How things have changed

[covediver]

America's Ocean Wilderness by Gary Kroll published in 2008 helped put Captain Cousteau's contribution toward the development of America's ocean-mindedness along with others from the late 1800s until the current time including Rachel Carson, Walter Beebee and others. A real interesting chapter on how Cousteau became synonomous with ocean exploration in post-WWII America. The medium of television gave him a reach that Hans Haas never was quite able to achieve (I recall seeing one of Haas' orginal documentaries in the original German in Santa Barbara many years ago.)

As revealed in later biographies, Cousteau was a complex figure; both saint and sinner with a flair for self-promotion but a real commitment to his mission.

Yes, they did things differently back then. The trouble with looking at historic films is we tend to see them through the lenses of "presentism", that is, the values and mores of today rather than those of the time. We can criticize what seems like excessive destructiveness back then but it was a different world. I recall seeing an article from the 1950s that spoke of a diver taking 100 dozen abalone in one trip off the southern Californa coast and how he was expecting to do even better next time.

We also must be careful of revisionism, the tendency of people to recast their behavior in the past to suit the situation of today. I am amazed at the millions of my contemporaries that were at Woodstock or "Marched with Martin" when the numbers do not indicate anywhere near that level of participation.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Covediver

Dang! You certainly hit the nail on the head! Good work! I totally agree.

I think you mean William Beebee? "Half mile down" published in 1931. He was rather prolific expert in many feilds. He began publishing in 1905 and eventualy wrote and published around 20 books.

SDM

 

[covediver]

Covediver

Dang! You certainly hit the nail on the head! Good work! I totally agree.

I think you mean William Beebee? "Half mile down" published in 1931. He was rather prolific expert in many feilds. He began publishing in 1905 and eventualy wrote and published around 20 books.

SDM

Yes, it was William Beebee; he also profiles Robert Cushman, Eugenie Clark, Thor Hyderdahl and Cousteau.

 

[Avonthediver]

Yep pretty fug'ed up..It some times does seem that Legends don't seem all that great when you see things like this.

But as history shows time and time again that with out pioneers like Cousteau we would not be where we are today in out sport. I'm sure our for-father's did some pretty messed up things for our sake that we will never know about and some times I think for the best.

This to me is just one of history's little lessions that we need reminded every now and then.

 

[ElChe]

About Hass and Cousteau: Professor Hass was a scientist while Captain Cousteau was a soldier. Their habit was basically different. Dr Hass wasn't really interested in a career in filmmaking, in the sixties he started to work in the field of economics. The Captain was a different personality, he was the face of his movies and the equipment manufacturer Aqua Lung. They needed to use Aqua Lung products in their movies, etc. In the early years they really damaged coral reefs to get samples. But on the other hand they were the men who invented the regulator, who started underwater exploring. Yes, Cousteau's crew threw dynamite to the sea- but the Calypso was the ONLY ONE dive boat in the Red Sea in those years. Compare it to the actual situation... Later he realized all the problems threating the world oceans and was a real ambassador of conservation. His work help us to see the sea as no one saw a hundred years ago. It's quite funny to read if somebody says they did wrong- I wish anybody had the chance to explore a totally new world without making any mistakes. His personal life is another story and doesn't matter too much.

Anyway, we simply can't understand the early years. I use to read classic hungarian diving books and one of them writes about trips of the early sixties: they traveled 14-15 hours by train to reach the closest sea, the Adriatic to spend there 4 weeks. They were freedivers but they brought a single tank with compressed air which they shared so everybody has the chance to make a 10 minutes long scuba dive in salt water. Later they had more tanks and a compressor as well- but they still traveled by train! Now I book an appartment and some dives in Croatia on the internet and visit the places much easier. But on the other hand I won't ever be the first person who dive near a specific wall or find an unkown wreck. I'm sure 95% percent of today's divers wouldn't go under water if they had to overcome the challenges the pioneers faced.

 

[orca70]

I wonder if the industry of dive travel has done more harm than good. There are more than enough anecdotes on this site alone of ignorant divers kicking coral, standing on it or breaking pieces off. If for every responsible diver there is only one careless diver (and my theory is there are many more), then the number is still too high. I just worry that in 50 years or less, there won't be any quality dive spots left.

 

[rubixcube]

In all fairness, with the exception of the shark slaughter, Cousteau and his teams actions in the film were not malevolent. They were products of a lack of understanding and knowledge. Soon after this film Cousteau began to see the destruction and harm humans were causing to the environment, and would soon switch to a more environmental position. In fact without his extremely well known and popular series the important messages of how fragile and delicate the marine environments are may not have become as well known. As a side note make sure you watch his next film World Without Sun it's much better than this one, and probably his best documentary.

 

[ElChe]

Just a few additional thoughts about the changing things. For example even Cousteau thought when he started diving the ocean's resources are practically inexhaustible but he realized in a few years his fault. It took decades until the people realized the sharks are not killing machines: everybody thought the first explorers are crazy when dived with sharks. Hans Hass (maybe some divers don't know his name, I wrote a short entry about him) was the first who made a photo of a shark under water and he was the first man who swam with a whale shark- all the local people said he'd be dead very soon as the biggest fish of all would catch him. Just watch this famous scene and look their very basic equipment. How many of us would be that brave to travel to distant countries to swim with huge, unknow and potentially dangerous animals? They risked their lives, some of the first dive pioneers died during the expeditions, there were many accidents and incidents, and they were the people behind the real life decompression experiments. They had to design their own equipment- just imagine a world without an Aqua Lung. This day in the June of 1942 changed not only Cousteau's life but ours as well...

 

[Red fins]

I wrote a short entry about him[/URL]) was the first who made a photo of a shark under water and he was the first man who swam with a whale shark- all the local people said he'd be dead very soon as the biggest fish of all would catch him. Just watch this famous scene and look their very basic equipment. How many of us would be that brave to travel to distant countries to swim with huge, unknow and potentially dangerous animals?...

Wow!! Thanks ElChe. I watched that clip of Dr Hass. It was amazing!
The pioneers were very dearing. While some may say they were ignorant, it was only because it had not been done before. How can we say if it was right or wrong when at that time there was no right or wrong, there was only "try it and see".
Now days its a different story, because of these brave pioneers we know where to draw the line. In saying that, even we are still learning.

 

[sida]

yes, almost everything have changed nowadays..