RV Calypso

RV "Calypso" is a ship that Jacques-Yves Cousteau, one of the most important researchers in oceanography, equipped as a mobile laboratory for field research.

"Calypso" was originally a wooden-hulled minesweeper built for the British Royal Navy by the Ballard Marine Railway Company of Seattle, Washington, USA. She was a BYMS (British Yard Minesweeper) Mark 1 Class Motor Minesweeper, laid down on 12 August, 1941 with the yard designation BYMS-26 and launched on 21 March, 1942. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in February 1943 as HMS "J-826" and assigned to active service in the Mediterranean Sea, reclassified as BYMS-2026 in 1944, laid up at Malta and finally struck from the Naval Register in 1947.

After World War II she became a ferry between Malta and the island of Gozo, and was renamed after the nymph Calypso, whose island of Ogygia was mythically associated with Gozo.

The Irish millionaire and former MP Thomas Loel Guinness bought "Calypso" in 1950 and leased her to Cousteau for a symbolic one franc a year. Cousteau restructured and transformed her into an expedition vessel and support base for diving, filming and oceanographic research.

"Calypso" carried advanced equipment, including one- and two-man mini submarines developed by Cousteau, diving saucers, and underwater scooters. The ship was also fitted with a see-through "nose", an observation chamber three metres below the waterline, and was modified to house scientific equipment and a helicopter pad.

A barge accidentally rammed "Calypso" and sank her in the port of Singapore in 1996. She was raised, and towed to France. After a time in the port of Marseilles, she was towed to the basin of the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle in 1998, where she was intended to be an exhibit. A long series of legal and other delays kept any restoration work from beginning. At one time it was rumoured that "Calypso" had been sold to Carnival Cruise Lines for the symbolic sum of one Euro. Carnival stated that they intend to give the vessel a 1.3 million dollar restoration, and then likely moor her in the Bahamas as a museum ship. See this [http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i041130a/i041130a.html cyber diver news page] for details of this plan and developments. At the end of 2006, most of the equipment had been removed from her upper decks, and she was unprotected from the elements. It was unclear what would become of this historic vessel.

Francine Cousteau has managed to organise the ship's restoration. [http://www.cousteau.org/calypso.html] On 11 October 2007, the transfer of the ship to Concarneau started, where she will be restored at the Piriou Shipyard and transformed into a permanent exhibit. [ [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-32770868@7-50,0.html La Calypso a quitté La Rochelle jeudi matin pour être restaurée à Concarneau] "Le Monde" 11.10.07 ] .

The "Calypso" in popular culture

* John Denver wrote a 1975 hit song "Calypso" as a tribute to "Calypso" and her crew.
* Jean Michel Jarre wrote a four-part composition in tribute to the ship, called "Waiting for Cousteau" (1990).
* GWAR wrote a song entitled Je M'Appelle J.Cousteau, which was featured on their album "Hell-O", originally released in 1988. It's not entirely clear whether this song is in tribute or slander, but the song is entirely about Jacques Cousteau and his ship the Calypso.
* Bill Murray starred in a film parody of Jacques Cousteau's life called "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou". In the movie, Zissou travels the seas in a ship called the "Belafonte". This is an oblique reference to Jacques Cousteau's ship "Calypso". Harry Belafonte is a noted musician who played calypso music on an album called "Calypso". Like the "Calypso", the "Belafonte" is a minesweeper.

References

ee also

* Alcyone for Cousteau's experimental turbosail ship.
* HMS "Calypso" for the Royal Navy ships of the same name.

External links

* [http://www.cousteau.org/en/cousteau_world/our_ships/calypso.php "Calypso" page] from the Cousteau Society.
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/192026.htm BYMS-26]
* [http://coltoncompany.com/shipbldg/ussbldrs/wwii/boatbuilders/minesweepers/yms.htm WWII Construction Records Yard Minesweepers (YMS)]
* Miquel Pontes - "El Calypso: Historia de un mito" in "Aquanet" 67, 2005 [http://marenostrum.org/download/aquanet/2005/aquanet-67.pdf] (.PDF file)
* [http://www.rotary-17aunis.com/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=74 Rotary Club of La Rochelle page on Calypso (in French)]
* [http://www.piriou.fr/ Chantiers Piriou, restauration of the "Calypso"]

fi:M/S Calypso