What is the latest news about the Calypso (Cousteau's boat)?

[Popgun Pete]

The vessel has had its keel straightened once it had been reduced to a hull and there is a photo looking along the frames here. At the heart of Calypso, part 1 - Cousteau

Thus at last something constructive is being done. Once the money flowed in the vessel could be rebuilt as Cousteau had wished. At one time it was thought that it would be sunk as a memorial dive site at the end of its career, but that was before it was actually sunk in 1996 when rammed by a barge. Cousteau died in 1997 and the vessel is now a talisman for those glory days of undersea exploration. I look forward to seeing it sail again and like many bought a plastic model of it many years ago.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Is there any sort of list of what more-or-less-Calypso-sized underwater diving expeditions are happening in the known world right now?

Remember that Jacques Cousteau himself struggled with funding despite all the groundbreaking work he did. His oldest grandson, Fabien, has a number of projects going on all the time. I can't say much more than that.

Given the entertainment options, it is much harder to garner the same percentage of attention as his grandfather. I cannot think of any field where one person sits alone at the peak with such a gap with whomever comes in second as JYC.

 

[Anthony Appleyard]

The vessel has had its keel straightened once it had been reduced to a hull...

Of the structures and fittings removed during this, which can be reused?

See also:
At the heart of Calypso , part 2 - Cousteau
At the heart of Calypso , part 3 - Cousteau
At the heart of Calypso, part 4. - Cousteau
At the heart of Calypso, part 5 - Cousteau
Calypso is under shelter - Cousteau
UNDP committed to ensuring Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s legacy lives on. - Cousteau

 

[abnfrog]

I asked a student (25 year old ) about calypso .....they said what's a calypso so that tells me @Akimbo is right the brand is dying..........really sad

 

[Snodge]

I went down the rabbit hole of the Calypso a couple months back and from what I could see it appeared to me the hull is probably toast after the reported fire. If you read between the lines there's a bunch of "artifacts" or "fittings" (can't remember what they called them exactly) that were removed in preparation for moving and working on the wood hull. The steel observation bulb from the bow, the bridge superstructure, the engines, etc were warehoused and the hull went to get repaired. All the pix in the "heart of Calypso" links above are dated 2016; "In the late afternoon of October third, Calypso the workers began placing Calypso on a travel lift, this task was finished at around midnight. The next morning, 4th October 2016, was transported into her brand new shed. The team spent the whole day on this task before propping her up in the now complete shelter.". I think this was before the fire which was in 2017? So if you read the limited reports of the damage from the fire: "The new planking of the hull had been completed shortly before, following months of work, and according to the Cousteau Society it was only the newly fitted timber parts of the ship that were affected, not the original structure." (found here Calypso refit set back by fire - Divernet it might be deduced that the newly fitted planking had been destroyed which begs the question of what remains of a wooden hull that caught on fire? My guess is that the only parts left are the "Historical Elements" and it'll maybe go in a museum some day. It's sad that they seemed to be truly working towards restoration (see the "heart.." pix) until the fire messed everything up.

 

[abnfrog]

wow you may be right ....they may not be saying that the hull is gone so donations (as little as they are ) will continue .............

 

[JohnnyC]

This dude couldn't even get 10,000 people to "like" a LEGO model of the Calypso. Rebuilding the original? I'm not holding my breath.

RV Calypso

 

[HalcyonDaze]

This dude couldn't even get 10,000 people to "like" a LEGO model of the Calypso. Rebuilding the original? I'm not holding my breath.

RV Calypso

That's a shame, because as a former LEGO maniac myself my reaction at the time was along the lines of "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" As a kid I used to build research vessels out of LEGOs, raid my mother's sewing kit for enough thread to put on the little winch, and then put the ship on the table over the staircase so I could lower a little ROV to a cardboard model of the Titanic at the bottom of the stairs. Ah, good times ...

 

[Popgun Pete]

Historic motor vehicles worth multi-millions of dollars have been rebuilt from next to nothing, e.g. Bugatti Aerolithe, so with enough money Calyso can be fully rebuilt with its crane and diving saucer and all superstructural fittings. Many visitors from my era, if they got the chance to board the restored vessel, would probably drop to their knees and kiss the deck in a moment of overwhelming emotion. There is only one Calypso, if lost it will be gone forever. A donor vessel may be a solution if one of the same class still exists, desperate vehicle restorations have used this option when all seems lost.

 

[abnfrog]

I used to collect American muscle cars ,I have seen cars resurrected from a vin plate ...so we can still hope ......bad example on the Bugatti it was built by David Grangier (his company not him ) here in Ontario NONE of that car was from the original it was a REAL expensive clone but your point is made .. there is a real position here how much do you need of the original to be a restoration verses recreation my personal thought is 25 % but that's just my 2 cents