Jacques-Yves Cousteau: O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

"The best way to observe fish is to become a fish," wrote Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1952. "And the best way to become a fish...is to don an underwater breathing device called the Aqua-Lung." Like many thousands of other humans-who-would-be-fish, I took his advice.

Captain Cousteau's legacy is renewed as each new diver slips below the surface and perpetuates the motto of his beloved ship, Calypso: "We must go and see for ourselves." Over dinner in Orlando, Fla., last January, he urged, "We must explore! The greatest threat to the oceans is ignorance. Permanent mistakes are being made by good people who...

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