01x01 - Sharks

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Captain Cousteau is waiting
for his ship Calypso,

now entering Monaco Harbour.

On the brink of a major expedition,

he readies himself to face the challenge
of the sea's danger and mystery.

The Calypso crew and I

will be undertaking a series of
voyages of exploration and discovery

in all the seas of the world.

We will endeavor to save magnificent
creatures threatened with extinction.

We will study the behavior of all
forms of life that thrive in the sea.

We will try to trace the history
of the oceans in fossil rocks

dating back millions of years.

From cages made of plexiglass,

we will film life that
is sometimes serene,

sometimes savage,
and always beautiful.

We will explore the graveyards of the
sea where sunken ships slumber

in search of scientific creatures
more precious than shipwrecks gold.

Each time we dive,

each time we enter the sea,

we learn something new.

We have never been better
equipped to observe, to learn,

and to put our findings
to scientific use.

Over the years,

our quests will lead us
to confront the dangers

and reveal the splendors of the sea.

A shark is said to be
a fearsome brute,

but this is not always true.

Many harmless species exist.

Sand sharks, spotted dogfish,
nurse and leopard sharks.

But for a diver, a shark bite,

whether accidental or deliberate,

is always serious and sometimes fatal.

Sharks have changed little in over


and their oldest ancestors go
back about 450 million years.

But the great age of the life form

does not mean that these
superb creatures are primitive.

Certain viviparous species
even invented the placenta

long before the
appearance of mammals.

When you are diving and meet
a shark, what do you do?

There is no definite
answer to that question.

There are many kinds of sharks,

and each kind behaves
very differently

according to influences
we know little about.

Several rows of razor sharp teeth
provide them with a deadly weapon.

This tooth, for example,

belonged to a very large,
dangerous shark

of a species still living today.

But much larger, similar teeth are
to be found in sedimentary layers.

They are fossil teeth from huge sharks
extinct since many million years ago.

Divers, in their nightmares,

may dream about such monsters
looking probably like this model.

In Monaco harbour,
the Calypso is ready to cast off.

Captain Cousteau will lead her around
the world on a voyage of discovery.

The men and gear are on board.

Monaco's royal family contributes
the last crew member.

Zoom, the dog who will
become Calypso's mascot.

The odyssey begins as sea
voyages have always begun,

with a contagious sense
of excitement and fanfare.

But this is a modern odyssey.

A five-year exploration
of the undersea world,

man's last frontier.

Calypso will sail from the
Mediterranean to the Red Sea,

then around Africa,
across the Atlantic to South America,

and into the Pacific
via the Panama Canal.

March 10th.

Calypso is heading for a
small island in the Red Sea,

where we hope to find sharks.

For all her 400 tons,
the ship carries only 28 men.

Each must be an expert
in more than one field.

Divers like Bernard Mestre
and Roger Chopin

double as photographers
and mechanics.

Other divers are engineers,
marine biologists,

archaeologists, or navigators.

We have few rules and no
uniforms, only the red cap,

the traditional hat
for hardhat divers.

Each dive is planned in advance

so that the film director, Philippe
Cousteau, and the head diver, Canoe,

can coordinate the sh**ting.

The divers are experienced but young

because of the stamina needed

to sustain prolonged
journeys beneath the sea.

The Calypso divers will be using gear
specially designed by the Cousteau team.

It features a streamlined casing,

headlamps for night diving,

chest-mounted pressure regulator

to facilitate breathing
during underwater work,

and radio-sonar telephone systems

enabling communication between
divers and with the Calypso.

Serge Foulon is wearing
the 85-pound Aqualung

invented by Cousteau,

which really opened the world
of the deep to humanity.

These divers have spent thousands
of hours underwater.

Nevertheless, in shark country,
they all feel a twinge of apprehension.

A new device gets the divers
into the water, the chute.

Last down the chute is
cameraman, Philippe Cousteau.

We have begun our search for sharks.

We do not know yet where they will
come from or what attracts them most.

But we are assuming that fish
in the process of feeding

will create pressure waves
that should soon attract shark.

The divers have come
as friends with food.

And once the fish are sure
they mean no danger,

Foulon and Ruiz are overrun by them.

The wide-tip shark swimming here
does not have a very good reputation.

For safety, the divers have shark
billies attached to their tanks.

The defensive weapon will allow
the men to keep the shark at bay.

To avoid being attacked from the rear,

Foulon and Ruiz form
a back-to-back defense.

With as few movements as possible
to avoid arousing the shark's interest,

they begin their climb
back to the surface,

a ticklish maneuver.

Once they leave the ocean floor,

they are vulnerable to
attack from beneath.

With the shark,
nothing is predictable.

It is a relief to see Foulon,
Ruiz and Philippe back on deck.

We now know that
this is the right place

to mount our most
crucial shark experiments.

Aboard the Calypso at
Cousteau's invitation

is an authority on sharks,

Dr. Eugenie Clark,
an ichthyologist,

founder of Florida's Cape
Hayes Marina Laboratory.

She has come to observe

and to experiment with
sharks in the open sea.

Recently, we have met a
white-tipped albimarginatus

that was at least 13 feet long.

- I think it's rare.
- Yes.

And you say even the
little ones are aggressive.

Yes. More than the big ones.

You know, dashing from one point
to the other at tremendous speed.

Phillippe had quite a specialty

to find himself with a shark
under each arm, a live one.

You know, people say,
oh it's a small shark

because a shark is about that big.

A shark that big can take a
mouthful bigger than any big dog.

And people are afraid
of dogs that big.

They can take almost nothing.

A shark the same size
can take a pound of meat.

March 25th. Experiments begin.

Most specialists agree that
sharks are attracted by blood.

But if there is no blood, what
signals an alien presence to them?

Sight, sound, or smell?

Don't worry about
this mutilated diver.

It's just Arthur,
an experimental dummy.

To learn why the shark attacks,

we started with Arthur fully
equipped and stuffed with rags.

He looks like a diver,
but he lacks one thing.

As sight has not motivated
an attack, we will test scent.

This time, we have
stuffed Arthur with fish.

But the animal is always cautious.

His brain analyzes all the factors
that must be present before he acts.

Warily, he st*lks Arthur.

Once he is sure that his
victim cannot escape,

he makes up his mind.

Quick as lightning,
it tears off a leg.

It's time to bring Arthur
back to the surface.

In a second, there
will be nothing left.

This instinctive caution
combined with deadly efficiency

have maintained the survival of
the species for many million years.

Today, we begin one of our
most important assignments,

to trace the migrations
of various shark species.

Are they sedentary, or do they
travel from island to island,

or ocean to ocean,
across great distances?

In location over a reef,

the divers will attempt to
mark a wide variety of shark

for later identification
and migration observation.

Head diver Canoe makes
the tag team assignments.

Ruiz will do the tagging,
guarded by Foulon,

while Philippe will film.

It is vital that the tag be
placed at a specific spot

that will not injure the shark,
or impair its movements.

Such a target area is at
the base of the dorsal fin.

Depending on the circumstances,

the divers will use a long spear,
or a short dagger, to mark the shark.

Barbed hooks, with a
red plastic tag attached,

will be placed in the
hollow end of the spear.

The detachable point must
penetrate the shark's tough skin,

reinforced by a multitude
of tiny teeth.

The red tags give date and location,

and bear requests that when found,

they be returned to Cousteau's
headquarters in Monaco.

The divers will be working near
the surface during tagging,

and therefore will
be most vulnerable.

They have been provided
with special anti-shark cages,

to which they can retreat
in case of danger.

The blue whaler is one of
the most beautiful sharks.

He follows schools of whales,

culling the sick, the young,
and the defenseless.

In the sea-diffused
afternoon sunlight,

a bullfight-like ritual has begun.

One after another,
sharks of different species

pass back and forth,

while a man searches for the right
moment to place his bandarillo.

It is a corrida without cape or k*ll,

but the diver toreador needs the same
mastery over himself and his fear.

At night, the fore-deck
becomes a movie theater.

It shows films taken by the Calypso,

rushed for processing and then
picked up at a prearranged port.

A giant grouper, weighing
perhaps 250 pounds,

was photographed by Calypso
divers exploring a shipwreck.

The grouper was surrounded
by hundreds of tiny pilot fish,

a startling sight,

For it had long been thought that
pilot fish swim only with sharks.

The Calypso team proved
that they also followed divers.

Pilot fish were even found swimming
for days in front of the Calypso.

The myth of the pilot fish
originated in antiquity.

It was believed that they
led the sharks to their prey

and, in return, were protected
by their powerful master.

A good story, but not true.

The pilot fish actually feed on
the scraps of the shark's meal.

They survive in his presence

because they are too
agile for him to catch

or perhaps too insignificant
for him to bother.

July the 10th.

The heat in the Red Sea has been
reaching 105 degrees during the day.

But water conditions remain
excellent for filming.

Today, we will fish for sharks

to check the effectiveness
of our tagging operation.

Foulon has noted that
the tagged sharks

are the bolder, more
curious ones of the species

and, therefore, most
likely to appear again.

The boldness that brought the
sharks close enough to be tagged

will probably bring them in after bait.

Splash and scent alert the creature.

Ironically, this formidable eater
does not need much food.

He can live more than
a month without eating.

Without food, he will stop growing.

But he will survive.

The k*ller is fragile.

His skeleton is made of cartilage.

He has no bones.

But mortally wounded,
he may still swim for hours.

The most important part of tagging

will be the knowledge
gained over a long period

by the recovery of the tags.

It is the tag of the shark.

Number 014.

Just a minute.

Three weeks ago. This was
tagged three weeks ago.

So that this shark is not
swimming in the open ocean.

He's living there around the reef.

It's a sedentary shark.

I think it's very important
to have a problem.

It will take a great
many tag recoveries

to begin to understand the
migrating patterns of sharks.

It was on May 8th that we
came upon a rare creature

I had seen only once
in 30 years at sea.

A whale shark.

And even this monster was
marked with a Calypso tag.

He is the largest of the shark.

This one is 50 feet long
and probably weighs 20 tons.

Despite his size, the whale shark
is the gentlest of all sharks.

The only food he will eat
is plankton and small fish.

After a brief appearance
at the surface,

he returns to his deep realm,
still mysterious to us.

August 20th.

A month of sandstorms has clouded
the water and made filming difficult.

They have passed now, and we
will return to shark-filled waters.

Dr. Eugenie Clark is continuing her
studies of shark's sensory perception.

For aquarium work, she has
perfected an ingenious method

that she is about to try in the open
sea, assisted by the Calypso divers.

The method combines panels
bearing striped targets, bait,

and an auditory signal,

and is designed to evaluate
the relative importance

of the shark's senses of
sight, smell, and sound.

Off the Suakin Islands,

the divers working with Dr. Clark,
Foulon, D'Amplier, and Dr. François,

are about to set up pairs of targets.

One is vertically striped,
the other horizontally.

In some cases, the
learning ability of sharks

is believed to be comparable
to that of a pet rat.

If this is so, it should be
possible to train them

to come for food in
response to visual clues.

A fish is attached to the
horizontally striped target.

When the shark takes the bait,
the diver triggers an auditory signal

to show the shark that he
chose the correct panel.

The shark tends towards
the vertically striped target,

either for reasons of eye structure

or because many fish
display vertical stripes.

After cautiously circling the
vertically striped target,

the shark finally takes his food from
the target with horizontal stripes.

After several weeks of training,
the bait will be eliminated

and the shark will continue to ask for
food by hitting the horizontal target.

Our pupil will have learned that
horizontal stripes mean food.

September the 12th.

A giant cage topped
by a plexiglass dome

has been assembled by the
engineers of the Calypso.

The crew calls it the squaloscope.

It is a specially devised
observation chamber

for studying the effect
of sedatives on sharks.

An alien apparition, the squaloscope
descends into a peaceful sea.

Life will flow around it, through it.

Only the shark will be detained inside.

Working as a team,
Foulon and Canoë set their trap.

A piece of fish on a long line
is placed in front of the cage.

Once the shark has grasped the bait,
he is pulled into the cage.

As soon as he is inside,
Foulon will close a plexiglass door

locking the shark in the squaloscope.

To study a living shark at close
range, he must be drugged.

The divers are going to perform
the first underwater tests

on a new tranquilizer
that researchers use

when marking bears
and other large animals.

MS-222 is injected into the
gills with a giant syringe.

Will the tranquilizer be effective?

And for how long?

It takes less than 30 seconds
for the drug to act.

The shark that Canoë
affectionately calls Gargantua

is momentarily tamed.

The divers expected that baiting the
cage again would attract other sharks

and bring them into
the trap with Gargantua.

But to their surprise and dismay,

a horde of sharks is attracted,

probably because of distress waves
emitted by the c*ptive animals.

For safety, the divers cling
close to the squaloscope

as the fury of the baited
sharks increases.

As for Gargantua,

he returns to apparently normal
behavior after 10 minutes.

The new tranquilizer is
effective and harmless.

What really attracted the other sharks?

Pressure waves emitted by
frantic sharks caught on hook?

An aluminum launch equipped
with television cameras

is lowered to provide minute-
by-minute observation.

The TV camera is linked to
a motion picture camera

so that those manning the launch

can observe as well as film the events.

What will happen when a live
fish bites the baited hook?

Are the distress waves
of your fish in danger

enough to trigger a predator's attack?

Because the shark's flanks and head
are dotted with nerve endings,

his whole body is a large antenna

wired for the reception
of infrasonic impulses,

even from great distances.

Our scientific trolling
does not go on for long.

A fish soon strikes
at the bait, is caught

and flails helplessly,
producing distress waves.

Less than two minutes later,
a shark appears,

bites through the steel leader line,
and makes off with his prize.

The experiment is a graphic illustration

of nature's way of recycling
sick and dying animals.

September 18th.

Many myths have been dispelled.

We are now sure that
the shark sees well,

possesses an acute sense of smell,

and is extraordinarily well-equipped

to perceive certain vibrations.

Normally, he hesitates
to bite a creature

whose behavior is unfamiliar to him.

Nevertheless, there are hundreds of
reports of sharks injuring swimmers.

Now, we will concentrate on the
problem of protection from sharks.

With a bait fish, Canoe makes
a shark repellent sandwich.

For years, it has been believed
that the most effective repellent

was copper acetate
mixed with a strong dye.

During World w*r II,

a packet of shark chaser,
like the one in Canoe's sandwich,

was given to airmen who
might be forced down at sea.

It was good for morale,
at best.

But we must bow to facts.

The shark gobbles down heartily,

the copper acetate sandwich
supposed to keep him away.

We will now test a protection
device based on another idea,

isolating the shipwreck victim
from the marine environment.

With Canoe armed with a r*fle and
keeping guard from a rubber dinghy,

Philippe Cousteau tests
the latest U.S. Navy gadget,

the inflatable plastic
Johnson shark screen.

It consists of a life ring
attached to a large plastic bag

that masks a man's scent
and camouflages his body.

Cousteau directs the operation as
his son, holding onto a safety line,

splashes the water
to attract the shark.

He knows the reputation of the device,

but also knows that
should the shark attack,

plastic is no protection against his
powerful thrust and tearing teeth.

Cousteau orders Philippe taken aboard.

The shark has come too close.

With the divers standing
by in case of emergency,

Cousteau approves a broader test.

Three men floating amidst sharks.

Apparently, all the animal
sees are dark, blurry objects

with no limbs or feet to bite at,

no familiar shapes, no human aroma.

The Johnson screen thus seems to be

the only acceptable shark
protection system now available.

October 8th.

We have tracked the sharks
through the Red Sea,

the Gulf of Eden,
and the Indian Ocean.

One major experiment
remains to be tried.

Informal conferences
are held at dinner.

It is one of the few
times when virtually

all the crew is
gathered in one place.

On this night, the divers,
Dr. Clark and Captain Cousteau,

discuss the problems
of diving after dark.

The sharks must be
observed during the night

in order to complete the
study of their behavior.

When we put our powerful


I think they're crazy.

They just rush on the lamp.

Once one shark gets up enough
nerve to come in to something,

it will, I think, excite the other
sharks in the area and they'll join.

Usually one shark starts
first in a feeding frenzy,

takes one bite, and something
about the success of this shark

then causes other sharks to
get excited and come in, too.

The divers will descend in the wee hours

using strongly reinforced cages.

Powerful lights mounted on them
make night filming possible.

We can go, George.

We can go?

At dawn, the harrowing
experiment is still going on,

drawing more and more sharks
to the vicinity of the Calypso.

From the TV monitor room of the ship,
Cousteau supervises operations.

Using the underwater telephone,
he maintains contact with the divers.

The cage reaches the bottom.

The spearing of a fish increases
the agitation of all the creatures

and lures an unexpected guest,
a 200-pound grouper.

The incident ignites
the desired expl*si*n,

a full-blown frenzy
of sharks in the sea.

The divers keep the sharks
swarming near the cage

with hand-held bait
and continue marking.

Once again, the boldest sharks are
those that have already been tagged.

The divers must drive them away
to allow others to come close.

The goal is to observe
the feeding frenzy

both underwater and
on the monitors above.

Is that one of the tagged sharks now?

This one? Yes, sure.

You see the label below the dorsal fin.

It's not unusual.

We have tagged almost


And I think that in this area
about one out of three

is already wearing a label on its back.

There's another one.

But now, Dr. Clark is beginning
to worry about the divers.

...they were getting
close to that cage.

That-that one took the reflector.

Alors Serge, est-ce que
vous ne pensez pas que

les requins deviennent
un peu trop agressifs?

À vous.

The sharks are getting too aggressive.

No longer cautious, they even
swim through the bars of the cages.

Drunk, dizzy, they are overcome
by a frenzy for blood and flesh.

The situation is entirely too dangerous.

The cages must be brought up.

Hello, Serge, Serge.

I can hear you.
I can hear you.

We're going to go up.

We're going to go up right now.

Let's go up the cages.

Cousteau orders the cages
brought up as quickly as possible.

So ends our investigation of the shark.

For more than six months,

we have studied him and
often felt endangered by him.

Occasionally, he will
haunt our dreams,

but most of us have come to
admire his power and grace.

The shark is a splendid beast,

one of the sea's most
magnificent creatures.

For the Calypso crew,
the adventure has just begun.

The sea holds much more than
just cruel and gory scenes.

There is incomparable beauty as well.

Captain Cousteau and his divers
are now bound for new adventures.

The next chapter in the Calypso
log will be the coral jungle.