Calypso (ship)
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Calypso is the name of a ship that Jacques-Yves Cousteau, one of the most important researchers in oceanography, equipped as a mobile laboratory for field research.
Calypso was originally the minesweeper BYMS-26 (British Yard Minesweeper) built for the British Royal Navy by the Ballard Marine Railway Co, Seattle, WA., in the US. As hull number J-826 she was launched on March 21, 1942, and after acceptance and commissioning by the UK was assigned to the Mediterranean. After the war she became a ferry between Malta and the island of Gozo, and was renamed Calypso because, according to Homer, Calypso, a nymph, lived on the island of Gozo. Cousteau bought her, restructured and transformed her into an expedition vessel, to provide support for immediate oceanographic analysis, diving, and filming.
A barge accidentally rammed Calypso and sank her in the port of Singapore in 1996. Calypso is now in the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle.
Facts
John Denver wrote a well-known song in tribute to Calypso and her crew. Jean-Michel Jarre wrote a 3 part composition in tribute to the ship.
External link
- Calypso page (http://www.cousteau.org/en/cousteau_world/our_ships/calypso.php) from the Cousteau Society.
- BYMS-26 (http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/192026.htm)
- WWII Construction Records Yard Minesweepers (YMS) (http://coltoncompany.com/shipbldg/ussbldrs/wwii/boatbuilders/minesweepers/yms.htm)