
DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707090179

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  124 lines

TREASURES OF THE DEEP COUSTEAU SOCIETY HISTORY IS STORED IN THE SILENT WORLD OF A WAREHOUSE IN GREENBRIER.

A 12-FOOT-LONG model Great White Shark. A shark cage made with bullet-proof glass instead of steel bars. And a four-wheel-drive vehicle that still bears the marks of a run-in with a rhino on the Nile River.

For a vision of what Nauticus could have looked like, step inside the Cousteau Society warehouse in Greenbrier. The 9,000 square-foot warehouse, which is not open to the public, contains 40 years of seafaring equipment - much of it used by Jacques-Yves Cousteau himself.

Cousteau died last month in Paris at age 87. But the Cousteau Society, whose U.S. headquarters moved from Norfolk to Greenbrier in 1992, plans to continue his work - exploring, educating and advocating for environmental protection, said Bob Steele, vice president of finances.

The Cousteau Society once planned to open an Oceans Center in Norfolk, but Norfolk officials withdrew support for the project after six years of negotiations over concerns about the society's fund-raising. Cousteau himself also objected to Norfolk's plans for extensive merchandising, marketing and live animal exhibits.

Nauticus eventually opened on the pier where Norfolk once hoped to open the Cousteau center. The Cousteau Society also opened a museum in Paris several years ago, but it closed after only a year.

Now, much of the famous explorer's history is in storage in a hot, dusty warehouse.

The ``Sea Flea''

The warehouse has two one-man submarines - small, pod-shaped vehicles just large enough to hold a single diver for a few hours. These date from the 1950s and 1960s.

A Sea Bell

Divers use the Galeazzi submersible decompression chamber when emerging from a deep-sea dive. Inside the air-filled compartment, divers can safety decompress, or release and exhale gasses that have built up inside their body during the dive, said chief researcher Clark Lee Merriam. Nitrogen builds up inside a diver's body during a deep dive, and can kill a person who tries to resurface too quickly, a painful process called ``the bends.''

Weighing 4.5 tons, this was one of the most difficult pieces of equipment to move into the warehouse, Steele said.

``I thought I almost lost that diving bell when we moved warehouses'' from one location in Chesapeake to another, Steele said. Steele had just moved a Jeep-like vehicle with a forklift and was feeling confident. But backing up the bell over an uneven floor proved more dangerous than Steele imagined. Steele had only raised it an inch above the floor when the bell lurched suddenly, and violently, to one side and appeared about to fall off the forklift.

``Captain Cousteau would kill me if I dropped that,'' Steele said.

``He wouldn't have to,' quipped Lee.

Dolly

This life-size model shark was used while exploring the Australian coral reef, Steele said.

Cousteau wanted to learn how sharks react to other sharks - whether the mere presence of another shark would provoke aggression, Steele said.

``First, he nudged it,'' Steele said of the shark. ``Then he nudged it again. Then he just lunged at it and ripped it apart.''

The model retains the shark's teeth marks.

Shark Cage

Divers in this clear-glass apparatus had an excellent view of the great whites. The glass is transparent under water, Steele said.

Sharks don't typically attacks humans because they want to eat them, Steele said.

``They don't want to eat you,'' he said. ``They want to taste you. They'll take a bite of something, taste it, then spit it out. They just want to know if it's a possible food source.''

Steele admits that's cold comfort to shark-bite victims.

``For most people, that one bite's enough,'' Merriam said.

A Rhino's Revenge

The four-wheel-drive European vehicle, similar to a Jeep, also retains its battle scars. During an exploration of the Nile, a rhinoceros decided to vent his aggression on the left front door, Steele said. The rhino is one of the most endangered species on Earth - although it was the Cousteau expedition who felt threatened at the time.

Zodiaks

No, they're not astrological calendars. They're motor-powered, inflatable boats, favored by Cousteau during many of his expeditions - and during his close-ups, with the wind and the ocean's spray whipping through his hair, in so many films.

Diving suits are also stored in the warehouse.

Hovercraft

Steele tested the hovercraft, which Cousteau used during an expedition to the Amazon, in the warehouse parking lot to make sure it still worked.

The Troika

No, it's not the first three leaders of Revolutionary Russia. But the giant sea sled is named after a Russian sleigh pulled by three horses. The anchor-shaped device was used to carry cameras during long tracking shots in water too deep for divers to explore.

So what's not on display?

The Alcyone, the Cousteau Society's only surviving ship, is no longer docked in Hampton Roads. It was docked in Norfolk for much of the 1980s. And Calypso II, the replacement for Cousteau's famous Calypso - which sank last year - is still under construction.

Cousteau Society employees are still grieving for ``The Captain,'' as Cousteau's friends and colleagues called him. As the society recovers from its loss, its plans for future films and explorations are on hold.

But Steele hopes that Cousteau's treasures won't be hidden in a warehouse forever.

``Hopefully one day we'll be able to put these on display again,'' Steele said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by STEVE EARLEY

Bob Steele, a vice president for the Cousteau Society, uncovers a

Sea Flea. The pod-shaped vehicle could hold a single diver for a few

hours.

The head of Dolly, a life-size model shark, pokes from a crate. The

model was used for research on the Australian coral reef.

Bob Steele stops to look at a portrait of Jacques-Yves Cousteau in

the Cousteau Society's U.S. headquarters, which moved to Greenbrier

in 1992.

A four-wheel-drive vehicle was attacked by a rhinoceros on the Nile

River.