Authors: Brad Matsen
—Details of the experiments of Paul Bert and John Scott Haldane are from several sources, including the British Technical Diving Web site Dive Tech: Nitrox and Technical Diver Training, “Decompression Theory: Paul Bert and John Scott Haldane,”
http://www.dive-tech.co.uk/bert%20and%20haldane.htm
. Incredibly, no major book has been written on these pioneers of undersea exploration.
—John Scott Haldane’s decompression tables were first published with coauthors A. E. Boycott and G. C. C. Damant in “The Prevention of Compressed Air Illness,”
Journal of Hygiene
8 (1908), 342—443.
—The accounts of the dives to the wrecks of
Tozeur, Ramon Membru, Polyphème
, and
Ferrando
, and Cousteau’s remembrances of those dives, are from Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 29—37.
—The account of Dumas’s dive to 210 feet is from Tailliez,
To Hidden Depths
, 46—48; and Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 21—23.
—The account of the dive into the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is from Tailliez,
To Hidden Depths
, 73—85; and Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 53—65. The quote from the scientist about the enigma of the fountain is in
To Hidden Depths
, 75.
—Details of the First International Film Festival at Cannes in 1946 are from Peter Burt, ed.,
Cannes: Fifty Years of Sun, Sex, and Celluloid
(New York: Miramax, 1997), 2—14.
—The account of Pierre-Antoine Cousteau’s wartime activities and his anti-Semitic writing are from his own books. Cousteau’s comment about his brother is from Hugo Frey,
Louis Malle
(Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 2004), 76; and an article in the (London)
Independent
, “20,000 Lies Under the Sea: The Fishy World of Jacques Cousteau,” by John Litchfield, June 26, 1999.
—The improvements in the Cousteau/Gagnan regulator and the change in the housing from Bakelite to metal are documented in Phil Nuytten’s indispensable
illustrated article “Émile Gagnan and the Aqua-Lung: 1948—1958,”
Historical Diver
13, issue 1, no. 42 (winter 2005).
—The account of the death of Maurice Fargues is from secondary accounts in Munson,
Cousteau: The Captain and His World
, 56; and Madsen,
Cousteau: An Unauthorized Biography
, 58—59. Cousteau, Dumas, and Tailliez make no mention of Fargues’s death in their accounts of that period in their books,
The Silent World
and
To Hidden Depths
.
—The account of the Tunisia expedition is from Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 75—85; and Tailliez,
To Hidden Depths
, 85—97.
—The performance of the scouring hoses and the list of artifacts removed from the Roman shipwreck is from Tailliez,
To Hidden Depths
, 95—96; and Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 82—85.
—James Dugan’s first article on Cousteau and the Aqua-Lung appeared in
Science Illustrated
, December 1948.
—The history of the arrival of Émile Gagnan in Canada and the emergence of the Aqua-Lung in North American markets is from Nuytten, “Émile Gagnan and the Aqua-Lung: 1948—1958.”
—The descriptions of the photographs and text in
Life
magazine are from the November 27, 1950, issue, 119—25.
—The description of the headquarters of the Undersea Research Group in Toulon is from Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 49—50.
—Cousteau’s enthusiasm for helping Piccard build his deep-diving craft is from Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 95.
—Piccard’s comment on the similarity of the ocean depths to the surface of the moon is from his son Jacques Piccard’s book,
Seven Miles Down: The Story of the Bathyscaphe “Trieste,”
6.
—The account of Cousteau breaking his ankle playing tennis with his son Jean-Michel is from an interview with Jean-Michel Cousteau in January 2009.
—The account of the bathyscaphe expedition is from Cousteau,
The Silent World
, 94—101.
—The description of events leading up to the purchase of
Calypso
with help from Loel Guinness is from Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
15—17.
—The specifications, history, and details of
BYMS-26
are from Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
8—16.
—Cousteau describes his meeting with the admiral in
The Living Sea
, 22.
—Cousteau recounts his conversation with Loel Guinness in
The Living Sea
, 23.
—The descriptions of
Calypso
after modifications in 1950—51 are from Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
30—41; and Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 24—25.
—The account of the sea trials to Corsica is from Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
17—18; and Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 25—26.
—Cousteau’s description of the men who gravitated to him and
Calypso
is quoted in Leslie Leaney, “Jacques-Yves Cousteau: The Pioneering Years,”
Historical Diver
(fall 1997).
—The account and details of
Calypso’s
inaugural expedition to the Red Sea is from Cousteau’s own account in
The Living Sea
, 26—47.
—Philippe Tailliez would never again be part of the inner circle of Cousteau’s life. There is no evidence of animosity between the two men, rather a simple parting of the ways as Tailliez remained in the navy as the commander of the Office of Undersea Technology and Cousteau went on to fame with
Calypso
. In 1954, Tailliez published his own book,
To Hidden Depths
, covering essentially the same material as Cousteau’s best seller
The Silent World
. He did not employ a ghostwriter. Cousteau wrote an introductory note: “My dear Tailliez, The memories of the first steps which Dumas, you and I took together under water, and our raptures and our fears, are rooted in the bottom of our hearts. From the first moment your fervor sustained and inspired our team.
To Hidden Depths
will be the living reflection of the spirit which you instilled in us and in the Group.”
To Hidden Depths
did not become a best-selling book.
—Cousteau tells the story of the storm over the Malpan Trench in
The Living Sea
, 30—31.
—Cousteau’s agreement with James Dugan to ghostwrite
The Silent World
is reported in Madsen,
Cousteau
, 74—76, and confirmed in the author’s preface to the book.
—The deal with
Omnibus
on CBS-TV is from Madsen,
Cousteau
, 76, from interviews with Perry Miller reported in the notes for the book.
—Cousteau’s dive to search for the amphorae off Grand-Congloue is from Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 49—50.
—Cousteau describes the salvage operation off Grand-Congloue and the death of Jean-Pierre Servanti in
The Living Sea
, 48—98; and in
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
21—25.
—Albert Falco’s account of Cousteau inventing the basic design of a research submarine by clapping two saucers together at lunch is quoted in Susan Schiefelbein’s introduction to Cousteau and Schiefelbein,
The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus
, 15.
—Cousteau’s proposal to André Laban that they begin work on a submarine that could be launched from
Calypso
and reach depths of
1,000
feet is from an interview with Laban in February 2006.
—Cousteau’s association with James Dugan and Dugan’s work on
The Silent World
is confirmed in Cousteau’s introduction to the book; and in
The Living Sea
(also written with Dugan), 29.
—Rachel Carson’s review of
The Silent World
appeared in the
New York Times
on February 8, 1953.
—The account of Cousteau’s rescue from financial ruin by D’Arcy Explorations and British Petroleum is from Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 166—67.
—Louis Malle’s arrival as
Calypso’s
chief cameraman and later codirector of
The Silent World
and his participation in the expeditions from 1954 to 1956 is confirmed in Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 139—76. Malle’s career as a director would eventually include:
Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows)
, starring Jeanne Moreau as a woman whose lover kills her husband;
Au revoir les enfants (Goodbye, Children)
and
Lacombe, Lucien
, stories of betrayal and collaboration with the enemy set in occupied France;
Les amants (The Lovers)
, in which a woman, played by Jeanne Moreau, abandons her child and husband after one night of sexual abandon with a younger man; and many other tragedies and comedies in France. In 1960 Malle declared that he was “tired of actors, studios, fiction, and Paris,” and became a documentarian with a television series on India, after which he moved to the United States. He returned to France to make two more films, one of them a comedy,
Le souffle au coeur (Murmur of the Heart)
, which includes a scene in which a boy spends a sensual night with his mother. It was roundly condemned in France but hailed by American critic Pauline Kael as a masterpiece and nominated for an Academy Award. The second film after his repatriation to French cinema,
Black Moon
, was a complete flop. Soon after, Malle again moved to the United States, where he directed
Pretty Baby
, about the life of a child in a New Orleans brothel;
Atlantic City
, about a small-time gangster and a casino waitress; and the celebrated
My Dinner with Andre
, a 110-minute conversation in a restaurant between the actors Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn on the topics of theater, art, and Western civilization.
—The demise of the Persian Gulf pearl diving industry is from Daniel Yergin’s great book,
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
(New York: Free Press, 1991), 293—94.
—The brief history of the development of offshore petroleum exploration and production is from Yergin,
The Prize
, 234—35.
—The encounter with whales off the coast of Africa is from Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 131—35; and Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
29—30.
—The section on the release of
The Silent World
is compiled from the
New York Times
, September 26, 1956; and Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 139—50.
—The details of Prince Rainier’s offer to name Cousteau the director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco are from Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 300—13.
—The account of the design, construction, and testing of
La Souscoupe
is from an interview with André Laban in February 2006; Cousteau,
The Living
Sea, 278—90; and Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
51—55.
—André Laban’s quote about Cousteau using two saucers to illustrate his design for
La Souscoupe
is from an interview with Laban in February 2006.
—The death of Pierre-Antoine Cousteau was reported in an obituary in the
New York Times
in December 1959. His reconciliation with Jacques Cousteau before he died was related to me in interviews with JYC’s son, Jean-Michel, in April 2008, and his grandson, Fabien Cousteau, in February 2005.
—Cousteau’s appointment as director of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, his planning of the Marine Biotron, and his participation in a conference on nuclear waste are confirmed in Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 300—313.
—Accounts of the 1959 expedition to photograph the mid-Atlantic rift zone, attendance at the World Oceanographic Congress in New York, and visits to Woods Hole and Washington, D.C., are from Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
58—60.
—The article “Poet of the Depths” appeared in
Time
, March 28, 1960.
—The accounts of testing
La Souscoupe
off Puerto Rico, the Cape Verde Islands, and Corsica are from Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 280—90.
—Cousteau’s statement about the importance of human beings actually living in the sea is from his book
World Without Sun
, 6.
—The account of the week Falco and Wesly spent in Conshelf I, and the quotes from them and Cousteau on the experience, are from Cousteau,
The Living Sea
, 314—25.
—Cousteau’s fantastic prediction of the evolution of
Homo aquaticus
is from contemporary newspaper reports on the World Congress of Underwater Activities in October 1962.
—Cousteau’s pronouncement about the importance of the Conshelf II site off Sudan is from Cousteau,
World Without Sun
, 7.
—The account of Conshelf II is from Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
73—80.
—Cousteau’s fiscal philosophy is inferred from his constant references to raising money in his many books. A conversation with his grandson, Fabien Cousteau, in
February 2005 confirms that Cousteau cared nothing for money itself as long as he had enough to do what he wanted to do.
—The account of Conshelf III is from Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
82—85.
—The deal between
National Geographic
and CBS to broadcast
The World of Jacques Cousteau
, edited by David Wolper, is reported in Wolper’s autobiography,
Producer: A Memoir
(New York: Scribner, 2003), 112—14.
—The accounts of David Wolper watching Cousteau on television, thinking his undersea adventures would make a great series, his eventual offer to Cousteau, and ABC’s Tom Moore agreeing to air twelve episodes are from Wolper’s autobiography,
Producer
, 112—17; and Cousteau and Sivirine,
Jacques Cousteau’s “Calypso,”
87—88. Wolper’s remark about getting a hold of “that little Frenchie” was passed on to me by Jean-Michel Cousteau in an interview in January 2009.