The real captain of the Calypso: Simone Cousteau's story of love and betrayal (11 photos)

Behind the dazzling image of Jacques-Yves Cousteau in his famous red cap lurked another – invisible, yet significant figure.





This concerns the famous explorer's wife, Simone. It was she, a sailor by birth, who was the true captain of the legendary ship Calypso.



Jacques-Yves Cousteau

While Jacques became the face of the project to the world, Simone spent most of her life on expeditions, remaining the only woman on the crew. The men on board idolized her, and her devotion to her husband knew no bounds. However, Jacques-Yves himself didn't appreciate what he had and led a double life.





"Calypso"

They met in 1936 at a social reception. Seventeen-year-old Simone Melchior, the daughter and granddaughter of admirals and heiress to the Air Liquide industrial gas empire, met the skinny twenty-six-year-old officer with a camera. Jacques-Yves was recovering from a serious accident that ended his piloting career and spurred him on to explore the deep sea. Less than a year later, the couple married.



Simone Melchior in her youth

It was Simone who became the backbone of his research. When the opportunity to purchase the ship Calypso arose in 1950, but there was no money to refit it, Simone sold her family jewelry and furs to buy the necessary equipment and fuel.



She not only accompanied her husband on his first expedition to the Red Sea, but also fully shared his passion, living on board with her dachshund and serving as captain, mother, and soul of the crew. Jacques-Yves himself admitted that commanding the Calypso wasn't difficult when Simone was with him.



Everything changed over the years. Jacques-Yves's worldwide fame grew, while Simone deliberately remained in the shadows, giving no interviews or appearing on camera. A personal tragedy—the death of their youngest son, Philippe, in 1979—definitively separated the couple. Simone found solace at sea, spending eight months a year on the Calypso, while Jacques-Yves devoted himself to his work and his secret life.



Francine Triplet-Cousteau

It turned out that for fifteen years, the explorer had been in a second marriage with stewardess Francine Triplet, who was 36 years his junior. He introduced her to the public as his niece. Simone knew about the infidelities but remained silent.



Cousteau and Triplet

In 1990, Simone passed away. She died of cancer, and, according to her will, her ashes were scattered over the Mediterranean Sea. Just a few months after her death, the elderly Jacques-Yves legalized his relationship with Francine, shocking the public with the existence of a second family with two teenage children.



Family Tree

The new Madame Cousteau actively began rewriting the family legacy, suppressing the memory of Simone. Cousteau's eldest son, Jean-Michel, now 87, was ultimately removed from office and received no inheritance, leaving only the well-known family name.



Jean-Michel Cousteau - eldest son of an oceanographer