A Fish Out of Water and A Calypso in the Port of Anchorage

A Jacques Cousteau fan in Anchorage finally saw the moment she had imagined for years when the Calypso arrived in the port of anchorage just before her birthday. She watched from her window and hurried to the docks, but never boarded or met Cousteau.

The story traces that near encounter, her disappointment, and why the memory still endures.

When the Calypso sailed into view on Cook Inlet she watched from her apartment window, and a dream that began with Jacques Cousteau suddenly felt close enough to touch.

She heard the fire boat horns, raised her binoculars, and followed the Calypso's arrival believing this might be the birthday gift that finally put her face-to-face with her hero.

What follows is the ache of coming close, missing the moment, and keeping the memory anyway.

by Marci Peterson

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

Jacques -Yves Cousteau

I remember when I heard that Sir Edmond Hillary and his Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, were the first people to summit Mt. Everest, the highest mountain in the world. And when I saw the picture of them on television with the Himalayan mountains in the background, I wanted to be the first woman on top of Everest.

However, that all changed when I saw “The Silent World”, a documentary film by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. So I jumped off that mountain top to descend into that never before seen water world. He brought the depths of the sea to the surface of my eyes, and I was forever changed. I was going to be a crew member on his research vessel Calypso. But I was land locked in the state of Ohio and had many years ahead of me until high school graduation. In frustration, I’d pace with my arms folded longing to become a marine biologist and work on the Calypso. Now I understood the phrase, “a fish out of water” because that’s how I felt. And if someone had said to me that the only place I would ever get close to Captain Cousteau and his crew was if I lived in Anchorage, Alaska I’d still be laughing.

“The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.”

Jacques - Yves Cousteau

My apartment window had an unobstructed view to the north. Mt. McKinley, (now Mt. Denali) would appear, suffused in alpine glow. I’d watch SeaLand containers being unloaded and loaded onto cargo ships as they entered and exited the port. For hours this was my entertainment. Like the ships, I too had entered and now was preparing to exit next month moving to the lower 48 because of work. But my cargo was priceless. My containers were filled with visual memories of the place where my spirit had been born and wanted to exist.

Then it happened. Captain Jacques Cousteau and his crew were heading our way. Of all places, the Calypso would soon be docked in the Port of Anchorage a few days before my birthday. I told my boss that I had to take a week or more off because my birthday present was so big that it had to be delivered at the port. And I didn’t want to miss the ship that it was on when it arrived. My coworkers kept guessing that it was a car because my face beamed whenever they would bring it up. If only they knew that it was nothing tangible. Would never end up in a drawer or given away because it had served its purpose.

Here I was pacing back and forth with my arms folded like I had been doing in Ohio. But not in frustration, now it was in anticipation of a dream becoming reality. It was the day that the Calypso was due to enter Cook Inlet with the sea calmer than I was. When I heard the horns of the fire boats positioning themselves to greet the Calypso, I grabbed my binoculars and waited. It wasn’t long before a white ship was slowly approaching, getting closer and closer. The fire boats sprayed plumes of water into the air. I shed tears of immeasurable emotions. Since seeing “The Silent World” I was still more determined than ever to one day to join the Calypso’s crew. Then I saw the crew standing on Calypso’s deck ready to throw the lines and bring her to rest. But where was the man with the red fisherman’s cap? The man that changed my life?

When tied to the dock, The Calypso was out of my view, so I put my binoculars down next to my camera where I had left it. This wasn’t the first time that it had happened. When a place or event has such an impact on my soul nothing but those moments of the experience exists. Time stands still, unnatural sounds become silent, and I forget to pick up my camera. Guess I’ll get pictures when I go down to the port. Perhaps it will be open for tours? But it was closed to the public and I couldn’t find a place where I could get a good photo. I’ll get it when she’s leaving.

The next day I saw a picture in the Anchorage Daily Times of a journalist standing on the Calypso’s deck interviewing one of the crew. If I could get word to them that my birthday was in a few days and that the biggest gift I could ever get was to walk onto the Calypso and meet the captain and crew. But my shyness took control and I didn’t pursue it.

The following day I picked up the July 11th issue of The Anchorage Daily Times and on the front page was a picture of Jacques Cousteau having breakfast at the Anchorage International Airport café. There was that genuine smile of his looking at me. He had just arrived to join his crew and head off to another adventure. How would he know that his biggest fan was within walking distance and my birthday was on the 15th and the best gift I could receive would to be able to come aboard and give him a hug?

The next day, and the next, I watched and waited with my camera in hand for the opportunity to get a picture of the Calypso when it left the port. But I missed it. It had already left. I was okay with that because I still wanted to forge ahead with my plans to become a marine biologist. Besides, photographs fade, get torn or lost, but stay safe in memories.

I had come close to my dream, but I was still a fish out of water.

~

Note: The Calypso docked in Anchorage in August 1969.

Captain Cousteau and his crew were in Alaska to film, for the first time in history, the return of the red sockeye salmon on Kodiak Island. It aired November 24, 1970, as episode 13, “Tragedy of the Red Salmon” on his television series “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau”.

Two of his films won Academy Awards for best documentary feature -

“The Silent World” 1956

“World Without Sun” 1964

“The Golden Fish” 1959, won the Academy Award for best short film.

Television documentary series -

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau 1966–1976

The Cousteau Odyssey 1977–1982

Books -

The Silent World, 1953

The Living Sea, 1963

The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea, 1970

Life and Death in a Coral Sea, 1971

The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau, 1973

The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus, 2010

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