The Silent World

[captain]

You Tube has JYC's first feature film The Silent World in English in nine ten minute segments.

1 YouTube - The Silent World 1/9
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> 2 YouTube - The Silent World 2/9
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> 3 YouTube - The Silent World 3/9
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> 4 YouTube - The Silent World 4/9
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> 5 YouTube - The Silent World 5/9
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> 6 YouTube - The Silent World 6/9
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> 7 YouTube - The Silent World 7/9
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> 8 YouTube - The Silent World 8/9
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> 9 YouTube - The Silent World 9/9
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[drbill]

As I posted in another new thread on this... You can also buy it on E-Bay. I haven't seen it again since it first came out in the mid 50's but plan to buy a copy for my collection. Of course today's viewers need to realize when looking at these old Cousteau adventures that few of us had the same understanding of ecosystems and the damage we can cause at the time. It seems easy for some today to criticize what The Captain did in these early years... and I'm sure future ecologists will criticize many of today's beliefs as we learn more.

 

[ZzzKing]

It seems easy for some today to criticize what The Captain did in these early years... and I'm sure future ecologists will criticize many of today's beliefs as we learn more.

So captain, what exactly did you do in the old days that you should be ashamed of?

 

[Luis H]

So captain, what exactly did you do in the old days that you should be ashamed of?

I think you are asking the wrong captain, notice that Tom doesn’t capitalize his title.
The Captain drbill is referring to is not diving around here anymore…he is referring about JYC.

 

[4sak3n]

As I posted in another new thread on this... You can also buy it on E-Bay. I haven't seen it again since it first came out in the mid 50's but plan to buy a copy for my collection. Of course today's viewers need to realize when looking at these old Cousteau adventures that few of us had the same understanding of ecosystems and the damage we can cause at the time. It seems easy for some today to criticize what The Captain did in these early years... and I'm sure future ecologists will criticize many of today's beliefs as we learn more.

I really don't mean to criticise or judge but when I watched part 3, with the hammer and dynamite action and the clip with the turtle, I wanted to cry.

But thanks for posting the links captain! They are [mostly] a joy to watch for a young 'un like me!

 

[captain]

I think you are asking the wrong captain, notice that Tom doesn’t capitalize his title.
The Captain drbill is referring to is not diving around here anymore…he is referring about JYC.

Thanks for the correction Luis. I (captain) am not The Captain who is J. Y. Cousteau. I just wish I had been part of his crew at the time when for the most part the shallow seas were unexplored and the wrecks untouched.

 

[drbill]

There is no question that mistakes were made by the early Cousteau teams... as they are by any pioneers in an activity. The important thing is to learn from them, and not judge the actions of 50 years ago by the standards of today. I think "The Captain's" appreciation of the underwater world grew tremendously as he experienced more and more of it, and he became a powerful voice for its protection.

For so many of us who "grew up" in the 50's and 60's, Cousteau opened our eyes to a fascinating new world that few were exploring and fewer still were revealing to the public. Many of us began our fascination with that world by watching his early documentaries. I started diving about 5 years after seeing "Silent World" when it was released. I was only 9 when I first saw it, but it made quite an impression on me.

Today people have been exposed to a far wider range of documentaries, feature films and still images that have given them a greater familiarization with the marine world. From this perspective it is easy to question what went on 50 years ago. We know FAR more than we did then.

Nearly 40 years ago, when I was teaching marine biology on SCUBA to high school students, I made many mistakes and killed a number of critters due to a poor salt water system. About the time of Jaws I, some of my students sought out what were then very numerous blue sharks in our waters and killed them, even gutting a few and throwing them back in the water to watch them swim away. None of us would do the things now that we did back then.

 

[Gilldiver]

The Captain was many things before he was an Environmentalist and Peace Activist. He was

An Engineer
A Film Maker
A French Naval Aviator - only a flying accident in 38 or 39 kept him out of the air at the start of WWII when almost 100% of his flying class was killed in the first few days.
A French Naval Officer
A French Resistance Fighter - His record in the Resistance was just about the only thing that kept his brother from being executed after the war for collaborating with the Germans


From my readings on JYC he only came into the environmental fold when he started to see the damage to his beloved oceans in the short time of less then 25 years that he had been diving.

So, we always have to look at the pre-1970's films with this in mind. He was an Engineer and Film Maker first and foremost. You can not judge his work in the 50's and 60's by todays standards.

 

[ZzzKing]

I think you are asking the wrong captain, notice that Tom doesn’t capitalize his title.
The Captain drbill is referring to is not diving around here anymore…he is referring about JYC.

I know but I thought I'd poke a little fun. Thus the

 

[duckbill]

When only a handfull of people were exploring the underwater world, they hardly needed to concern themselves with what little relative damage they inflicted. A hurricane causes a heck of a lot more damage than a few divers.
BUT, once diving became a popular sport in the 1960s, need for concern became more important. One diver dragging his butt around a reef because there were no BCs to compensate for wetsuit compression and air consumption did do damage, but not as much as one hundred divers doing the same.
Things have changed if just for the sheer numbers involved and we now share a responsibility to view things through different glasses than they did 50 years ago. That's just how it is. No tears here.