Jacques Cousteau
By Grace
Thrive For the Dive
‘Wow,’ Young Jacques murmured in satisfaction,’Someone who can breathe underwater-?’
And that one book changed his entire life
‘Are you ready?’ Cousteau’s fellow diver asked.
“I was born for this moment,” Jacques replied. He grinned.
And off he went into the deep ocean full of wonders, and with his new, handmade aqualung.
Hello, my name is Grace, and I am the host of this podcast!
Welcome to ‘Significant Voices’, a series full of historical people that changed our lives!
Today, I will be talking about Jacques Yves Cousteau, the founding father of diving.
Have you ever wondered who created the diving gear we use nowadays?
Have you ever thought about how the diving gear was created? Dive into the ocean of wonders to find out more!
Early Life
Jacques Cousteau was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, June 11th, 1910. His parents were special- his father, Daniel Cousteau, was a lawyer, and his mother, Élisabeth Cousteau, was his father’s partener. He was born right next to the ocean, so he loved the water from the very beginning-how it felt on his body, the cool breeze, and the summer sun.
But he always had this in mind-
'Why do ships(and me too) float, but rocks sink?'
One day, Cousteau read a book about a man who hid underwater with a long, long tube. Cousteau tried it and discovered that it was impossible. He dreamed that someday he would be able to breathe underwater for real. He believed that he could. Someday.
Jacques Cousteau spent his days drawing, pretending, experimenting, and creating. He wrote picture books. Movies and films also fascinated Jacques. He wanted to find out how cameras work, and how the ‘click!’ Of the camera, and the camera took out pictures. Cousteau worked hard- penny by penny he collected- until he finally got a little, home-sized camera. The first thing he did with the camera was break it into little parts and put the parts back together. Like a puzzle. Then, he started filming everything around him. He put his whole family together (And some friends!), in his movies. He sometimes dressed up as a villian with a painted mustache, and made some hilarious (Sometimes Serious) films. Cousteau was always the star, the director, the writer. And usually the cameraman!
The First Dive
When Cousteau finished school, he joined the French Navy-His ship traveled everywhere around the world-and wherever he was, He filmed important parts and events. In China, he filmed men catching fish with their bare hands! The people held their breath for about 11 minutes-and he wondered what that would be like! One day, at a beach, one of his friends gave Jacques a pair of rubber goggles with glass to look through. When he went in the water, with his gifted goggles, he was surrounded by beautiful green forests of sea plants and fish, all different and unique in their own ways. Everything was silent and beautiful. This wasn’t the world he knew before.
It was a whole new world.
When he came back up to the surface, he saw the world he knew and lived in. The cars, trains, the tall skyscrapers, and the telephone poles. Once again he went into the world of wonders-And that's when he opened his eyes into the wonders of the sea. Later, Jacques and his friends, Philippe and Didi began to dive together. They experimented on how long they could stay underwater and how deep they could go. Cousteau created a waterproof case for his camera to film the amazing world he and his friends were exploring under the surface.
They made rubber suits to keep themselves warm, and created flippers to help them kick better!
But Jacques wanted to stay underwater longer. Just one breath longer than the other. When he broke his record of breathing underwater, he wanted to break it again. And again. And again, until he created the invention he needed for his whole life. One piece by one, created the one and only aqualung. His dreams came true-He became a manfish.
The Wonders of the Oceans
Cousteau was ready to explore the oceans of the world. He needed a boat and found a big, old, wooden navy ship named ‘The Calypso’. In a year, he turned it from a warship into an explorer’s ship.
Jacques, Phillippe, and Didi gathered a crew, their swimming gears, such as their aqualungs, their hopes and dreams, and set off to explore the sea, to film and share a world that no one has ever seen before.
On their journey, they dove deep into a colorful forest of plants-Green and purple prickly plants, Red squishy plants, Branchy plants. Wispy, feathery, swaying like they’re dancing with the rhythms of the ocean's waves.
They discovered plants that could feed you, plants that could poison you. Plants that looked like fish-and fish that look like plants. They swam with giant whales, hitched rides on dolphins, and made friends with porpoises with sparkling eyes and smiling faces. They sometimes risked their lives for others' information. They filmed frightening sharks-so dangerous and unknown, they had to make a cage to keep themselves safe. Not for the shark, for themselves so they could save themselves from being eaten for dinner! Their cameras filmed camouflaged scorpion fish, ugly as toads with poisonous spines. Dorados-a type of fish that glowed the colors of emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. They also discovered a new species called the Checkerboard fish, which was named after the checkerboard because it had red and. White checks from head to tail.
Deep down, they discovered a kingdom of giant rays-fish that fly through the water with wings that swim.
They came face to face with a fish as big as a truck-with long fangs, lips like giant tiers, and huge saucer eyes. It looked just like a truck, so they named it the truckfish. On the floor of the sea, they found pink ghost crabs, with eyes on long stalks, buried so deep in the sand they looked like gardens of eyes. And the Flute fish-with heads like horses and bodies the shape of tubes-sticking out of rocky openings, like pencils in a cup.
Everywhere the Calypso went, Cousteau and his trustworthy crew made films of what they saw. Films that played in movie theaters. Films that played on TV. Millions of people all over the world discovered the wonders of the sea for the very first time, thanks to Jacques, Philippe, Didi, who saved the ocean from no attention.
The Change
After Cousteau spent most of his life making movies and publishing books about the sea, he saw something happening. Something shocking. Plants that used to be alive and healthy were being poisoned. Fish were sick and dying. Cousteau saw that people, without realizing it, were slowly killing the sea and its creatures, by dumping garbage and poisonous chemicals into the ocean he loved so much, as much as his life. Cousteau knew what he had to do. He had to make movies and publish books-Movies and books to warn people. Books and movies to save the sea and keep it alive till its end.
Jacques spoke to presidents, Kings, queens, to people all over the earth. Asking them to save our oceans-no, our whole planet.
And he spoke to children.
Children who would once dream like he’d done. Wish to save the ocean.
Cousteau dreamed that someday it would be you, exploring worlds never seen, never imagined. Whole new world, silent and shimmering. Worlds that are now yours. To discover. To care for. And to love.
He believed you could. Someday.
Thank you for listening to ‘Thrive for the Dive’! I hope you enjoyed it.
I promise you-If you decided to change the world thanks to this podcast, I would be very proud-Cousteau would have been to. If you want more information, go check out books around your library, find books on epic or sora, search up his family members in google, and check out other podcasts in significant voices!
Sources
‘Manfish’ by Jennifer Berne From Sora
Jacques Cousteau’. By Jennifer Strand From Epic
Jacques Cousteau facts for kids From Kiddle
Jacques Cousteau From Ducksters
Jacques Cousteau From Fact Monster
Becoming Cousteau From Disney +X National Geographic
Books: ‘The Fantastic Undersea Life Of Jacques Cousteau’ By Dan Yaccarino, ‘Who was Jacques Cousteau?’ By Nico Medina
Jacques Cousteau From DKFindout
