Calypso (ship)

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.

Related Topics:
Ship - Jacques-Yves Cousteau - Oceanography - Laboratory

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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. The Irish entrepreneur Loel_Guinness bought her and when it was doing service as a Maltese ferry, and leased it to Cousteau for a symbolic one franc a year. Cousteau, who restructured and transformed her into an expedition vessel, to provide support for immediate oceanographic analysis, diving, and filming.

Related Topics:
Minesweeper - Royal Navy - US - Hull number - March 21 - 1942 - Mediterranean - Ferry - Malta - Gozo - Homer - Calypso - Nymph - Loel_Guinness - Vessel

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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.

Related Topics:
Barge - Singapore - 1996 - La Rochelle

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