It's hard to believe that he would have been 100.
There is rarely a time when I'm immersed in that Silent World that I don't have a fleeting thought of JYC or the Calypso. I, like most divers born in the 50s I grew up on Sea Hunt and The Undersea world of Jacques Cousteau the big difference being, his world was real.
But long before the TV series I knew of him. He was the one who invented my, (my dad's) DX overpressure, after all, his name is on the label, along with Gagnon of course.
So on this, the One hundredth anniversary of his birth, one must take stock of his, and his crews accomplishments as they sailed from one discovery to another, aboard the flagship, Calypso.
Just think, when He and Gagnon invented the Aqualung, the world was at war, and when he began his quest to unlock the secrets of the deep blue we were engaged in a cold war, hell bent on out doing the other guy at any cost, detonating nuclear bombs at places like Bikini Atoll and flushing anything we didnt want to see again in to our oceans. His timing couldnt have been better, because with out those efforts, we would not have gained the knowledge and understanding of the oceans importance to this planet. The voyages of the Calypso opened the eyes of many, and in no small way helped save the seas from certain peril.
So here we are reflecting on the life of an inventor, innovator, philosopher, visionary and Captain. He will continue to be sorely missed, especially now, with 12 million gallons of oil (and counting) plus millions more gallons of chemical dispersants pumped in to the Gulf. Who will Captain our ship through these troubled waters now?
