ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702190006
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA.
SOURCE: RAJU CHEBIUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jacques-Yves Cousteau smiled brilliantly, offered a firm handshake, eased his 86-year-old body into a chair and discussed his passion for the world's waters.
Cousteau has told the world of the oceans' ills through books and documentaries and inspired millions of people to take up the oceans' cause.
He gave water a voice with a French accent.
But ask why the water exerts such a strong pull on him, and he fumbles for words - for just a second.
``The reason why I love the sea, I cannot explain,'' a chuckling Cousteau said in a recent interview. ``It's physical. ... When you dive, you begin to feel that you're an angel. It's a liberation of your weight.''
For 45 years, Cousteau has crisscrossed the globe, delivering his message to presidents and parliaments, environmentalists and children: Take care of water, for it is the Earth's lifeblood.
He acknowledged feeling frustrated because humans continue to damage marine environments worldwide - despite heightened awareness.
``I'm not saying that we led a very glorious fight against the damage done to the oceans, no,'' Cousteau said. ``Now at least there are many groups saying, `We're going to clean the Amazon. We're going to do this thing.' Some of them do actually obtain some results.''
Many ocean advocates and researchers recall being inspired by Cousteau's documentaries when they were younger.
``He raised the consciousness of whole generations of people around the world with his documentaries,'' said Michael Crosby, a scientist with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Md.
``It's almost like a pyramid. He was the point, and the rest of us have branched out, and dramatically, by orders of magnitude, broadened the base of marine science. How many of us would have gotten into marine science if not for him, his books and his documentaries?''
Cousteau has been diving since he was 10. His first dive was in Lake Harvey, Vt., in the summer of 1920. He was spending the season away from New York City, where he and his parents lived briefly.
After returning to France, Cousteau graduated from the French naval academy and trained to become a pilot. He continued diving and exploring his other love - documentary filmmaking. His life's work was being decided in those years, without his knowing it.
The two interests may have remained hobbies if not for a near-fatal automobile accident he suffered at age 26, one that ended his dream of flying.
Doctors wanted to amputate his left arm, but Cousteau refused. Instead, he created a rehabilitation regimen that called for daily swims. To this day, Cousteau bears the scars of the accident - his swollen left elbow and a wrist that remains twisted because the bones never set properly.
The therapy had unintended consequences, as Cousteau writes in his 1953 book, ``The Silent World,'' which has sold 5 million copies in more than 20 languages.
``Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed, to discard the old, embrace the new, and run headlong down an immutable course,'' he wrote. ``It happened to me ... on that summer's day, when my eyes were opened to the sea.''
He got married, served in World War II as a naval gunnery officer and was decorated for his involvement with the French resistance against Nazi Germany. In his free time, he experimented with military diving equipment.
In 1943, Cousteau, with the help of a brilliant engineer friend named Emile Gagnan, invented the prototype of the aqualung, an underwater breathing apparatus that supplies oxygen to divers.
In 1950, he bought Calypso, a converted minesweeper, and sailed to the Red Sea - a voyage that led to the discovery of scores of previously unknown plants and animals and the publication of ``The Silent World.''
In 1955, Cousteau embarked on a 13,800-mile voyage around the world. In addition to filling the world's aquariums with rare plants and animals, he made a 90-minute film version of ``The Silent World.'' It won the coveted Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) award at the 1956 Cannes International Film Festival and the Academy Award a year later.
Cousteau's fame skyrocketed. Time magazine put him on the cover in 1960. He received the National Geographic Society's Gold Medal in 1961 during a ceremony attended by President John F. Kennedy.
``The Living Sea'' was published in 1963, and ``World Without Sun'' two years later. His film ``World Without Sun'' debuted in the United States in 1964. After that, in 1966, came his first hour-long ABC television special, ``The World of Jacques-Yves Cousteau'' and, two years later, ``The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.''
In 1977, the ``Cousteau Odyssey'' series premiered on PBS. Seven years later, the ``Cousteau Amazon'' series premiered on the Turner Broadcasting System. In all, his documentaries have won 40 Emmy nominations.
In the 1970s, he formed the Cousteau Society, an environmental group based in Norfolk, dedicated to educating the world about problems such as industrial pollution, overfishing and reef decline.
Some critics have questioned Cousteau's work, noting he does not have scientific training.
Robert Ginsburg, a University of Miami marine scientist who worked briefly with Cousteau in the 1970s, dismisses such talk. ``It's irrelevant. He never pretended to be a scientist,'' he said.
``What he did incredibly well is inspire and stimulate people. He has done much more to encourage interest in the ocean than any one of us in hard science.''
Cousteau, meanwhile, has no plans to slow down. He is building Calypso II to replace the original, which sank off Singapore last year. Next year, he plans to study India's Ganges River, an ailing waterway worshipped by Hindus.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Jacques Cousteau is building Calypso II to replaceby CNBthe original, which sank off Singapore last year. color.