Frédéric Dumas (14 January 1913 – 26 July 1991) was a French writer. He was part of a team of three, with

Jacques-Yves 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). Th ...

and

Philippe Tailliez Philippe Tailliez (; 15 June 1905, Malo-les-Bains – 26 September 2002, Toulon, France) was a friend and colleague of Jacques Cousteau. He was an underwater pioneer, who had been diving since the 1930s. Biography He was the younger son of F� ...

, who had a passion for diving, and developed the

diving regulator A diving regulator is a pressure regulator that controls the pressure of breathing gas for diving. The most commonly recognised application is to reduce pressurized breathing gas to ambient pressure and deliver it to the diver, but there are als ...

with the aid of the engineer

Émile Gagnan Émile Gagnan (1900 – 1984) was a French engineer and, in 1943, co-inventor with French Navy diver Jacques-Yves Cousteau of the Aqua-Lung, the diving regulator (a.k.a. demand-valve) used for the first Scuba equipment. The demand-valve, or re ...

. Dumas participated with Cousteau in the discovery of

deep sea The deep sea is broadly defined as the ocean depth where light begins to fade, at an approximate depth of 200 metres (656 feet) or the point of transition from continental shelves to continental slopes. Conditions within the deep sea are a combin ...

reliefs and

flora and fauna In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; ...

of deep sea life and in bringing it to the attention of the general public.

Biography

Frédéric Dumas was born on 14 January 1913 in

Albi Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albig� ...

. A pioneer of underwater

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

on the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

, he met

and

in 1937 and his exploits served as a subject in the first Cousteau film "Par dix-huit mètres de fond" ("Eighteen meters deep"), made in 1942. Cousteau again chose him as an "actor" when he made his second film, "Epaves" ("Wrecks") in 1943, the first film featuring the new Cousteau-Gagnan

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 ...

. Dumas was a dive leader aboard the RV ''Calypso'', and co-author or actor in many films and stories from the Cousteau team. In 1953 he co-authored with Cousteau the book '' The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure''. It was their first book. In 1956 he was one of the principal architects of the ground-breaking film ''

The Silent World ''The Silent World'' (french: Le Monde du silence) is a 1956 French documentary film co-directed by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle. One of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color, its title derives f ...

'', in which his

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

with the

grouper Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called "groupers"; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name "grouper" is u ...

Ulysses (Jojo in French) is famous. From 1945 to 1965, Dumas was also a civilian collaborator 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 ...

's (GRS or Underwater Research Group), which was set up by Cousteau and Taillez. It later became the ''Groupe d'Études et de Recherches Sous-Marines'' (GERS or Undersea Study and Research Group) and is nowadays known as ''CEllule Plongée Humaine et Intervention Sous la MER'' (CEPHISMER or Human Diving and Underwater Intervention Cell). In 1946, Cousteau and Dumas dove into the Fountain of Vaucluse, a mysterious spring in the village of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Maurice Fargues Maurice Fargues (April 23, 1913 – September 17, 1947) was a diver with the French Navy and a close associate of commander Philippe Tailliez and deputy commander Jacques Cousteau. In August 1946, Fargues saved the lives of Cousteau and Frédéri ...

was the operation's surface commander, in charge of the guide rope which allowed Cousteau and Dumas to communicate with the surface. When Cousteau and Dumas became affected by

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

in their air cylinders, Fargues saved their lives by pulling them back up to the surface.Matsen, Brad (2009). ''Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King'',

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 * '' ...

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...

. Cousteau, J. Y., with Dumas, Frédéric (1953). ''

'', New York:

Harper & Brothers Publishers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

. Library of Congress 52-5431 Dumas was one of the major players in the rescue of Professor

Jacques Piccard Jacques Piccard (28 July 19221 November 2008) was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater submarines for studying ocean currents. In the Challenger Deep, he and Lt. Don Walsh of the United States Navy were the ...

bathyscaphe A bathyscaphe ( or ) is a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere, but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic bathysphere design. The float is fi ...

, the

FNRS II The ''FNRS-2'' was the first bathyscaphe. It was created by Auguste Piccard. Work started in 1937 but was interrupted by World War II. The deep-diving submarine was finished in 1948. The bathyscaphe was named after the Belgian Fonds Nation ...

, during the 1949 expedition in Dakar. Thanks to this rescue, the French Navy could use the bathyscaphe's sphere in creating the

FNRS III The ''FNRS-3'' or ''FNRS III'' is a bathyscaphe of the French Navy. It is currently preserved at Toulon. She set world depth records, competing against a more refined version of her design, the ''Trieste''. The French Navy eventually replaced ...

. He was a founding member of the Sea Research Society and served on the Society's Board of Advisors. In 1972 Dumas participated in the creation of the research/professional degree of Doctor of Marine Histories. After he retired from the GERS, he devoted himself particularly to

undersea archaeology Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...

and was chairman of the

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of the

Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) is an international federation that represents underwater activities in underwater sport and underwater sciences, and oversees an international system of recreational snorkel and scu ...

(CMAS or World Underwater Activities Federation) and the

Fédération Française d'Études et de Sports Sous-Marins The (FFESSM) is a French sports federation specialized in recreational and competition underwater sports, like scuba diving and freediving. It is the main diver training organization in France. The historical ancestor of the federation was cre ...

(FFESSM, French Undersea Studies and Sports Federation). Frédéric Dumas died on 26 July 1991 in Toulon at the age of 78.

Quotations

*"''Frédéric Dumas had a reputation as a great spearfisherman. He surprised the landsmen when he came out of the water with huge fishes on the end of his spear. There was no pollution along the coast then.''" Philippe Tailliez. *"''It was the period of the Dolce Vita, before 1936. We could hear the war approaching, but our common passion was merely more strengthened. The climate of the

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

, like

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, allowed Dumas to live in this way-out standard, a kind of

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

before the hour. Following Dumas, I proposed one day to Cousteau to meet Frédéric Dumas. This is how the team was formed.''" *"''Dumas was the god of water, he did what none of us could do, not by sensibility, but by nature, by philosophy. He played with it.''".

Museum

Opened in 1994, the is in a 13th-century Romanesque tower made available by the municipality of

Sanary-sur-Mer Sanary-sur-Mer (, literally ''Sanary on Sea''; oc, Sant Nari), popularly known as Sanary, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 16,696. Sanary-sur-Mer ...

where Cousteau had a Villa and that bills itself as an historical city of diving.

Publications

* Deep-water Archaeology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul (1962).
Épaves antiques. Introduction à l'archéologie sous marine méditerranéenne
Paris. (1964).

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumas, Frederic 1913 births 1991 deaths French non-fiction writers French underwater divers Sportspeople from Albi Underwater diving pioneers French male non-fiction writers History of scuba diving 20th-century non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers