A crying shame....
I just stumbled across an article about the Calypso, the ship used by Jacques Cousteau for almost half a century. There used to a be a TV series, 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau', that was a record of many of his voyages. It made marine biology household conversation, and brought a consciousness of the ecological importance of the world's oceans out of obscurity.
The ship, itself, started its life as a minesweeper in the British Navy. And for such a bold beginning to its life, and such distinguished service throughout its career on the seas, it is suffering an ignominious fate. Rotting, slowly, in a shipyard in La Rochelle, waiting for legal wrangling over its fate to be resolved. Both Cousteau's widow and his first son (from a different marriage) are claiming ownership. In another couple of years, the point will be moot.
The ship is already condemned. The stern is coming apart at the seams. The deck is all but rusted through. Rails and stairs are rotting and splintered. La Rochelle is ready to pay ANYBODY to come take it away...in it's current state, the ship is an embarrassment to have on the waterfront.
I know there are atrocious things happening in the world. Our government is in the throes of multiple developing scandals. Extremists in the Middle East are killing dozens of people daily. All over the world, victims of inhumane regimes languish in prisons (or worse) without any hope of ever tasting freedom.
But somehow, this ship, an icon of discovery and exploration, has managed to bring a sadness to me that surpasses all of that. Maybe it's over-exposure and desensitization. Maybe it's the fact that corruption, war, and injustice seem to be eternal companions of humanity. I don't know. But to see an artifact of one of the great explorers of human history just sitting there, wasting into oblivion, because two people can't come to a compromise...well, that puts an immediate 'face' on the problem of human intolerance and inflexibility, and brings it home in a way that a list of names and statistics never will.
That, or else I'm just too damn tired and getting maudlin with the hour.
I just stumbled across an article about the Calypso, the ship used by Jacques Cousteau for almost half a century. There used to a be a TV series, 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau', that was a record of many of his voyages. It made marine biology household conversation, and brought a consciousness of the ecological importance of the world's oceans out of obscurity.
The ship, itself, started its life as a minesweeper in the British Navy. And for such a bold beginning to its life, and such distinguished service throughout its career on the seas, it is suffering an ignominious fate. Rotting, slowly, in a shipyard in La Rochelle, waiting for legal wrangling over its fate to be resolved. Both Cousteau's widow and his first son (from a different marriage) are claiming ownership. In another couple of years, the point will be moot.
The ship is already condemned. The stern is coming apart at the seams. The deck is all but rusted through. Rails and stairs are rotting and splintered. La Rochelle is ready to pay ANYBODY to come take it away...in it's current state, the ship is an embarrassment to have on the waterfront.
I know there are atrocious things happening in the world. Our government is in the throes of multiple developing scandals. Extremists in the Middle East are killing dozens of people daily. All over the world, victims of inhumane regimes languish in prisons (or worse) without any hope of ever tasting freedom.
But somehow, this ship, an icon of discovery and exploration, has managed to bring a sadness to me that surpasses all of that. Maybe it's over-exposure and desensitization. Maybe it's the fact that corruption, war, and injustice seem to be eternal companions of humanity. I don't know. But to see an artifact of one of the great explorers of human history just sitting there, wasting into oblivion, because two people can't come to a compromise...well, that puts an immediate 'face' on the problem of human intolerance and inflexibility, and brings it home in a way that a list of names and statistics never will.
That, or else I'm just too damn tired and getting maudlin with the hour.
posted by Curtis at 12:54 AM
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