Short History Of... - Jacques Cousteau

Episode Date: June 7, 2026

Co-inventor of the Aqua-Lung, Captain Jacques Cousteau opened the ocean to the public like no one before. An explorer, filmmaker and environmentalist, he led groundbreaking underwater expeditions, and pioneered techniques for filming beneath the waves. Through his documentaries and television series, he brought the mysteries of the sea into millions of homes, becoming known the world over for his trademark red knitted hat and his beloved ship, the Calypso. But why did the ocean mean so much to him? How did a French naval officer come to invent a device that would change humanity’s relationship with the sea? And what were the tragedies and controversies that marked the life of this charismatic adventurer? This is a Short History Of Jacques Cousteau. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Doug Allan, an underwater cameraman for series such as Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet. Doug sadly passed in April 2026, and we dedicate this episode to his memory. Written by Nicola Raynor | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman Unlock the next two episodes of Short History Of… right now by subscribing to Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network, including Real Survival Stories and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed, or head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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our expert guest on Jacques Cousteau, who sadly died while trekking in Nepal in the weeks after our interview was recorded. One of the great wildlife cameramen of his generation, Doug devoted his life to filming the natural world with skill, bravery, and deep humanity. We were honored by his contribution to this episode, and we dedicated to his memory.

It is a summer morning in June, 1943. Outside the railway station in the seaside village of Bandol on the French Riviera, the car pulls up. Its driver, a tall, lean naval officer by the name of Jacques Cousteau jumps out and strides towards the station. In the railway's freight yard, a wooden crate waits for him sent by express from Paris. Cousteau signs for it and takes it to his car. Back at the villa, where he is staying with friends and family, there is an air of anticipation. He unpacks the parcel with his two closest friends, Philippe Talier. and Frederick Dumas, whose weather-beaten faces and sinewy bodies betray a love of diving as deep as Cousteau's own.

The parcel contains a new kind of equipment, which he has co-invented with an engineer in Paris, something that might change the way humans explore the sea. Excitedly, he lifts out three moderately sized cylinders of compressed air, linked to a small regulator about the size of an alarm clock. From the regulator, two hoses extend, joining at a mouthpiece through which it is hoped a diver might be able to breathe underwater. It's been months in development, but finally it's time to test it out. Early the next day, the group of friends with Cousteau's wife, Simone, head out to a nearby beach.

The men help Cousteau strap on the harness, securing the three-cylinder block to his back, and perform their final safety checks. He rinses his mask, then slides it into place, and positions the mouthpiece between his lips. Staggering under the weight of the 50-pound apparatus, he wades into the sea. Waring her snorkel and mask, Simone slips into the water so she can keep an eye on him. Frederic Dumas, the group's best diver, remains on the shore, keeping warm and rested so he can move quickly if Jacques needs help. Just six months ago, the last trial of this compressed air diving lung failed, thanks to issues with the exhaust mechanism.

But the grip are hopeful that those glitches have now been fixed. In the water, Cousteau sinks gently and takes a tentative breath. A faint whistle greets his inhalation, and a ripple of bubbles escapes as he let it out. The equipment is working. He is breathing underwater. It has been done before, but in previous trials there was always a hitch when the diver moved. This time, however, it feels different. cautious at first he kicks slowly downwards then up again the kit remains stable even when he experiments with somersaults and barrel rolls

as he swims a canyon opens below him he marvels at the green weeds black sea urchins and flower-like white algae he sinks deeper than a mask and snorkel would ever allow him taking his time in this underwater paradise Glancing up past a school of silvery fish, he sees the slender shape of Simone on the surface. He waves, and the silhouette waves back. With plenty left in the cylinders, he swims deeper towards a cave. Once he's through the dark, narrow tunnel, it opens up, revealing a roof covered with lobsters, their heads and antennae pointing towards the entrance. Cousteau plucks a pair from their rock face, then,

checks the tank. It's time to head back to the surface. Diving is hungry work, but now he has a hand-selected luxury supper to look forward to. No small thing in wartime. But this new invention, which becomes known as the Aqualung, won't just feed his family. It will change his life and reveal the treasures of the deep to the entire world. Co-inventor of the Aqualung, the device that made modern underwater breathing practical, Captain Jacques Cousteau opened the ocean to the public like no one before. An explorer, filmmaker and environmentalist, he led groundbreaking underwater expeditions

and pioneered techniques for filming beneath the waves. Through his documentaries and television series, he brought the mysteries of the sea into millions of homes, becoming known the world over for his trademark red-knitted hat and his beloved ship, the Calypso. But why did the ocean mean so much to him? How did a French naval officer come to invent a device that would change humanity's relationship with the sea?

And what were the tragedies and controversies that marked the life of this charismatic adventurer? I'm John Hopkins, from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is a short history of Jacques Cousteau. On June 11th, 1910, in a small French market town, not far from Bordeaux, Daniel Cousteau and Elizabeth Durantan welcome their second son. The younger brother to Pierre Antoine, Jacques is born into an affluent family. Doug Allen was an underwater cameraman for series such as Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.

He was also a lecturer on conservation and climate change. This interview was recorded shortly before he passed away in April 26. His father was an international law. and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy local wine merchant and landowner, so he wouldn't borrow to straighten circumstances, let's say. After Jacques's birth in the village whose parents come from, his mother and father returned to their home in Paris. Often ill as a child, Jacques shows his determination from an early age.

During a family holiday at a Normandy seaside resort when he is four years old, he learns to swim. The same summer in 1914, the First World War breaks out across Europe. Jacques's father, Daniel, loses the single client upon which his salary depends, and the family are forced to rely on Elizabeth's family money for the next four years. But when the war ends in 1918, Daniel is offered a new position on the condition that the family travelled to New York. And it's after crossing the Atlantic that the shy young Jacques comes out of his shell.

When he moved to New York at the age of 10, he learned to speak English fluently, and he improved his swimming, and he also did some snorkeling. Apparently, he spent a summer camp in Vermont, where he was assigned to clear debris in the lake, and he spent hours swimming around, getting things out of the water and moving ashore. And he called that a very formative experience. In America, Jacques's older brother, Pierre Antoine, who was also known as Pac, the acronym,

of his initials, becomes his closest companion. Both strong-willed and charismatic, the brothers share a spirit of adventure, which will take them on different paths. In 1923, the family moves back to France. Jacques saves his allowance to buy a hand-cranked movie camera and finds that using it gives him greater confidence and allows him to make friends more easily. At 14, he completes his first full-length project, filming his cousin's wedding. At school, however, his newfound self-assurance sometimes tips into mischief. After being expelled for breaking windows, he is sent to a boarding school 250 miles from home.

It's strict, but he thrives under its discipline. And in 1929, at the age of 19, he graduates from high school and joins the French Navy. There, his work will bring him closer to what will become his greatest love, the sea. AI is moving fast across the enterprise. But without visibility, it's just chaos. different tools, different models, different teams using AI in completely different ways.

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From pearl divers in the South Pacific to the harbors of Japan, Cousteau films everything he can, returning home with reels of footage that he cuts together and shows to family and friends. But though he'll be known for his love of the sea, for now the restless Cousteau has his eyes on the skies. Before long he requests a transfer to the Naval Aviation Corps so he can train as a pilot. By 1936, at the age of 26, he has nearly finished his flight training when he borrows his father's sports car to attend a friend's wedding. On the journey through the mountains, the headlights suddenly fail, and Cousteau crashes into a ditch.

Both of his arms are badly broken, and months of painful physiotherapy follow. Though he recovers, one arm remains weak for the rest of his life. When he resumes duty at the naval base in Toulon on France's Mediterranean coast, He works hard to rebuild his strength. One of the recuperative measures to get his arm as better was to take up swimming. And so he started swimming, and it was at that point that he met another French lieutenant called Philippe Talier, who became a huge influence on his life. Thalier was also a keen swimmer, but he was developing underwater goggles, the means of

seeing when you were swimming looking underwater. And he let Cousteau borrow those one day for swimming. And that was another transformational point. Kusto actually looked under water and saw what the Mediterranean was like. Beneath the water, Kusto discovers a hidden world. Forests of kelp and waving seaweed and fish in colors he has never seen before. It is love at first sight. Not long afterwards, another encounter will change the course of his life.

While staying with his family, he attends a part of his family. party at the apartment of Henri Melchior, head of air liquid, a company that produces compressed air stored in steel cylinders. There he meets 17-year-old Simone Melchior. Fluent in French and Japanese and raised in a naval family, she shares Cousteau's love of the sea. The Melchior family, to which Simone belonged, they were French elites with money to match, and many of Simone's male relatives were admirals in the French Navy. So Jacques, again, by dint of sheer good fortune, found himself circulating in some very influential company

as far as the Navy was concerned. But the pair of them definitely, they had a shared interest in the ocean. In 1937, Cousteau marries Simone, and they settle in southern France near the naval base at Toulon. The following year, their son, Jean-Michel, is born. At Toulon, Cousteau works as an artillery instructor, but whenever he can he swims in the Mediterranean. Philippe Talier introduces him to a diver named Frederick Dumas, nicknamed Didi. Dumas can hold his breath to dive as far as 65 feet underwater, practicing what today is

referred to as free diving. The three of them dubbed themselves the sea musketeers, with the water-loving Simone as an honorary member. With his enthusiasm for cinematography still going strong, Cousteau finds ways to protect his camera underwater, such as sealing it inside a glass jar. Encouraged by his friends, he also begins diving, reaching depths of up to 50 feet. Having grown up on the books of Jules Vern, author of 20,000 leagues under the sea, the young adventurers push themselves further each day, aspiring to become what they call menfish. But their dives leave them craving more time.

to explore the depths. By the 1930s, divers are experimenting with compressed air systems that allow them to breathe underwater for limited periods, but the available equipment is heavy and restrictive. Cousteau and his colleagues test these early designs, but their shortcomings quickly become clear. In one experiment, Cousteau loses consciousness, after breathing an unsafe level of oxygen. Another key challenge is that divers must manually regulate the flow of air from the tank, releasing it in careful bursts. What is needed, Cousteau believes, is a mobile device capable of adjusting the airflow automatically. The possibility of moving freely beneath the surface becomes a burning

ambition. But in September 1939, the wider world has more urgent plans. Germany invades Poland, and France, alongside Britain, declares war. While his friends are reassigned to duties in other parts of the country, Cousteau remains stationed at Toulon. In May 1940, France is invaded by the Nazis, with whom the French sign an armistice the following month. With German troops occupying Paris and the north, the government retreats south. For Cousteau and Simone, these anxious times are lightened by the happy arrival of their second son, Philippe, named after his father's good friend, Philippe Talier. A couple of years later, Cousteau is posted to a base in Marseille. That spring, he finds a 35-millimeter movie camera.

in a junk shop. With help from his friends, he begins adapting it for use in the sea. He invented or made underwater housings for different cameras. And of course, a pair of them were quite well placed because they were both officers in the French Navy and they had access to the workshops in the dockyards that they were based in. I often wonder how many of his early housings were done as favours by the people in the workshops who maybe weren't supposed to be working on these one-off

for Cousteau, but they just had some spare time and so they would machining down some components. That summer, reunited with his family and the sea musketeers, Cousteau works on a film capturing his friend's spear fishing, which he titles 18 metres down. But in November, Cousteau and his family are woken in the night by the roar of aeroplanes overhead. On the radio they learn that Adolf Hitler has ordered the invasion of southern France, German and Italian forces are now moving in. In response, the French Navy scuttles its own fleet on the southern coast to prevent the ships from falling into enemy hands. Italian troops allied with the Germans Garrison the town, and Simone prepares to fleet a Paris with the children, hoping it will be safer there.

In Toulon, Cousteau learns that the ship to which he was posted has been destroyed. Now, a sailor without a vessel, he is soon approached by a contact. from the French resistance. A Navy man with knowledge of photography is a valuable asset to the underground network. Understanding the deadly consequences of being caught, he rises to the challenge

and is soon undertaking his first missions. It is a cold winter's day in 1942. Jacques Cousteau studies himself in a mirror in the bathroom of a resistance-run restaurant. The insignia of an Italian naval officer, glints faintly in his reflection. He adjusts the cap, a fraction. He is as ready as he'll ever be. Nodding at his contact in the restaurant, he picks up his dispatch case and steps out into the street, walking towards the Italian naval headquarters in the dockyard. Built in wind-bleached stone,

its narrow windows are dark except for flickers of movements inside. From a flagpole hangs the Italian naval flag, and guards stand at the entrance, rifles slung over their shoulders. Kosto moves towards them, and the stolen uniform does its work. They glance at the insignia and look away. He crosses the threshold of the building. Inside the sounds of the city are more muffled. A narrow corridor stretches ahead, and he recalls his instructions and tries a door. First time lucky.

Inside the empty room, maps bloom across the walls, with the Mediterranean etched in intricate detail. Kosto helps himself to a folder of maps and takes them to a desk beneath a green-shaded lamp. From his dispatch case, he produces his precious Lyca camera. He pauses, listening to a murmur of voices in the corridor beyond the door, but the sound soon fades, and he gets to work photographing the documents, capturing enemy intelligence, gun emplacements, and stockpiles of ammunition. Suddenly he hears footsteps approaching and a shadow crosses the frosted glass. There is a loud exchange in Italian just outside the door,

and Cousteau has just enough time to slide the camera back into his case before the handle is rattled. But it stills as swiftly as it started, and whoever it is moves on. Cousteau swallows hard. His luck might not hold. It is time to go. Fastening his dispatch case with the Leica safe inside,

he returns the folder to its place, then exits the room, shuts the door, and leaves the building. Even an intrepid explorer like him recognizes risk when he sees it, and he is in no doubt about the consequences of mistakes on a mission like this. He has just survived, arguably, the most dangerous ten minutes of his life. After the war, Cousteau is awarded the Lijon d'Hourne, France's highest order of merit, in recognition of his courageous service to the resistance.

But before the conflict is over, Simone has a brainwave. She asks her father if he knows anyone at Air Liquid who might be able to help her husband in his mission to breathe underwater. So it is that Cousteau meets a quiet engineer by the name of Emil Gagné. He shows Cousteau a small device called a demand regulator,

which is designed to release compressed gas only when required. Intrigued, Cousteau immediately sees how such a mechanism might be adapted for diving, and the pair begin adapting the regulator for underwater use. But their first attempt in January 1943 works only when Cousteau is horizontal. As soon as he dives with his head down and his feet up, he can barely draw a breath. Gagnar makes some adjustments to the design, and six months later, in June, 1943,

Cousteau enters the Mediterranean to test the modified apparatus. It is a resounding success. He is able to spend around half an hour breathing freely as he explores underwater. His dream of becoming a manfish has come true. And he was developing all these things right under the eyes of the Nazis. It was remarkable how he managed to do it and he has a wonderful description of when he had the working aquaung in his hands. He and Taliae were able to dive under the water and while the rest of France was struggling for food, they would come back with armfuls of lobsters that they had caught. underneath the Mediterranean

using their new equipment and they themselves were able to pass these lobsters round their friends and live at a much better standard in a way than a lot of France was doing at the time. Cousteau sends word back to Gagne in Paris to apply for a patent

and asks for two similar prototypes for Tellier and Duma. The pair called their invention the aquilung. It is a device that will open up the underwater world to ordinate. people. Effectively democratised diving. It meant that diving went out to anyone who could swim virtually could learn to dive. And so the invention of the aqua and the invention of scuba. Scuba stands for

self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. The invention of scuba was definitely one of Cousteau's greatest achievements. Soon Cousteau and his friends begin to clock up hundreds of dives between them. Simone becomes the world's first female scuba diver and even the children. And even the children Children have the opportunity to try out their father's new equipment in shallow waters. The sea musketeers begin exploring local shipwrecks and bring treasures back to the surface, crockery, silverware, even bottles of pre-war perfume. But there are hazards in this new world too, with injuries sustained from razor-edged clams and scorpion fish. Thrilled with their new discoveries, they experiment with how deep they can go.

Duma eventually clocks in at 210 feet. This record-breaking depth introduces them to the so-called rapture of the deep, a strange euphoria brought on by inhaling nitrogen under pressure, now known as nitrogen narcosis. Their adventures are recorded in a film titled Epave, or Shipwrecks. When it is shown to a room full of admirals in Toulon, they immediately recognize the military potential of the Aqualan and place an order for ten of them. In May 1945, the war in Europe finally comes to an end. But the celebrations don't last long for Cousteau,

because shortly afterwards he receives news that his brother, Pac, has been arrested as a Nazi collaborator. Pierre was born four years earlier than Jacques. But the big divergence came during the war because Pac effectively became a German collaborator. He supported the Nazis, wrote a lot of propagandist stuff for them. And after the war, Pak was actually... actually condemned today as a collaborator.

But I think Kusto has some influence and managed to get that death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. And Pach in the end stayed 10, 12 years in prison and then was released. And I suspect that they had very little to do with each other after that point. So you couldn't have had a greater contrast between the two wars that the two brothers fought. The brothers largely remain estranged until Pax's death a decade or so later in 1958. Meanwhile, not long after the war, the French Navy creates what it calls the underwater research group to teach sailors to dive. Talier, as the most senior officer, is the commander, and Cousteau is his deputy. Largely left to their own devices, the group is tasked with clearing French harbors of mines and sunken wrecks.

Yet there is still time for filmmaking and for satisfying their growing curiosity about the underwent. underwater world. The men egg each other on, attempting to break new records, despite the known risks. In terms of the medical effects of being deep, that had actually been discovered back in Victorian times particularly when they were building tunnels under rivers. You often used to have to pressurise the tunnel where you were building it to stop water seeping in from the outside. And they knew that if workmen worked for a day down under pressure, it would be able to be able to

Then they just brought them up. The workers would often complain of stiffness in their joints and things like that. And that effectively is what you're called getting the bends, which is where you work under pressure. Nitrogen dissolves into your blood, into your joints. And when you come up, you have to come up slowly to let that excess gas escape from you. So to some extent, Kustl was working with long-established medical principles. But when you go into keeping people underwater for long time

and how deep can you dive, and they were definitely twitching on. In 1947, attempting a new depth record, the team loses one of their own. A diver called Maurice Fagg reaches 385 feet, but loses consciousness underwater. It is the Aqualung's first fatality. Yet despite the tragedy, demand for Cousteau's invention continues to grow. Before long, the Aqualung is being sold not only across Europe, but also in the United States and Canada. With publicity building, Cousteau hires his father as a business agent.

When Cousteau Senior helps set up a screening of his son's short films, a magazine editor makes inquiries about the Frenchman who can breathe underwater. The resulting seven-page feature in Life magazine, featuring the diver's dramatic photos of sharks, reaches more than 10 million readers. A week later, Cousteau accepts an offer from Universal Studios of $11,000 for his first four documentaries. But for that, he needs a vessel of his own, and soon the perfect solution is found.

The wooden-hulled Calypso began its life during the Second World War as a British minesweeper. He didn't buy himself, it was a billionaire from the Guinness family who actually leased it to him for one euro for a year. And then at the end of it he acquired it completely for himself. And he fitted it out as the perfect. expedition diving vessel. He modified bits of the structure but he made it a place where he could roam the world with his team of divers. He went from Antarctica to Tasmania to the Mississippi River. The Cousteaus remortgage their house to help

renovate the Calypso and Simone sells her jewelry to raise more funds. Cousteau refits the vessel for exploration, adding a bulbous bow with eight viewing windows for filming He takes three years leave from the Navy and assembles a team of divers, including Dumas. On the evening before they depart, the crew gather around the small galley table for dinner. Their captain, Cousteau, makes a toast to their new adventure, closing with his motto, Ilfo a levoir. We must go and see for ourselves. On November 24, 1951, the Calypso sets out on its first expedition to the Red Sea, the narrow stretch of water

between northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Cousteau cheerfully describes it as a nice hot bathtub full of sharks. In its warm waters, the crew encountered dazzling coral reefs and identify previously unknown species. The following year, he discovers a 2000-year-old Greek shipwreck of the coast of Marseille, from which he recovers ancient ceramics.

He also now establishes the French Office of Undersea Technology in Toulon, a centre dedicated to inventing and improving diving equipment and underwater technology. With the help of Dumas, he also begins writing about his adventures. The resulting book, The Silent World, becomes a New York Times bestseller. The Silent World really was the book that launched Jacques into the public seer, into public recognition. When that was published in 1953, it was an international bestseller.

It sold millions of copies and became a phenomenon. And it really lifted crystal into the realms. The success of the silent world allows the Calypso's voyages to become more ambitious. The crew ventures into the Persian Gulf, where some of the time is spent surveying the seabed for oil companies. It is demanding work, but pays for what will become the first full-length underwater film in color. The film showcases the treasures of the ocean, porpoises leaping through the waves, and Jojo, a large group of fish who loves to be fed scraps. but it also captures the camaraderie of the men as they play cards and share bottles of wine. Nicknamed the Shepardess, Simone is adored by the crew,

and the Cousteau's sons join their parents on their holidays from boarding school. In 1956, the resulting film, also titled The Silent World, wins the Palm Door, the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Oscar for Best Documentary. But the film, which includes footage of the crew blowing up coral reefs and harpooning fish, is not without its critics. Kirsto was a visionary, but he also had his moments of controversy. The silent world has a scene in it, which is really quite disturbing now, where the calypso is plowing through the ocean, and it comes across a pot of sperm whales.

Unfortunately, totally by accident, they hit one of the calf sperm whales. Spirnwell was injured, and shortly after some sharks came in, they were attracted by the blood coming from the Spirond whale, and they ended up killing the Spirn's Whale baby. And at that point, the Custo team decided that the sharks were the killers, and there are shots of the hauling these sharks on board Cullos, and just basically clubbing them to death. Despite the controversies, the film propels Custeau to worldwide fame. With an innate sense of charm and style, he is unnatural in front of the camera. The French people bring elegance and eland to what they do.

They do things in a different way. He was a wonderful showman, he was a wonderful visionary, but he had a real knack of knowing what the public wanted. In the late 1950s, Kusteau takes on the directorship of Monaco's Oceanographic Museum and helps develop a revolutionary underwater vehicle, nicknamed the diving saucer for its resemblance to the classic UFO shape. But soon his busy mind turns to greater challenges. He begins to imagine a world where humans can live underwater

and sets out to make it a reality. There were two big frontiers through the 60s. That was going to space with NASA and it was going underwater. And while the moon mission was the big aim for NASA, Kusto was the visionary who took them. things into the underwater realm. In 1962, he spoke about this being the dawn of what he called Homo Aquaticus. And he actually envisioned people living under the sea, partly as humans, but there was also

experiments into, for example, they flooded the lungs of mice with super oxygenated water and found that these mice could live underwater, no problem. So, Khrusha, I think, had this idea of let's look at a different. form of humans, a different way of human beings actually living underwater. The first step in this ambitious journey is a project called Corn Shelf One. It is a watertight capsule, the size of a large bedroom, which sits at around 33 feet below the surface of the coast of Marseille. The aquanauts, as they are known, are under daily medical supervision, and with air pumped in, they enter and exit through a hole in the floor, known as the moon pool.

The air pressure inside the chamber prevents the water from flooding in. And it was just a very simple cylinder which was put into the water in the Mediterranean down to the depth of 10 metres and two people lived in it for a week. So he decided to take that to the next stage and he designed Cornshelf 2, which was a much bigger thing. That was really like a village underneath the sea. In the Red Sea of the coast of Sudan, Cornshelf 2, features two separate residences. At 100 feet, the deep cabin is home to just two aquanauts for a week.

The bigger habitat, close to the surface at 33 feet, is called Starfish House. Taking its name from its shape, it is a two-story structure with everything from air conditioning to sunlamps to a garage for the diving saucer. There, five aquanauts live and work for a month. Air is pumped from the Italian cargo ship Rizaldo, though the smaller Calypso ferries supplies from the shore, and visitors from the Rizaldo can pop to the underwater village for a visit. It is July 1963, a swelteringly hot day. Off the coast of Sudan, Simone Cousteau stands on the deck of Rizaldo preparing to dive.

She shifts her weight under the cylinder on her back. After getting a final once over from a crew member, with her fins in one hand, she begins to descend the ladder on the side of the ship. When the water reaches her chest, she rinses out her mask, pulls it on and fits her mouthpiece, taking a testing breath. Then, slipping on her fins, she surrenders to the cool water. Immediately the noises of the world above disappear, replaced by just the steady rhythm of her own breathing through the aquiland. Kicking away, she begins her descent.

The Red Sea opens in astonishing clarity. The reef below rises to meet her, a garden in motion, with coral growing in multiple shapes and forms. Every inch is vivid with life. Antheus flicker past in clouds of orange, and a pair of brilliant butterfly fish glide by. Below her, the continental shelf dips away into deeper blue. She exhales and lets herself sink a little more.

The pressure tightening briefly around her ears before releasing as she equalizes. She swims on, glancing at her compass. Not far now. At last, she glimpses the vivid yellow of starfish house. An airtight capsule standing on stilt-like legs on the seabed, bubbles streaming from its air supply. Letting herself into the cage-like structure at the basement, Simone climbs a ladder through the circular moon pool, where water gives way to air. There, as she hauls herself onto the platform, her movements grow heavier with a return of gravity.

A half-dressed diver greets her and steps into help, unbuckling her tank and easing the weight from her shoulders. After rolling down her wetsuit, she heads next door to the living area. There she finds the men sitting around a small table, with cigarettes in their hands, wearing only shorts to keep cool. After exchanging greetings and pausing to tickle their green parrot under the beak, she pinches a smoke from one of them and slips through to the kitchen. Through a small window, movement catches her eye. A triggerfish hovers just outside, watching them. The cook tells her he's trained it to come to the moon pool for food.

When they wander over, it's already there waiting for them. They drop a few scraps into the water and watch it snap them up. Simone laughs. Calling through to the men, she asks them to send a message up to the Rizeldo, that she'll stay the night in one of the visitor berths. After all, why would she choose the surface over this magical underwater paradise? With footage taken from his extraordinary habitats, Kusteau makes a documentary called World Without Sun.

It airs just before Christmas in 1964 and wins him his second Oscar. By now, the oil companies are eager to learn how much deeper humans can live, so a year later, Corn Shelf 3 is launched. A spherical structure, over 300 feet deep, it is anchored just off the coast of France. Though the six men have comfortable lodgings, they are breathing a mixture 98% helium and 2% oxygen, which affects their voices to such a degree that conversation is rendered almost impossible. Their senses of taste and smell are also dulled. Though the experiment provides valuable insights into deep-sea living, it is costly and complex. In April 1966, CBS airs a one-hour TV special on Corn Shelf 3, which is narrated by the film star Orson Wells.

But a producer on the documentary decides there's more mileage in Cousteau's adventures, and not long after, ABC television acquires the first series of the undersea world of Jacques Cousteau, for $4.2 million. The first episode, Sharks, premieres in 1968, and features footage of one of Cousteau's divers riding a 60-foot whale shark. Though the series is a hit, Captain Cousteau and his crew of gung-ho adventures

sometimes take things a little too far. He did one or two things, which must have been debatable even at the time. I remember one of the episodes of the undersea world of Jacques Cousteau where he took two young first-sealed pups from, I think, a rookery in South Africa and took them on board the Calypso with this idea of seeing how they would adapt

to being with humans, which is a mad idea, and it never worked. They just kept biting people when they had to be kept in cages all the time. And I think eventually they were let loose in another part of the world where, to be honest, their chances of survival were tiny. Now, that's the sort of thing that,

you know, even at the time, there must have been people thought, this is a mad idea, Shaq. You know, it'll make a storyline through one of your programmes, but let's not go there. On the other hand, it was transmitted at the time, and it's more an indication of the sort of ethics of filmmaking at the time,

which have moved on since then. So it's that whole question of judging someone by the historical standards of the day, let's say. The popular television show runs for eight years, ending in 1976, by which time the tall, thin Frenchman in his trademark knitted red hat, together with his plucky crew, is known all over the world. In the late 60s and early 70s, Kusteau and his divers

begin to notice a deterioration in the world's oceans. I think it's easy to forget just how Christine the Mediterranean was when Kusto was born and between the wars, before it all began to get industrialized around the edge and things. So Kusto was very aware of the riches in the Mediterranean and then he was one of the first people to go and explore places like the Red Sea and further abroad. So he saw the oceans as a lovely period in history. And if you can draw a parallel between Kusto and David Attenborough, for example,

anyone who has seen the world the way that they have since the mid-50s to today, you cannot help but become aware of the human influence on the oceans. In 1973, Cousteau founds a non-profit organization, the Cousteau Society, to protect the oceans and restore marine habitats. With offices in New York and Los Angeles and the French branch Lequipe Cousteau in Paris, it offers membership to the general public. Jacques serves as chairman, with his son Philippe as vice president. Philippe from early on was definitely going to be Cousteau's heir and successor, and a pair of them were very, very close. Although they did have some heated arguments, Philippe became more involved with the making of the films. The undersea world of Jacques Cousteau became more of a character

in them. It is in part Philippe's influence that helps Cousteau develop a stronger focus on the environment. Together he and his father speak to governments and the general public about the urgent need to reduce pollution and protect the planet. Cousteau's life is now one of a busy international star. Though he is not always strong at managing his finances, his charismatic personality enables him to continue attracting funding for his work. I think he had a wicked sense of fun, a wicked sense of humour, and he wasn't knowingly cruel to anyone. He just liked to be the centre of things. He knew that filmically he had to be the centre of things because that was what people expected. Sometimes he might just be on set or be on occasion for one or two days.

then he's off again to some conference talking about things. And so those were knew him well on the ship, they maybe had a wise smile to themselves. Well, here comes the star, helicoptering in for a couple of days. But that's what happens on many, many films today. In 1977, he receives an environmental prize from the United Nations in recognition of his contributions to conservation. But two years later, tragedy strikes.

While his wife is pregnant with their second child, Philippe crashes landing his seaplane on the Tagus River in Portugal. Though the others on board survive, Philippe's body is swept away by the water and is not found for three days. Utterly heartbroken, Cousteau can't bring himself to identify his son's body, and he sends Philippe's older brother Jean-Michel to do it. Philippe is buried at sea, 25 miles of the Portuguese coast. Afterwards, Cousteau speaks to reporters about the importance of finding someone to continue his work, but he never talks about his beloved son in public again. Finding a way through his grief, he returns to exploration, filming in the Amazon and the Mississippi,

and retracing the roots of great explorers such as Christopher Columbus. Simone retreats to her beloved Calypso, spending long periods alone as the couple live increasingly separate lives. But Jacques begins a length. the affair with a woman named Francine Triplei, a young flight attendant he met during his travels. The relationship deepens, and he has a secret second family with her. In 1990, shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, Simone passes away. Her ashes are scattered over the sea of Monaco, but Cousteau does not leave it long before

marrying Francine, a move which creates an irreparable rift with his surviving son. Yet despite the fractures in his personal life, Kusto's passion for protecting the oceans does not fade, even in his 80s. When companies begin discussing plans to mine Antarctica for oil and minerals, Kusto begins a worldwide campaign to stop them. He meets with political leaders and collects more than a million signatures on an international petition. To raise awareness, he makes a film, Lilliput in Antarctica, traveling to the icy continent with six children from. from different countries. His efforts contribute to the establishment of a lasting ban on mining on the continent and its designation as a place of scientific research.

Continuing with his mission, he advocates for every child's right to inherit an uncontaminated planet, and eventually the wording of his Bill of Rights for Future Generations is approved by the UNESCO General Conference. It is Cousteau's final triumph. As if, foreshadowing his decline, the Calypso sinks in nine. 1996 in Singapore in a collision with a barge. One of his team manages to salvage the wrecked boat to bring her home. But before she reaches France, Cousteau suffers a heart attack and dies on June the 25th, 1997, at the age of 87 in Paris.

By the end of his life, he has been awarded every honor his home country can bestow. At his funeral at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, President Jacques Chirac leads a thousand mourners, calling Cousteau an enchanter who represented the defense of nature, modern adventure, and the dreamy part at the heart of all of us. Jacques Cousteau reshaped humanity's relationship with the sea. Through his pioneering films, inventions and expeditions, he brought the hidden world of the oceans into public view. As a leading voice for marine conservation, he helped to protect the fragile environment. He'd spent his life exploring. Though his early work was marked by some controversial decisions and his later years by his complicated personal life,

Cousteau's enduring achievement was to make the oceans not just a place of discovery, but a cause worth defending. He embodies adventure under the sea, and he is still the name that comes to mind when so many people talk about where they got their inspiration from the sea, Jacques Cousteau will come up. and it's because his films are still out there on the internet, his books are still out there and available, and because his principles are stronger than ever about the need to look after the oceans. Next time on Short History, we'll bring you a short history of punk. Punk plays a pretty long game, I think, in terms of the impact that,

if we're talking in the British context of sex pistols have, just in terms of inspiring a whole generation of musicians, to come up with really constantly evolving and interesting and exciting forms of music and musical presentation. It opened up a space for lots of people who previously probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to do creative things and to do creative things in ways that fundamentally changed the culture of Britain and the world. That's next time. You can listen to the next two episodes of Short History of Right Now, without waiting and without adverts by subscribing to Noyser Plus.

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