Originally a minesweeper of US Navy with the name "J-826", it had been lowered into the water on March 21, 1942, and was assigned to the Mediterranean Sea. After the war it became a ferry between Malta and the island of Gozo, and was renamed Calypso because, according to Homer, in Gozo lived the nymph (see above). Cousteau bought it, restructured and transformed it into an expedition vessel, in order to provide support for immediate analysis, diving, filming.
The ship was sunk after a collision in the port of Singapore (1996) and is now in the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle.