History : Philippe Sr's Legacy

I first saw Philippe Cousteau across a crowded ballroom at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City on a cold, blustery night in February of 1966. He was tall and lean, handsome, and somewhat shy and uncomfortable in this room full of strangers. I made my way through the ballroom where we were introduced. Less than a year later we were married in Paris.

Love can come that way sometimes, and with ours it came with adventure, excitement, and a belief that what we were doing was vitally important. Philippe and I marveled with unceasing wonder at all the beautiful aspects of our water planet that we shared together during 20 of the 26 filming expeditions that spanned 13 years.

We traveled to Magdalena Bay in Baja California to film grey whales on my first expedition with Philippe and the French crew. We became like a big family; work, laughter and practical jokes reigned supreme. I remember one time when Philippe went to shore the crew decided to teach me some new French words and phrases with which to greet him upon his return. As soon as he was close to the ship, I proudly shouted out my newly acquired phrases, unaware of the crew behind me barely holding back their laughter. It wasn’t until I saw Philippe standing there with a visiting dignitary blushing bright red that I realized that my new verbal skills were not what I thought they were.

We moved on to film elephant seals on Guadalupe Island in Mexico, Manatees in Florida, sunken Japanese war ships in Truk, then to Easter Island, Africa, Egypt, and so on it went. I watched Philippe diving with infinite grace and agility with whales, dolphins, and sharks; floating on the surface with sea otters; gently bottle feeding and cuddling an orphaned baby walrus that would never know life in the open seas. I witnessed his absolute respect for man’s dignity when interviewing people from all walks of life all around the world.

Philippe was a diver, a pilot of hot air balloons, helicopters, fixed winged aircrafts, and the PBY seaplane he proudly called his Flying Calypso. He wrote, directed, filmed, photographed, and produced more than 30 films with his father for “The Under Sea World of Jacques Cousteau”. He won Emmys and foreign awards for best documentaries, and was number eight in the survey of the best-known people in the world. He was also the most loving, kindest, honest, and extraordinarily decent human being I have ever known.

Philippe and his father changed the lives of innumerable people around the world. Together they offered guidance to countless individuals who chose to work for the environment. These people depended on Philippe to keep them informed about the oceans and significant global problems around the earth, as well as updates on his constant search for solutions. Today the problems still exist—twenty-seven years after Philippe’s death, the solutions are still being sought.

He died in a crash of the PBY in Portugal at the age of 38 on June 28, 1979. He left our daughter, Alexandra, 3 years old, a son, Philippe, as yet unborn and me. Our children learned very early that they had a responsibility to this planet and knew that they must carry their father’s message forever with their own. He was and continues to be their guiding star, their inspiration, as he has always been mine. As the years passed we understood the sense of urgency for the tremendous task that lay ahead: more problems with more solutions to be sought. This was Philippe’s gift to us, the continuation of the legacy.

JAN COUSTEAU