The 138-foot ship Calypso has had a long career as a naval minesweeper and a ferry boat, but the ship gained its greatest fame as the oceanic research vessel featured in the 1970s-era television series "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau."
Now, decades later, the Calypso has made the news once again—this time, for hitching a ride on a freighter across the Mediterranean.
Accidentally sunk in 1996 after a collision with a barge in Singapore harbor, the ship had been sitting in dry-dock for years in Marseille, France. After years of legal wrangling, the French scuba-diving pioneer's nonprofit organization, Equipe Cousteau, arranged for the vessel to be rehabilitated and continue its role as a roving educational ambassador for the seas.
On March 14, the French liner company CMA CGM loaded the 110-ton Calypso onto a freighter and steamed across the Mediterranean Sea to Turkey. The specialty job required a customized marine railway and a vessel large enough to accommodate two cranes but small enough to fit in the shallow-water port where the Calypso lay. The voyage was successful, and the wounded ship arrived at Izmit, Turkey, on March 25 for renovation and refitting.
You can follow the Calypso's future adventures at www.cousteau.org.
