Philippe Pierre Cousteau (30 December 1940 – 28 June 1979) was a French diver, sailor, pilot, photographer, author, director and cinematographer specializing in environmental issues, with a background in
oceanography
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...
. He was the second son of
Jacques Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...
and
Simone Melchior
Simone Cousteau (née Melchior; 19 January 1919 – 1 December 1990) was a French explorer. She was the first woman scuba diver and aquanaut, and wife and business partner of undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
Although never visible in the ...
.
Cousteau was proficient filming from the air, on land and underwater. He was the lead cinematographer for most of the Cousteau films during his lifetime;
he was nominated for and won several awards.
Early life and education
Born in
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
, Philippe Cousteau first dived with an
aqua-lung
Aqua-Lung was the first open-circuit, self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (or "scuba") to achieve worldwide popularity and commercial success. This class of equipment is now commonly referred to as a twin-hose diving regulator, or dema ...
in 1945 when he was 4 years old. His father brought home a miniature version of the aqua-lung he had co-invented a few years before. Though Philippe had not yet learned to swim, he followed his father into the water. Growing up, he spent each school vacation aboard his father's ship,
RV ''Calypso''.
As a teenager, he began to feel the drive to explore. While his father had pursued the horizon on the sea, Philippe Cousteau dreamed of pursuing horizons in the sky and began to study
aerodynamics
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
at the age of 16, flying first as a
glider
Glider may refer to:
Aircraft and transport Aircraft
* Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight
** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...
pilot, and then earning his airplane pilot license at a young age.
Cousteau spent two years in the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
during the
Algerian war
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
as a
sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
operator and member of the landing party of the
Le Normand ship, later earning his degree in science, spent another year at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
, and then went to Paris to train in cinematography, graduating from I'École technique de photographie et de cinéma (now called
École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière) in Paris.
Career
![Philippe Cousteau filming during an expedition](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Philippe_Cousteau_filming_during_an_expedition.jpg)
In 1965, Cousteau was an Oceanaut on the
Conshelf III, an undersea habitat for saturated diving down to 325 feet near Ile Levant in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to his duties as Oceanaut, Cousteau was an underwater photographer and did all of the underwater filming, which became a National Geographic documentary film that aired in 1966.
Cousteau appeared as himself on the 28 March 1966 episode of the CBS game show ''
To Tell the Truth.'' He received three of the four possible votes from the panel.
In February 1967, Cousteau accompanied his father on the
RV ''Calypso'' for an expedition to film the
shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...
s of the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
and the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. As well as being the lead photographer for the expedition, Cousteau also chronicled his experiences in the 1970 publication ''The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea''.
In 1969, Cousteau lent his technical expertise to the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
's
SEALAB
SEALAB I, II, and III were experimental underwater habitats developed by the United States Navy in the 1960s to prove the viability of saturation diving and humans living in isolation for extended periods of time. The knowledge gained from the ...
program. In the aftermath of
aquanaut
An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as satura ...
Berry L. Cannon
Berry Louis Cannon (March 22, 1935 – February 17, 1969) was an American aquanaut who served on the SEALAB II and III projects of the U.S. Navy. Cannon died of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair SEALAB III. It was later found ...
's death while attempting to repair a leak in SEALAB III, Cousteau volunteered to dive down to SEALAB and help return it to the surface, although SEALAB was ultimately salvaged in a less hazardous way.
[ Craven, John Piña (2001). ''The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea'', ]New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
: Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
. .
Until his death in 1979, he co-produced numerous documentaries
with his father, including ''
Voyage to the Edge of the World'' (1976) for the cinema and his own PBS television series, ''Oasis in Space'' (1977), concerning environmental issues.
Piloting
![Philippe Cousteau piloting PBY Lake Victoria Uganda July 1978](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Philippe_Cousteau_piloting_PBY_Lake_Victoria_Uganda_July_1978.jpg)
Cousteau was a highly experienced pilot. He earned his
glider
Glider may refer to:
Aircraft and transport Aircraft
* Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight
** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...
pilot license at the age of 16 and went on to obtain pilot credentials to fly
balloons
A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the per ...
,
hang gliders
Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...
, single- and multi-engine airplanes and
seaplanes
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
,
gyrocopters
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...
and
helicopters
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
.
He acquired a
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...
seaplane in 1974. The amphibious aircraft was a converted U.S. Navy Catalina flying boat. Christened the Flying Calypso, the aircraft was in many of the Cousteau films and the home base for Cousteau's team.
Personal life
Cousteau met
Janice Sullivan in the crowded ballroom of St. Regis Hotel in New York City in February 1966. She was a fashion model originally from Los Angeles and more recently from New York. On 10 February 1967, they were married in Paris. Sullivan joined Cousteau on most of his father's expeditions (20 of 26 filming expeditions that spanned 13 years). They had two children,
Alexandra Cousteau
Alexandra Marguerite Clémentine Cousteau (born March 21, 1976) is a filmmaker, sustainability keynote speaker and an environmental activist. Cousteau continues the work of her grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau and father Philippe Cousteau. Cous ...
and
Philippe Cousteau Jr.
Death and legacy
Cousteau died in 1979, aged 38, when his
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...
flying boat crashed in the
Tagus
The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see #Name, below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections ...
river near
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. The investigation of the accident was not thorough, and competing theories exist to the present day. One theory is that the aircraft simply touched down on the river too fast, causing it to flip on the water;
another is that the aircraft nosed over during a high-speed taxi run undertaken to check the hull for leakage and the left wing broke free, sending its engine toward the cockpit and killing Cousteau instantly. Still another theory is that the aircraft, an amphibian with fully retractable landing gear, landed on the river with the landing gear extended. All others on board survived.
His son Philippe Cousteau Jr. was born six months later.
![Busto de Philippe Cousteau en Salinas, Castrillon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Busto_de_Philippe_Cousteau_en_Salinas%2C_Castrillon.jpg)
The
Philippe Cousteau Anchor Museum
The Philippe Cousteau Anchor Museum ( es, Museo de Anclas Philippe Cousteau) is located in Salinas, a town within the Castrillón municipality of Asturias, Spain. It is reached by the N-632.
The open-air museum is situated on La Peñona peninsul ...
in
Asturias
Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...
, Spain, and The Lycée Philippe Cousteau in
Saint-André-de-Cubzac
Saint-André-de-Cubzac (; oc, Sent Andreus de Cubzac) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south-western France.
Its inhabitants are called Cubzaguais.
Population
Notable residents
Jacques-Yves Cousteau is buried ...
, France, honor Cousteau's work.
His children
Alexandra Cousteau
Alexandra Marguerite Clémentine Cousteau (born March 21, 1976) is a filmmaker, sustainability keynote speaker and an environmental activist. Cousteau continues the work of her grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau and father Philippe Cousteau. Cous ...
and Philippe Cousteau Jr. continue the family work in
oceanography
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...
as the co-founders of
EarthEcho International EarthEcho International is an environmental nonprofit organization founded in honor of oceanographer Philippe Cousteau, by his children and widow. EarthEcho is based in Washington, D.C. The foundation was originally named the Philippe Cousteau Found ...
.
Awards
Cousteau received many awards and honors for his contribution to diving and underwater photography: He was nominated for four Emmy's,
NOGI Award
The NOGI Awards is an award presented annually by the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS) to diving luminaries and is "considered the Oscar of the ocean world." Selection of recipients is based on their record of accomplishments and ...
for Arts from the Underwater Society of America (now presented by The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences) (1977), World Wildlife Award and many others. His children's book ''Follow the Moon Home'' won the Green Book Award for picture books in 2017.
References
External links
Photo of Philippe Cousteauat the controls of N101CS.
Photo of Philippe Cousteau.as piloted by Philippe Cousteau.
*
ttp://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19790628-0 Official Aircraft Accident DescriptionN101CS, Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina, 28 June 1979.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousteau, Philippe Pierre
1940 births
1979 deaths
Aquanauts
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents
Philippe
French expatriates in the United States
French oceanographers
French underwater divers
Sportspeople from Toulon
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1979
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Portugal