''Alcyone'' is a ship launched at

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

in 1985 for the Cousteau Society. ''Alcyone'' was created as an expedition ship and to test the operation of a new kind of marine propulsion system, the

turbosail The turbosail or French is a marine propulsion system using a sail-like vertical surface and a powered boundary layer control system to improve lift across a wide angle of attack. This allows the sail to power the boat in any direction simply by ...

. ''Alcyone''s two turbosails augment its

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s. Since the accidental sinking of , ''Alcyone'' has been the Cousteau Society's expedition vessel.

''Alcyone'' in popular culture

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

wrote a short song called "Alcyone The Wind" as a tribute to ''Alcyone''. The song was sung in the 1993 documentary '' Secret Societies of Dolphins and Whales''.

References

External links

Cousteau Society's ship page for the ''Alcyone''
* Jean-Charles Nahon (Naval Architect Bureau Mauric) and Bernard Deguy (First captain of ''Alcyone'')
Experience with sail assisted propulsion: the ''Alcyone''
(presentation slides, 2013. PDF, 13 MB)
Description of Turbosail
* 1985 ships Research vessels of France Marine propulsion Wind-powered vehicles Jacques Cousteau {{ship-stub