RV Calypso - Cousteau Society's Research Vessel
This limited edition art print represents the research
ship R. V. Calypso, as she appeared on 8 January 1996.
Calypso began her life on 21 March 1942, launched from the
slipways of the Ballard Marine Railroad Company, as a Royal British Navy
Minesweeper.
The 360 ton vessel was 139 feet in length and 25 feet in
the beam; power was by two 580 HP diesel engines.
She served until 1947, when she was decommissioned.
After the war, she was in use as a ferry, renamed Calypso.
Thomas Loel Guinness purchased her in 1950 and leased her
to Cousteau.
She was refitted as an oceanographic mobile laboratory and
she remained so until 1996, when she was accidently rammed and sunk by a barge
in Singapore Harbor.
Raised two weeks later, she was towed to
Marseille, where she languished until November 2006 when she was to be restored
as an “ambassador of the seas and oceans”, in honor of Cousteau.
In 2009 work was halted on
Calypso, and she is currently in storage.
This is the 11th in a Series of Historic Ships edition size - 500 print size 22" x 10 1/2" $ 45.00