THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



about sharks. In an article in the National Geographic 

 Magazine for October 1952 he describes one of his 

 numerous meetings with them. He is the leader of the 

 1951-52 expedition, on the Calypso, into the Mediter- 

 ranean and Red Seas ; has reached the objective of his 

 voyage — the island of Abu Latt — and is "down under" 

 in the coral kingdom clad only in goggles, trunks and 

 flippers. (The compressors they had been using for 

 Aqualung diving were temporarily out of order.) Under- 

 water with him are Professor Pierre Drach, Wladimir 

 NesterofF, the biologist, and Dr. de la Bruniere. Suddenly 

 a five-foot shark catches sight of the four men and rushes 

 towards* them at terrific speed. 



''Fortunately," writes Cousteau, ''when he was only 

 three feet away, the shark slued around at twenty to 

 thirty knots and shot away. I did not wait for him to 

 make a second pass. I retreated to the barge." Cousteau, 

 safe above the surface, pondered the way the shark had 

 upset not merely their peace of mind but some of their 

 preconceptions about sharks. ''First, this fish had seen us 

 from as far away as we had seen him. His eyesight, or 

 some other sense, must have been very keen to permit 

 him to find my position instantly. Second, he had attacked 

 deliberately, at great speed, though we had expected 

 sharks, in these coastal waters, to be very cautious. 

 Third, he had veered away sharply and rapidly at a 

 moment when I was making a frantic and probably 

 futile eflfort to get out of his line of attack. In brief, he 

 could hardly be said to have manoeuvred poorly, as we 

 had often been told." 



He goes on to describe his relations with sharks in the 

 weeks that followed. He says that sudden gestures would 

 drive them away, but they would quickly return ; that if 

 the divers turned their backs on them the sharks would 

 swoop at their legs at once ; that if they faced the creatures 

 and swam in their direction the sharks would retreat — 

 but only for a while ; so that Cousteau and his colleagues 



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