Calypso, the research vessel

Jacques Cousteau was an explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française. 

With the publication of his first book in 1953, The Silent World, he correctly predicted the existence of the echolocation abilities of porpoises. 

RV Calypso is a former British Royal Navy minesweeper converted into a research vessel, equipped with a mobile laboratory for underwater field research. Calypso carried advanced equipment, including mini submarines developed by Cousteau, and underwater scooters.

 The ship was also fitted with a see-through observation chamber on the bow three meters below the waterline, and was modified to house a helicopter pad. 

The research vessel (RV) was featured in three motion pictures and was seen almost weekly on US and British television for nearly 20 years.

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Calypso   (Deutschendorf)

To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean
To ride on the crest  of a wild raging storm
To work in the service  of life and the living
In search of the answers  to questions unknown
To be part of the movement  and part of the growing
Part of beginning to understand

Aye calypso, the places you've been to
The things that you've shown us, the stories you tell
Aye calypso, I sing to your spirit

The men who have served you so long and so well

Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you
To light up the darkness  and show us the way
For though we are strangers in your silent world
To live on the land we must learn from the sea
To be true as the tide and free as the wind-swell
Joyful and loving in letting it be

Aye calypso, the places you've been to
The things that you've shown us, the stories you tell
Aye calypso, I sing to your spirit

The men who have served you so long and so well