Invention of the Aqua-Lung (1940s: Cousteau in his 30s)

Les Mousquemers were in the comparatively peaceful Sanary-sur-Mer in the unoccupied south of France in 1941, during World War II,  and they continued their experiments. They tried Fernez’s surface feed equipment, but gave up on it after the air line ruptured.

In 1942, leon veche, a gunsmith who became their 4th member, built a waterproof metal housing for the 35mm Kinamo camera that Cousteau bought. At 60 feet, he filmed his 1st underwater movie, Par dix-huit mètres de fond, Sixty Feet Down. During the War, Cousteau also joined the French Resistance Movement, spied on the Italian army, gathered intelligence and documented the information. He was later recognized for his resistance efforts and conferred several decorations including France’s highest military award, the Legion d’honneur, the Legion of Honour.

Simone asked her father, Henri Melchior, the senior director of Air Liquide, to introduce Cousteau an engineer familiar with demand regulators so he met Emile Gagnan in 1943. Gagnan and Cousteau created and tested their underwater breathing system with a slightly modified version of Gagnan’s natural gas demand regulator. It was a success and they filed for patents. They called it Scaphandre Autonome (Aqua-Lung).

Using the Aqua-lung prototypes, made by the Air Liquide Company, they filmed down their exploration into Dalton, a british shipwreck. Les Mousquemers were deeper than they had ever been at 135 feet. Cousteau experienced decompression sickness. They continued filming and venturing shipwrecks; freighter Tozeur, Spanish Ramon Membru, a sunken fishing boat. They filmed a trawl net in action and more coastal destructions, Deep-sea tug Polypheme and cargo ship Ferrando.

Dumas set a depth record of 210 feet with witnesses but experienced nitrogen narcosis.

Cousteau edited the films he made of their explorations of shipwrecks into a movie called Epaves (Shipwrecks). Epaves was awarded the special prize from the Center for the Arts, Literature & the Cinema in 1946. Admirals in command of the French Mediterranean Navy requested and purchased 10 aqua-lungs, which was a monetary success for Cousteau and Air Liquide.

In 1945, the French Navy formed the Undersea Research Group which consisted of Tailliez as commander and Cousteau as deputy commander. They hired Dumas as civilian adviser and chief diver. Maurice Fargues, Jean Pinard, Guy Morandiere were the other 3 officers. Their first task was to clear the French ports strewn with pits, debris from collapsed vessels and undetonated explosives for a year. They devised an underwater sled that could lug a diver to clear the habour way faster.

Cousteau headed a local diving expedition to the small town of Vaucluse where a legendary fountain arises from the bottom of a 600 foot limestone cliff, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, to unravel the perplexity of its annual gushing. They wore new rubber diving suits they had been experimenting but failed. It was too dangerous as they were dazed and deep in narcosis.

In 1946, Cousteau attested in his navy uniform with his medals for his brother, Pierre-Antoine as he was given the death penalty as a nazi collaborator. This was altered to life imprisonment at hard labor due to the public reprieve.

Fargues died in 1947 by rapture of the deep, nitrogen narcosis, when he attempted a depth record at 385 feet. Cousteau and the others started experimenting with mixing air and helium to take over the nitrogen to decrease plausibility of narcosis.

The Undersea Research Group underwent its first archaeology venture to a sunken roman vessel off the coast of Tunisia for 14 days. Aboard the diving tender L’Ingeniuer Elie Monnier, previously known as Albatross, they would be able to sail across the ocean and use its cranes to hoist up any discoveries. They only managed to find the roman ship on the 2nd week but the process was productive and antiquities were recovered.

In 1948, James dugan, an American reporter, wrote and published an article about them, “The First of the Menfish” in Scientific Illustrated. This resulted in an increasing demand for Aqua-Lungs.

Swiss innovator and pioneer Auguste Piccard sought Cousteau’s assistance in constructing a diving machine to reach the abyss. He asked them to develop grappling claws and harpoon cannons for the Bathyscape . On 1st october 1948, Cousteau and the Undersea Research Group aboard L’ Ellie Monier sailed to Dakar coast to meet up with Piccard. This endeavour, however, was not successful.

In 1949, Cousteau left the French Navy.

“The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man, it is to know that and to wonder at it.” – Jacques-Yves Cousteau