Simone Cousteau, 72; Diver, Wife of Jacques
Simone Cousteau, an accomplished underwater diver who accompanied her husband, Jacques Yves Cousteau, on hundreds of voyages aboard the marine research ship Calypso, has died at her home in Monaco.
The Cousteau Foundation said Monday that she was 72 when she died Sunday of undisclosed causes.
Married in 1937, the Cousteaus for years spent most of their time aboard the Calypso, sailing throughout the world to study marine biology, conduct underwater explorations, make films and promote conservation.
Known by the Calypso’s crew as “the shepherdess,” Mrs. Cousteau served as nurse and purser while also participating in underwater missions.
She was one of the first women to dive using an autonomous underwater helmet and believed to be the first to live in an underwater house when she spent a week in 1963 with her husband and four assistants 33 feet beneath the surface of the Red Sea.
Besides her husband, she is survived by a son, Jean-Michel. A second son, Philippe, died in a plane crash in 1981.
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