In an obscure corner of the old trawler harbour of La Rochelle, hidden from view by the building-site that was once the city's fish-market and forgotten by all but a devoted few, lie the rotting remains of one of the most famous ships of the 20th century. Heavy-duty rubber straps have been bound round the stern to stop it breaking apart and the front is covered by a white tarpaulin. A large sign warns the curious against coming aboard.
Understandably, because the handrails are splitting and the metal floors have rusted through to a thin veneer. For the intrepid visitor who ignores the advice there is more desolation to come. Inside, where once rang out the cries of hardy crewmen and a thousand instruments whirred, there are now blackened timbers, gaping emptiness and the drip of discoloured rainwater. This is the pitiful carcass of the legendary Calypso, the former Royal Navy minesweeper that for nearly half a century plied the oceans with the French undersea adventurer Jacques Cousteau, taking a starring role in his celebrated films and television programmes.
Nine years after the commander's death, the ship has fallen victim to a bitter family feud and its chances of a new life as a museum or research centre β let alone taking to the sea again β appear to be receding into the depths. But it's like the bicycle which you change every part of.
In the end you have a completely new one," he said. The sad tale of the Calypso's decline began in β a year before Cousteau's death at the age of 87β when the ship was badly damaged in a collision with a barge in Singapore. Towed back to Marseille, the Calypso was brought to La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast two years later where the plan was to make it the centrepiece of a projected maritime museum. But then the questions over the ownership suddenly emerged," said Parnaudeau.
Throughout its decades of service, the Calypso had in fact been the property of the Anglo-Irish millionaire Sir Loel Guinness, who leased it to Cousteau for a nominal rent. But since the commander's death two associations have laid claim to his legacy. Francine β a former air-hostess 40 years Cousteau's junior who married him six months after the death of his first wife Simone β says that since the collapse of the La Rochelle museum idea she has struck a deal with an American company to have the Calypso turned into a scientific education centre in the Bahamas.
