Cousteau's Calypso's Malta link

The late Captain Jacques Cousteau's world-famous nautical research ship had strong links with Malta where she first arrived in 1943 as a minesweeper operating with 153 Minesweeping Flotilla.

She was part of the American lend-lease scheme, under which the United States provided Britain with ships, planes and shells for the duration of the war on a 'never-never' basis.

These little ships were known as British Yard Minesweepers and were crewed by 30 officers and men who performed dangerous tasks, worked hard and were courageous, clearing the seas of mines in all kinds of weather - they were simultaneously subjected to aerial and torpedo attack.

Calypso was originally commissioned as HMS J026 and, as part of the 153rd Mine Sweeping Flotilla, she took part in the initial assault convoy to the beaches of Sicily in Operation Husky, sweeping close to the beaches to enable the landing craft to move in.

She was decommissioned in 1946 and laid up in Malta where she was acquired by businessman Joseph Gasan, who used her commercially for a short period as a car ferry operating between Malta and Gozo. Her name was changed to Calypso G.

In 1950, Captain Cousteau found his ideal ship Calypso in a Maltese dockyard for surplus ships. She was in excellent condition, sturdy, easy to handle and had a shallow draught which would permit access to areas such as coral reefs.

In July 1950, renamed Calypso, she was taken to Antibes where she was converted into an oceanographic research vessel. Sadly, in 1996, she was struck by a barge in Singapore Harbour, where she sank.

Later that year she was returned to France after 46 years' service with Cousteau.

The diesel engines which had powered this vessel since 1942 had been replaced in 1986 after 40 years in commission.

Since her return to France, owing to a dispute over her future, she still lies rusting away at the French port of La Rochelle, her future uncertain. Plans to move her to the Bahamas for restoration have so far not come to fruition.

It had been Captain Cousteau's wish that Calypso would be restored to her former glory and kept at the Musée Maritime in La Rochelle not only for the benefit of older, but also younger, generations.