" had many adventures together, before, during, and after the Second World War.  MYKA  promised StLF that many more episodes of the Cousteau adventures would be shared during their own expedition.  StLF was excited to find that their families had so many similarities, what with espionage, and inventions, and even "Three Musketeers" variations.  And above all else, profound concern for the Living Seas.   They both had big shoes to fill to continue their family legacies.

And so, the two of them agreed to do their best to make each mission a success, keep positive thoughts, scrupulous notes and log entries.  They would be as observant as possible for every opportunity to advance their work of solving several issues that would hopefully reverse global warming.   A tall order, but they would not settle for mission impossible.  Their ancestors made great strides and overcame many obstacles to study the sea, and the torch had passed to them. So, now they made a pact to see that every expedition would lead to the right outcome, and pledged their success to Fulton, Land, Payne, and Cousteau.   They would not let them down.