Voyage to the Edge of the World (1976) - full transcript
On his ship "Calypso," as well as in a submarine, Jacques Cousteau and his crew sail from South America and travel to Antarctica. They explore islands, reefs, icebergs, fossils, active volcanic craters, and creatures of the ocean never before seen. This voyage took place in 1975, and Captain Cousteau became one of the first explorers ever to dive beneath the waters of the frozen South Pole.
[GAS HISSING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[GAS HISSING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): December 5.
I commit "Calypso" to the
perilous Drake Passage that
lies between the
extreme tip of South
America and the
Antarctic Peninsula.
For safety, we depend
on space age techniques.
RADIOMAN: "Calypso,"
"Calypso,"--
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Directly from three satellites,
we receive pictures
indicating storms
and the ice situation
in our area.
-"Calypso."
Good morning, here at sea.
We read you loud and clear.
Over.
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Another satellite,
at an altitude of
22,000 miles, connects
us by radio to
the outside world.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
-Pictures from a
weather satellite
show that a storm is moving
westward in the Drake Passage,
between Cape Horn and
the Antarctic Peninsula.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
As there is usually
such a storm in the
Drake ever three days,
and our crossing
will take four, there
is no way to avoid 24
hours of bad weather.
I decide to go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The wind, about 20 knots,
is not yet alarming.
But the swell is rising
and the clouds are low.
The whole atmosphere
is threatening.
The albatrosses
are at home here.
But at the approach of these
polar seas, I feel alien.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
In the afternoon of December 7,
the wind turns to southeast
and reaches 45 knots.
The sea is rough.
But I am happy to feel my
"Calypso," although overloaded
with equipment
and supplies, ride
out the waves like a seagull.
I have promised a traditional
bottle of rum to whomever
would spot the first iceberg.
At dawn on the fourth
day, Roger Boneau
and Albert Falco win the prize.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
These mountains of
ice may be majestic,
but they are dangerous for
navigation Icebergs and ice
blocks drift by, one
after another, endlessly.
Pushed by westerly winds
and currents, some of them
have probably circled all
around the Antarctic continent.
The oldest ones, half melted,
having capsized several times,
present fantastic shapes in
extraordinary shades of blue.
I decide to drop anchor in
the bay of King George Island.
JACQUES COUSTEAU:
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[PLAYING MUSIC]
[BUZZ]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It is snowing
when we land in
Leopard Seal Cove.
With us is Dr. Raymond Duguy
of the Paris Museum of Natural
History.
JACQUES COUSTEAU:
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): How long has it
been since this cabin
was visited last?
This was obviously a
meteorological station.
After the explorers,
came the scientists.
Weather observations were
essential for climate studies
and to safeguard ships that
ventured into this region.
People have suffered
here to serve mankind.
But today, their work is done
far better by satellites,
without risking human lives.
Snow has penetrated everywhere.
But here are mattresses'
books, once read; cans of food
still unspoiled; and on a
table, condiments left behind.
For 13 years, the building
has been unattended.
Yet it is as if it
were only yesterday.
Antarctica preserves everything.
But one feels that here
life hangs only by a thread.
Nearby, on a windswept
promontory of ice and rocks,
a line of tombs, marked by
weathered, wooden crosses.
JACQUES COUSTEAU:
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Four
young Englishman lost
their lives here.
The crosses evoke
all who have died
for knowledge in Antarctica.
Pensive, we walk down
toward the deserted shore.
In spite of her
modern equipment,
today "Calypso" appears
to me, very fragile.
[RUMBLING]
December 9th,
weather is improving.
From the helicopter pad,
newly assembled on the stern
of "Calypso," I take off
with our pilot, Bob McKegan.
200 years ago, Captain
Cook wrote that nowhere
had he observed so much
life as in these polar seas.
That life, what has
become of it today?
I am happy to find that entire
islands are still inhabited
by immense colonies of penguins,
by the hundreds of thousands.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Out in the open sea, I spot
a large group of seals.
On my way back, I have
the incredible luck
to spot a couple of whales.
They are humpback whales.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Alerted by radio,
the crew watches for the whales.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Hunted without mercy,
the humpbacks have
become very rare.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
During our entire voyage,
we will see no more.
[BELL CLANGING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
It's a mother whale
and her calf, that is perhaps
four or five month old,
but still a baby in
need of protection.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Before she's
disappears, our whale
extends on of her long
pectoral flippers,
as if to wave goodbye.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The beach presents a vision out
of Dante, an appalling ossuary.
It was on land that former
whalers cut up their victims.
Hundreds of whale
jaws, a multitude
of ribs and vertebrae, are
scattered on the ground.
We become amateur
paleontologists.
Under the supervision
of Dr. Duguy,
we attempt to reconstruct the
skeleton of a big blue whale.
The skull alone weighs
more than 800 pounds.
The whole team is
needed to move it.
[SQUAWK]
For Dr. Deguy, it is a
gigantic jigsaw puzzle.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The rostrums
of the upper jaws average
15 feet in length.
These animals, the
largest that ever existed,
are beautiful, peaceful,
and intelligent.
Their last survivors are
still ingloriously slaughtered
by butchers, to be
transformed into oil and food
for dogs and cats.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): This
is narwhale, almost a
fossil, a 90-foot monument
to the folly of man.
It's a big thrill on board, as
Philippe, Bonnici, [INAUDIBLE]
put on their new dry suits for
their first Antarctic dive.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Other mammals
that return to the
sea are protected
from cold by a thick
layer of blubber.
As a substitute for
fat, we inflate out
outer skin with air.
[HISSING]
"Calypso" is the first ship ever
to carry an expedition devoted
exclusively to the
undersea exploration
of the Antarctic waters.
Philippe will film all our
dives and comment on them.
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
To me, the mountains of ice
are imposing, but somehow
fixed, impassive, sterile.
Could it be the
same in the water?
The cold that petrifies
the sea, has it
also killed all life within?
The cold, I have been thinking
of it since our departure.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
We dive in fairly muddy water.
The iceberg is stranded.
Winds and waves
drive the ice blocks
across the shoals
like huge plows,
digging large furrows
of destruction.
I think that all the flat
bottoms around Antarctica
undergo that plowing to depths
of at least 300 fathoms.
The red algae gives us a
waving, inviting welcome.
Along a cliff, down
to 100 feet, we
discover an unexpected
profusion of life.
Here, beauty becomes
delicate and warm.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We glide among murky bouquets,
amazed, filled with joy.
It seems incredible
that this icy
water can nourish
such abundance.
What a contrast to the surface,
so stark, so barren, so simple.
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): A group
of penguins are drifting
slowly on an eroded ice block.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): This raft
of ice is deeply furled,
indicating that it has been
long used by the penguins
as a hunting base.
They have been traveling
abroad all winter long.
[SPLASH]
As the mating season approaches,
their breeding instinct
compels them to swim
back to their rookeries.
[SPLASHING]
They swim like porpoises.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SPLASHING]
With the coming of
the Antarctic summer,
the ice breaks up and
reveals the shore.
The penguins, of an age to
mate, from four to 12 old,
return, in spite
of the breakers,
to the very location
where they were born.
Because of their oneness
with the sea [BARK]
and because their powerful wings
allow them fantastic vertical
leaps, they are able to make
their way through the surf
without being crushed.
[PENGUIN SQUAWKS]
There is no segregation here.
The chinstrap penguins, the
Gentoos with their red beaks,
the Adelies in
their dinner jackets
live together in
peaceful coexistence.
[PENGUIN SQUAWKS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The males arrive
before the females.
Sitting on their
nests of stones,
they vocalize madly to
attract their mates.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
Penguins are
essentially monogamous.
Most of them remain faithful
to their partners from one
mating season to the next.
The couples part
when they go to sea.
Now, after an
eight-month separation,
the female identifies
her mate by his voice.
The reunions are as
passionate as the courtship
rituals of the new fiances.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PENGUIN CRIES]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Some
of the eggs have
already hatched.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
The mother feeds her
chick predigested shrimp.
He seems to like it.
Males and females
take turns, feeding
their progeny and
fishing at sea.
Newborn penguins
are cold blooded.
Parents, whose temperature
is 100 degrees,
incubate their
young as carefully
as they do their eggs.
To keep feeding all
the hungry little ones,
the adults must go to the sea.
On the slopes, there is an
endless coming and going.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
The sharp-tooth leopard seal,
one of their few enemies,
awaits them at the water's edge.
[PENGUIN SQUAWKS]
It's only along the
shoreline, in turbid water,
that the leopard
seal has a chance
to seize a penguin by surprise.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
Falco keeps the peace.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
There will be no hunting today.
After weeks of fasting on a
nest, a penguin is famished.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): A fishing
penguin is difficult to follow.
At times these small birds,
weighing only 10 to 12 pounds,
can dart up to 25 miles an hour.
Their sprightliness
in the water makes
them practically invulnerable.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Philippe and his companions
depart in a Zodiac, to film
the penguins in slow motion,
under water, as
they hunt for krill.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The krill,
upon which penguins feed,
as do seals and whales,
is a mass of innumerable
pink shrimps.
They move swiftly, using only
their tiny abdominal fins.
And I can hardly
keep up with them.
The Antarctic produces over
100 million tons of krill
every year.
We swim in what used
to be a whale pasture.
REPORTER 1: Thank you very
much, Professor Cousteau.
This is [INAUDIBLE]
for BBC London.
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
By satellite on board
"Calypso," I hold an
international press conference.
REPORTER 2: I heard you tell
the BBC correspondent that--
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
REPORTER 2: [INAUDIBLE]
for taking over
the food left by
the dead whales,
or the lack of
whales in Antarctic.
-What I was saying is
that the abundance of life
in the Antarctic at the
level of primary protection
of the vegetable
production is enormous.
And the first beneficiaries
of this production,
with only one intermediary,
which was the krill, the mass
of little shrimps, red shrimps,
which abound in this area,
were the whales.
Now, these whales
have been decimated.
There is only 6% of
them left today, about.
So that a tremendous
amount of unused food
is now used by less
interesting forms of life,
like starfish, for example.
So that because of
the poor management
of man with the whales,
there is a continuous waste
of biologically resources
in the ocean today.
Over.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
It is the time of the skua.
By instinct, penguins
fear anything
that comes from the sky.
[BIRD CRIES]
With the piercing
eyes of an eagle,
a skua soars over the
nurseries, looking
for an abandoned
chick or a sick one.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRD CRIES]
Our Adelie penguin has
protected his baby courageously.
The skua, having been
repelled several times,
now attempts to
grab another chick,
one that had moved away to die.
He's forced to give it up, as
the penguin, with fierce eyes
and his neck feathers erect,
drives him from his prey.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRD CRIES]
The skua is persistent.
But his perseverance is
no match for the penguin.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Michel Laval and
Dr. Duguy have gone
to search for fossils
on King George Island.
[BIRD CRIES]
Two skuas charge them.
The men fear for their eyes.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[BIRD CRIES]
The dive attacks were only meant
to chase away the intruders
and protect the eggs.
[BIRD CRIES]
After the failure of her
intimidation maneuvers,
the female skua now sits firmly
on her nest to defend it.
Michel is responsive
to the bird's distress.
With gentleness and
quiet persuasion,
he tries to convey
his good intentions.
The bird calms down,
gaining some confidence.
Under her breast
feathers, Michel
can feel her still
pounding heart.
Here, at the frontier of
Antarctica's lonely wastes,
two different species, man
and skua, brought together
by chance, have come
to tolerate each other.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Michel leaves, knowing too well
that such moments are merely
brief exceptions to
the laws of nature.
[RUMBLING]
In difficult weather
conditions, the helicopter
delivers me to a barren hill.
I have been informed
by radio that Michel
Laval has found fossils here.
-Hello.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It is impossible
that plants and trees could ever
have grown in such frozen soil.
However, here are
fossilized leaves.
They bear a striking
resemblance to those found
today in the forests
of Patagonia.
170 million years
ago, this land was
part of Gondwanaland,
a supercontinent.
It was connected to
India and South America.
When that
supercontinent broke up,
Antarctica drifted
toward the pole,
where it was covered with ice.
[CRASHING WAVES]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Without warning,
within a couple of minutes,
a furious wind strike us.
It now reaches 80 miles an hour.
The stern anchor does not hold.
The ship is drifting.
We could be carried to shore
and wrecked on the rocks.
We must act fast.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The anchor winch is frozen.
Our only chance is to
tie to use the crane.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Obviously,
Leopard Bay is not
a safe anchorage.
We must move out as
soon as possible.
With Captain [FRENCH], we
decided a better shelter will
be found in Whalers
Bay, Deception Island.
The storm abated as
fast as it arose.
Our helicopter escorts
us to Deception
Island, sinister enough.
It served as a base
for the whalers
at the time of
the big massacres.
At about 30 years ago, with
the advent of factory ships,
big, floating slaughter houses,
Deception was abandoned.
"Calypso" enters
a narrow passage,
flanked with sheer cliffs
that whalers called
Neptune's Bellows, Dragon's
Mouth, or Hell's Caldera,
a vast volcanic crater, dug
out by a tremendous explosion
and invaded the sea.
The volcano is still active,
about to explode at any moment.
Between mountains of
rocks, exhaling fumes,
glaciers dotted with ashes
slowly float to the sea.
And although the
snow [INAUDIBLE],
it is the improbable
wedding of fire and ice.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Through clouds of steam,
we perceive the ruins
of a Chilean research
station completely destroyed
in 1969 by volcanic explosions.
There have been three explosive
eruptions on the island
during the last five years.
And each time, marine
charts had to be modified.
A climbing team, led by Michel
Laval, has been improvised.
Our aim is to reach and explore
the deep fracture in a glacier
that was blown up during
the 1969 eruption.
Michel Laval is an
experienced mountain climber.
The others, including
Philippe, are novices.
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Our progress
is difficult, on granuous,
red, lukewarm lava.
Everywhere, snow is
melting and the soil
is streaming with water,
that turns it into mud.
Within the cracks, it is so
hot that water is vaporized.
The entire side of
the mountain appears
to be covered with
volcanic vomit.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The fog
makes it difficult
for Michel Laval
to find the right
approach to the glacier.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Away from the warm lava
flows, it gets cold, as the
mist comes down from the summits
and engulfs us.
Visibility is poor.
The subdued light
hurts our eyes.
The cold is becoming intense.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Using our compass,
we try to avoid a field
of cracks on the south,
that I had spotted
from the helicopter.
Michel, first on
the rope, constantly
probes the snow for
hidden crevasses.
Here, the glacier must be
at least 100 feet thick
and the pattern of the cracks
is treacherously irregular.
We are apprehensive, tense.
One more crevasse, much wider
and deeper than the others.
Michel probes for a long time.
Then he goes over and
immediately secures me.
We follow Michel, doing
exactly as he tells us.
The feeling of malevolent
spirits around us,
of imminent drama, pervades me.
If only that fog would lift.
We descend toward the
roots of the glacier.
It is satanic, an inferno that
has frozen over, exhaling fumes
and steams, about
to explode again.
The flank of the glacier, blown
out during the last explosion,
displays layers of volcanic ash,
that alternate with the snows
of successive Antarctic winters.
Like the growth rings
in a tree trunk,
these layers allow us
to date past eruptions.
They also indicate all
the climactic changes,
as far back as 1670.
It will be 2:00 AM when we
return to "Calypso," exhausted.
[ROARING WINDS]
[SPEAKING FRENCH - SINGING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The next day
aboard "Calypso,"
it is Christmas Eve.
[SPEAKING FRENCH - SINGING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
[SPEAKING FRENCH],
when the poet died.
When the poet died,
they buried his star
in a great field of wheat.
All his friends, all his
friends, shed their tears.
Michel was [INAUDIBLE].
And this was to be
his last Christmas.
December 28.
Michel Laval lost his life in
an accident, instantly killed
by the tail rotor
of the helicopter,
while on the ground, close
to the volcanic crevasse
of Deception.
Nature reclaimed him on
the border of the unknown.
[RUMBLING]
A dreadful day.
Throughout his life,
Michel sought new horizons.
For him, the world was to
marvel about and to love.
"Calypso's" flag
is at half mast.
It is my painful task to
bring Michel's body back.
In my soul, I was inclined
to drop everything.
But Philippe, who had
become Michel's friend,
offered to remain on the
island of fire and ice
and to continue the
exploration until my return.
Only his decision could bring
some warmth back into my heart.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
For nine days, a shore
team, left to themselves
on that accursed island,
will establish camp
in the ruins of a British base
and make extensive exploration
dives all around Deception.
Michel had been captivated
by Antarctica, its rich seas,
its waste of ice, its
transparent beauty.
All that lies ahead of
us will be inseparable
from the memory of Michel Laval.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SNORTING]
These majestic living
torpedoes are orcas,
nicknamed killer
whales, the most
powerful predators of the seas.
In Antarctica, large whales
have become exceedingly rare.
However, packs of killer
whales still thrive.
Each closely knit family
includes several females,
offspring from two generations,
and a single large male,
the leader and
master, identified
by his huge dorsal fin.
They feed on fish and squid.
Occasionally, they enrich
their menu with seals.
But they certainly don't
deserve the epithet "killer,"
more than any other animal.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): January 16.
We proceed to the
Melchior Archipelago
for refueling, essential before
we venture further south.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[HORN BLOWING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Our providential supply ship
is the [INAUDIBLE] of
the Argentinian navy.
[RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
In a disquieting fog,
our "Calypso" heads for regions
that are increasingly unsafe.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Progressing south, we have
crossed the Antarctic Circle,
200 years and two days
after British explorer
James Cook first
passed it in 1773.
[INAUDIBLE]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): January 23, NASA
warns us that towards the
south, the Bering Southern Sea
is frozen 120 nautical miles
further north than last year.
Fragments of ice increasingly
obstruct our course.
But the weather is fine.
And we all want to
reach seal country
and dive under the
ice pack there.
Now, we are about to slip
into another channel,
flanked by cliffs of ice.
3:00 AM, the break of day.
The low sun rays play
through layers of polar air
and create mirages and
incandescent glows.
But the blocks of ice
that impede our progress
are not mirages.
Launches are dispatched
ahead in an attempt
to push the largest
out of our way.
[MOTOR RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The observation chamber
in front of our stern is
made of thick steel and acts
as a bumper.
But I fear our props and
rudders that are not protected.
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Unsuccessfully, we struggle
against the chaos of
ice that is thickening.
For the first time,
I become worried.
What if "Calypso" became
surrounded with ice,
to the point of
being unable to move?
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
I think of Shackleton, whose
sturdy ship, the "Endurance,"
was crushed like a nut in 1915.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[ROARING ENGINE]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
I send the helicopter
on a reconnaissance flight.
Bob McKegan and Philippe will
look for a way out of the trap.
They keep radio contact
with the bridge.
[RUMBLING]
-We'll have to double
back to the left.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Philippe
has located a navigable passage.
"Calypso" and the helicopter
will rendezvous near a very old
iceberg grounded in the channel.
[RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
At last, we have found an access
to free water, sprinkled
only with [INAUDIBLE] ice.
We all breathe a bit easier.
We have gotten off lightly, with
only a few scratches the hull.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This magic bay, luminous,
bathed with crystalline water,
is seal country.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SEAL CRIES]
-Hey, up.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): "Calypso"
is made fast to the pack,
as to a wharf and a harbor.
Yet, I am concerned.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The sea is freezing.
Our launches try to churn
lose the ice freezing
around "Calypso," that could
lock her in within a few hours.
We must depart before nightfall.
These improvised sleds,
loaded with diving equipment,
make me feel like we're
playing explorers of old.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The ice pack is cracking.
We may not come back walking.
We may need boats.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
To achieve such round,
smooth holes, the
Weddell seals gnaw
through ice six feet thick.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): We will
slightly enlarge two holes.
Philippe and [INAUDIBLE]
will be able to dive
through one of them.
And in a case of trouble, come
back up through the other.
Weddell seals are
fantastic divers.
They are able to stay
under water up to an hour,
to reach depths of
2,000 feet, and to swim
under the ice for
more than five miles.
It's not quite the case with us.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The water
below is dark, frightening.
A strong current could
sweep us far under the pack,
away forever from
these openings to life.
[RUMBLING]
Under the pack, seal
songs endlessly resound.
A Weddell seal gracefully
slips into the water.
I wonder how the seals are able
to find their breathing holes
again when that come up
from their 2,000 foot dive.
I know they have sonar systems
emitting modulated sounds
that compose the songs we hear.
However, I cannot imagine
any creature living
at ease in this forbidding ream.
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
I am eager to take down
the diving saucer, to explore
the deeper polar waters.
It's the first time
ever that a submarine
has been used in Antarctica.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Falco
will pilot the
saucer while I film.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): At my disposal,
I have a
remote-controlled exterior
camera mounted on a tripod.
[RUMBLING]
We dive alongside an
iceberg to the bottom,
where it is grounded at a
depth of a thousand feet.
As we reach the
bottom, I am struck
by the abundance of life.
We advance through
clouds of small fish.
Immense starfish,
with multiple arms,
litter the rocks
and the sediment.
Probably dazzled by our
lights, small fish bump
into the starfish, get
ensnared, and will be devoured.
A strange, thin crab, all legs,
proceeds as if in slow motion.
He looks like a tall,
bodiless spider.
Our old friend the octopus
seems to be as much at ease
in these cold waters as
in the Mediterranean.
A blue fish, with
white and black spots,
like enameled shell, Falco
checks to see if it is alive.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
This incredible creature
is a [INAUDIBLE].
The strange bowl, attached
to the rock by a filament,
is both a mouth and
a digestive tract.
It's worm-like extension,
which measures over six feet,
is covered with
venomous cells, which
paralyze shrimp before our eyes.
It twists and curls around
its prey and contracts slowly
to bring the victims
to its mouth.
It's terrifying.
A jelly-like creature,
swinging like a Christmas bell.
A pink snailfish waves
lazily, digging out
small prey from
the diatomic ooze.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Looming out of the depth, the
favorite diet of Weddell seals,
squid.
The saucer's lights are
affected by pigments
within their translucent bodies,
which are probably fluorescent.
This is the first
time that live squid
have been observed
in the Antarctic.
Another species of squid, with
wings of transparent gold.
And now, the icefish.
The elusive and almost
legendary icefish,
which has no red
cells in its blood.
Therefore, no hemoglobin
to combine with oxygen
and convey it.
It is dissolved
oxygen only, that
is carried by the colorless
liquid pumped by its heart.
The icefish has
never been filmed
before in its
natural environment.
When the temperature
goes below 29 degrees,
the icefish releases into its
blood a special protein, much
like a driver puts
antifreeze in his radiator.
The teeming world we
leave below thrives
at the very edge of life.
In water one or two degrees
colder, nothing would survive.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Falco aims upward
the jet nozzles that propel
the saucer, thus indicating
our location to
"Calypso," so we can
be hoisted out of a
rapidly freezing sea.
Summer is at end.
And we know that the season
changes here are drastic.
But we want to go on with our
work for as long as we can.
On route to Esperanza, Hope Bay.
At the entrance of
the Weddell Sea,
"Calypso" makes her way between
islands, reefs, and icebergs.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Like a yo-yo, a hammock of ice
bobs, vacillating in
resonance with a long swell.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[BIRD CRIES]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It's snowing.
The temperature, both in
the sea and in the air,
has dropped abruptly.
Studying the charts, with
regret I prepare our return.
I did not suspect that
this field snowfall would
soon turn into a
fierce blizzard.
In the meantime, Philippe and
Falco organize the last dives
before beyond the
onslaught of winter.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Nobody
on board yet realizes the
urgency of our situation.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[LAUGHTER]
[MOTOR RUMBLING]
The Zodiac sails away
on the sea blanketed
by a snow that does not melt.
As I see them go, I feel
vaguely apprehensive.
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
We land on an ice floe,
already occupied by
a few young ones.
As children do, they play catch
with the snow as it falls.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Equipped for our dive,
we walk across the
ice raft to the water.
An unusual vision in the
Antarctic, red penguins.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
The snow is falling
even more heavily.
It is with relief that I escape
the snow and slip into the sea.
It is so cold that snow
sticks to the camera.
Is does not even melt on
contact with the water.
We swim under a translucent
canopy, between columns of ice,
in a world with no shadows.
[SPLASHING WAVES]
Soon the penguins
join us and offer
a fantastic display
of underwater agility.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PENGUIN CRIES]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The divers are back aboard.
A long, smooth swell is up
now, with no wind, a bad omen.
February 9, the
barometer is falling
and the birds are flying away.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): All of a sudden,
the wind has come up.
In five minutes, it
reaches 65 miles per hour.
The wind is pushing the
icebergs towards the entrance
of the deep, narrow bay.
And they are all drifting
toward "Calypso."
A gigantic mass of ice, many
times the weight of "Calypso,"
is on a collision
course with us.
And there is nothing we can do.
[RINGING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): I know
"Calypso" has been
severely injured.
I send Falco below
to assess the damage.
Meanwhile, [INAUDIBLE]
continues his futile efforts
against the relentless assaults.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
When Falco returns,
the wind is stronger than ever.
And also by now, it has
driven most of the icebergs
towards away from us
and toward the open sea.
The damage has been done.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Falco reports that not only is
the starboard propeller
bent, but the shaft
of the port propeller is broken.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It is
even more serious
than I thought.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The shaft cannot be repaired.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The blizzard is just beginning
and it is turning
day into night.
There's no visibility.
In waters too deep to cast
an anchor, day after day
we circle helplessly
in the narrow bay,
on our single bent propeller.
Without radar.
we would be wrecked.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
On the third day,
the wind goes up to 100
knots, 120 miles an hour.
Already loaded with
snow, "Calypso"
is lashed by a freezing spray
that makes her even heaving.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At last, the storm abates.
And I have my first opportunity
to check out our poor ship.
The deck is heavily
loaded with snow and ice.
All riggings are covered
with thick frost.
The winch is a mass
of ice and most
certainly could not operate.
The diving saucer,
unrecognizable,
has been turned into
a large, white egg.
With one injured propeller
and a hole in the hull
our trip back seems
very much in doubt.
"Calypso" has a 5
degree starboard list.
I estimate she's loaded with
about 30 tons of snow and ice.
She's dangerously top-heavy
and could possibly
capsize if a storm
hit her again.
Meanwhile, we begin
digging out our ship.
[SCRAPING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The hole
in her hull, two feet
above the waterline,
is temporarily sealed.
The rear anchor chain is freed.
If we are to proceed at
all, out of this bay,
the divers must perform
a difficult task.
They have to fasten the broken
shaft so that it does not
ram into the port rudder
and disable us completely.
From one diver to
the next, signals
are relayed to [INAUDIBLE],
who operates the winch.
And a shaft is secured
by a strong tackle.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The depression is moving away.
It is time to start the motor
and leave this dismal bay.
The exit of the Weddell
Sea is strangely calm,
an atmosphere of
slumbering threat.
Here, icebergs, driven
by unpredictable squalls
and suddenly freezing seas,
have destroyed many ships.
All at once, the face
of a glacier collapses.
The cliffs are
undermined and cracked
by the repeated
freezings and thawings
that occur at the end of summer.
[RUMBLING ICE]
A large section of the cliff
falls near Philippe's Zodiac,
raising a mountain of water.
It is time we left the coast
and escaped to the open sea.
Along with danger
and drama, Antarctica
offers us magnificent
days that no one on board
will ever forged.
[PLAYING MUSIC]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
It is a great, white sphinx,
recalling the Egyptian
monster, with its human head
and the body of
a reclining lion.
It is grounded.
But if tossed by the swell,
it could break up or capsize.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): One
has to come close to
the sphinx to realize
the enormity of its mass.
It is so vast and heavy
that the powerful swell
breaks on it, as on a coastline.
The waves charge into caves
at the base of the giant.
100 feet away, from a concealed
tunnel, the water spouts out.
The entire structure
is a labyrinth
of passages and caves.
I think of the thousands of
years necessary to accumulate
snow into such a gigantic block.
Then how many years of Sun, of
waves, of cold, and of storms
were needed to
carve out this mass
and make it what it is today?
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): We
will try to board
the island of ice.
We use the swell as a
lift to attain a grasp.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Christian
is the first to climb
the slippery wall.
He is followed by Dominique,
and then helps Raymond and me.
At any moment, under
inside stresses
of fantastic magnitude,
the colossal sculpture
could explode, disintegrating
to innumerable pieces,
annihilating "Calypso"
and all of us.
The thought obsesses me.
The iceberg is alive.
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SPLASHING SEAWATER]
I need more intimacy
with the iceberg.
From the Zodiac, we
discover a fragile cave,
an opening into the giant.
At close range, one can see
that the corridor reaches
deep into the heart
of the sphinx.
At the end of the
narrow passage,
lies a basin of dark,
therefore deep water,
probably connected
to the open sea.
As soon as we're equipped,
we slide into it.
The basin extends into a
vertical well, irregularly
shaped, that leads
us, 60 feet below,
to a terrace on the
flank of the iceberg.
There, everywhere,
the ice is corrugated
by thousands of
small depressions.
The exact symmetry of design
and embossment is incredible.
The ice, filled with small air
bubbles, is smooth and bright.
It was the encounter of
freshwater ice and salted sea
water that created this
improbable surface.
Jutting out of the
cliff, a sword of ice,
the blade transparent
as crystal.
A little lower, an
opening gapes in the wall.
Within the entrails
of the sphinx,
dull, cracking sounds,
and alarming fissures
are warnings that
the iceberg is under
immeasurable internal stress.
My curiosity is stronger
than my apprehension.
We are in a natural
hall of mirrors.
One cannot resist caressing
the smooth surfaces
that dazzlingly
reflect our lights.
We leave behind the cascading
echoes of our bubbles
within the palace of ice.
[BUBBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Farther down, below a ledge, we
discover sheaths of frozen air
bubbles, like
showers of diamonds.
Dominique plays with his
light, like a magician.
Everything here is made of air
and water, water liquid, water
solid, water pure and water
mixed with air, air that
is trapped in
microscopic bubbles,
shining like pearls,
stars, or comets.
Our light beams penetrate
deep into the transparent ice,
revealing the secrets
of the iceberg's past.
For hundreds of
thousands of years,
while the iceberg was
still part of a glacier,
every storm, every
winter and summer,
was engraved in its heart.
Now in the sea, it is a giant
crystal, melting under my eyes.
We are witnesses to the
vanishing of an eternity.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
In spite of her wounds,
"Calypso" has carried us to
our greatest and most daring
adventure.
We were in quest of the
unknown, but rediscovered what
our ancestors once knew, harmony
and purity on our planet.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We have confirmed that the
southern polar waters are
the richest of the
world's oceans.
May this continent, the
last expelled by man,
be the first one to
be spared by man.
May, out of the
errors of the past,
rise a dawn of respect and love
for the free-living creatures
and pristine beauty of
the last virgin land
on Earth, Antarctica.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[GAS HISSING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): December 5.
I commit "Calypso" to the
perilous Drake Passage that
lies between the
extreme tip of South
America and the
Antarctic Peninsula.
For safety, we depend
on space age techniques.
RADIOMAN: "Calypso,"
"Calypso,"--
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Directly from three satellites,
we receive pictures
indicating storms
and the ice situation
in our area.
-"Calypso."
Good morning, here at sea.
We read you loud and clear.
Over.
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Another satellite,
at an altitude of
22,000 miles, connects
us by radio to
the outside world.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
-Pictures from a
weather satellite
show that a storm is moving
westward in the Drake Passage,
between Cape Horn and
the Antarctic Peninsula.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
As there is usually
such a storm in the
Drake ever three days,
and our crossing
will take four, there
is no way to avoid 24
hours of bad weather.
I decide to go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The wind, about 20 knots,
is not yet alarming.
But the swell is rising
and the clouds are low.
The whole atmosphere
is threatening.
The albatrosses
are at home here.
But at the approach of these
polar seas, I feel alien.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
In the afternoon of December 7,
the wind turns to southeast
and reaches 45 knots.
The sea is rough.
But I am happy to feel my
"Calypso," although overloaded
with equipment
and supplies, ride
out the waves like a seagull.
I have promised a traditional
bottle of rum to whomever
would spot the first iceberg.
At dawn on the fourth
day, Roger Boneau
and Albert Falco win the prize.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
These mountains of
ice may be majestic,
but they are dangerous for
navigation Icebergs and ice
blocks drift by, one
after another, endlessly.
Pushed by westerly winds
and currents, some of them
have probably circled all
around the Antarctic continent.
The oldest ones, half melted,
having capsized several times,
present fantastic shapes in
extraordinary shades of blue.
I decide to drop anchor in
the bay of King George Island.
JACQUES COUSTEAU:
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[PLAYING MUSIC]
[BUZZ]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It is snowing
when we land in
Leopard Seal Cove.
With us is Dr. Raymond Duguy
of the Paris Museum of Natural
History.
JACQUES COUSTEAU:
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): How long has it
been since this cabin
was visited last?
This was obviously a
meteorological station.
After the explorers,
came the scientists.
Weather observations were
essential for climate studies
and to safeguard ships that
ventured into this region.
People have suffered
here to serve mankind.
But today, their work is done
far better by satellites,
without risking human lives.
Snow has penetrated everywhere.
But here are mattresses'
books, once read; cans of food
still unspoiled; and on a
table, condiments left behind.
For 13 years, the building
has been unattended.
Yet it is as if it
were only yesterday.
Antarctica preserves everything.
But one feels that here
life hangs only by a thread.
Nearby, on a windswept
promontory of ice and rocks,
a line of tombs, marked by
weathered, wooden crosses.
JACQUES COUSTEAU:
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Four
young Englishman lost
their lives here.
The crosses evoke
all who have died
for knowledge in Antarctica.
Pensive, we walk down
toward the deserted shore.
In spite of her
modern equipment,
today "Calypso" appears
to me, very fragile.
[RUMBLING]
December 9th,
weather is improving.
From the helicopter pad,
newly assembled on the stern
of "Calypso," I take off
with our pilot, Bob McKegan.
200 years ago, Captain
Cook wrote that nowhere
had he observed so much
life as in these polar seas.
That life, what has
become of it today?
I am happy to find that entire
islands are still inhabited
by immense colonies of penguins,
by the hundreds of thousands.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Out in the open sea, I spot
a large group of seals.
On my way back, I have
the incredible luck
to spot a couple of whales.
They are humpback whales.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Alerted by radio,
the crew watches for the whales.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Hunted without mercy,
the humpbacks have
become very rare.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
During our entire voyage,
we will see no more.
[BELL CLANGING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
It's a mother whale
and her calf, that is perhaps
four or five month old,
but still a baby in
need of protection.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Before she's
disappears, our whale
extends on of her long
pectoral flippers,
as if to wave goodbye.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The beach presents a vision out
of Dante, an appalling ossuary.
It was on land that former
whalers cut up their victims.
Hundreds of whale
jaws, a multitude
of ribs and vertebrae, are
scattered on the ground.
We become amateur
paleontologists.
Under the supervision
of Dr. Duguy,
we attempt to reconstruct the
skeleton of a big blue whale.
The skull alone weighs
more than 800 pounds.
The whole team is
needed to move it.
[SQUAWK]
For Dr. Deguy, it is a
gigantic jigsaw puzzle.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The rostrums
of the upper jaws average
15 feet in length.
These animals, the
largest that ever existed,
are beautiful, peaceful,
and intelligent.
Their last survivors are
still ingloriously slaughtered
by butchers, to be
transformed into oil and food
for dogs and cats.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): This
is narwhale, almost a
fossil, a 90-foot monument
to the folly of man.
It's a big thrill on board, as
Philippe, Bonnici, [INAUDIBLE]
put on their new dry suits for
their first Antarctic dive.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Other mammals
that return to the
sea are protected
from cold by a thick
layer of blubber.
As a substitute for
fat, we inflate out
outer skin with air.
[HISSING]
"Calypso" is the first ship ever
to carry an expedition devoted
exclusively to the
undersea exploration
of the Antarctic waters.
Philippe will film all our
dives and comment on them.
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
To me, the mountains of ice
are imposing, but somehow
fixed, impassive, sterile.
Could it be the
same in the water?
The cold that petrifies
the sea, has it
also killed all life within?
The cold, I have been thinking
of it since our departure.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
We dive in fairly muddy water.
The iceberg is stranded.
Winds and waves
drive the ice blocks
across the shoals
like huge plows,
digging large furrows
of destruction.
I think that all the flat
bottoms around Antarctica
undergo that plowing to depths
of at least 300 fathoms.
The red algae gives us a
waving, inviting welcome.
Along a cliff, down
to 100 feet, we
discover an unexpected
profusion of life.
Here, beauty becomes
delicate and warm.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We glide among murky bouquets,
amazed, filled with joy.
It seems incredible
that this icy
water can nourish
such abundance.
What a contrast to the surface,
so stark, so barren, so simple.
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): A group
of penguins are drifting
slowly on an eroded ice block.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): This raft
of ice is deeply furled,
indicating that it has been
long used by the penguins
as a hunting base.
They have been traveling
abroad all winter long.
[SPLASH]
As the mating season approaches,
their breeding instinct
compels them to swim
back to their rookeries.
[SPLASHING]
They swim like porpoises.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SPLASHING]
With the coming of
the Antarctic summer,
the ice breaks up and
reveals the shore.
The penguins, of an age to
mate, from four to 12 old,
return, in spite
of the breakers,
to the very location
where they were born.
Because of their oneness
with the sea [BARK]
and because their powerful wings
allow them fantastic vertical
leaps, they are able to make
their way through the surf
without being crushed.
[PENGUIN SQUAWKS]
There is no segregation here.
The chinstrap penguins, the
Gentoos with their red beaks,
the Adelies in
their dinner jackets
live together in
peaceful coexistence.
[PENGUIN SQUAWKS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The males arrive
before the females.
Sitting on their
nests of stones,
they vocalize madly to
attract their mates.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
Penguins are
essentially monogamous.
Most of them remain faithful
to their partners from one
mating season to the next.
The couples part
when they go to sea.
Now, after an
eight-month separation,
the female identifies
her mate by his voice.
The reunions are as
passionate as the courtship
rituals of the new fiances.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PENGUIN CRIES]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Some
of the eggs have
already hatched.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
The mother feeds her
chick predigested shrimp.
He seems to like it.
Males and females
take turns, feeding
their progeny and
fishing at sea.
Newborn penguins
are cold blooded.
Parents, whose temperature
is 100 degrees,
incubate their
young as carefully
as they do their eggs.
To keep feeding all
the hungry little ones,
the adults must go to the sea.
On the slopes, there is an
endless coming and going.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
The sharp-tooth leopard seal,
one of their few enemies,
awaits them at the water's edge.
[PENGUIN SQUAWKS]
It's only along the
shoreline, in turbid water,
that the leopard
seal has a chance
to seize a penguin by surprise.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
Falco keeps the peace.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
There will be no hunting today.
After weeks of fasting on a
nest, a penguin is famished.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): A fishing
penguin is difficult to follow.
At times these small birds,
weighing only 10 to 12 pounds,
can dart up to 25 miles an hour.
Their sprightliness
in the water makes
them practically invulnerable.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Philippe and his companions
depart in a Zodiac, to film
the penguins in slow motion,
under water, as
they hunt for krill.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The krill,
upon which penguins feed,
as do seals and whales,
is a mass of innumerable
pink shrimps.
They move swiftly, using only
their tiny abdominal fins.
And I can hardly
keep up with them.
The Antarctic produces over
100 million tons of krill
every year.
We swim in what used
to be a whale pasture.
REPORTER 1: Thank you very
much, Professor Cousteau.
This is [INAUDIBLE]
for BBC London.
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
By satellite on board
"Calypso," I hold an
international press conference.
REPORTER 2: I heard you tell
the BBC correspondent that--
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
REPORTER 2: [INAUDIBLE]
for taking over
the food left by
the dead whales,
or the lack of
whales in Antarctic.
-What I was saying is
that the abundance of life
in the Antarctic at the
level of primary protection
of the vegetable
production is enormous.
And the first beneficiaries
of this production,
with only one intermediary,
which was the krill, the mass
of little shrimps, red shrimps,
which abound in this area,
were the whales.
Now, these whales
have been decimated.
There is only 6% of
them left today, about.
So that a tremendous
amount of unused food
is now used by less
interesting forms of life,
like starfish, for example.
So that because of
the poor management
of man with the whales,
there is a continuous waste
of biologically resources
in the ocean today.
Over.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
It is the time of the skua.
By instinct, penguins
fear anything
that comes from the sky.
[BIRD CRIES]
With the piercing
eyes of an eagle,
a skua soars over the
nurseries, looking
for an abandoned
chick or a sick one.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRD CRIES]
Our Adelie penguin has
protected his baby courageously.
The skua, having been
repelled several times,
now attempts to
grab another chick,
one that had moved away to die.
He's forced to give it up, as
the penguin, with fierce eyes
and his neck feathers erect,
drives him from his prey.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRD CRIES]
The skua is persistent.
But his perseverance is
no match for the penguin.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Michel Laval and
Dr. Duguy have gone
to search for fossils
on King George Island.
[BIRD CRIES]
Two skuas charge them.
The men fear for their eyes.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[BIRD CRIES]
The dive attacks were only meant
to chase away the intruders
and protect the eggs.
[BIRD CRIES]
After the failure of her
intimidation maneuvers,
the female skua now sits firmly
on her nest to defend it.
Michel is responsive
to the bird's distress.
With gentleness and
quiet persuasion,
he tries to convey
his good intentions.
The bird calms down,
gaining some confidence.
Under her breast
feathers, Michel
can feel her still
pounding heart.
Here, at the frontier of
Antarctica's lonely wastes,
two different species, man
and skua, brought together
by chance, have come
to tolerate each other.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Michel leaves, knowing too well
that such moments are merely
brief exceptions to
the laws of nature.
[RUMBLING]
In difficult weather
conditions, the helicopter
delivers me to a barren hill.
I have been informed
by radio that Michel
Laval has found fossils here.
-Hello.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It is impossible
that plants and trees could ever
have grown in such frozen soil.
However, here are
fossilized leaves.
They bear a striking
resemblance to those found
today in the forests
of Patagonia.
170 million years
ago, this land was
part of Gondwanaland,
a supercontinent.
It was connected to
India and South America.
When that
supercontinent broke up,
Antarctica drifted
toward the pole,
where it was covered with ice.
[CRASHING WAVES]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Without warning,
within a couple of minutes,
a furious wind strike us.
It now reaches 80 miles an hour.
The stern anchor does not hold.
The ship is drifting.
We could be carried to shore
and wrecked on the rocks.
We must act fast.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The anchor winch is frozen.
Our only chance is to
tie to use the crane.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Obviously,
Leopard Bay is not
a safe anchorage.
We must move out as
soon as possible.
With Captain [FRENCH], we
decided a better shelter will
be found in Whalers
Bay, Deception Island.
The storm abated as
fast as it arose.
Our helicopter escorts
us to Deception
Island, sinister enough.
It served as a base
for the whalers
at the time of
the big massacres.
At about 30 years ago, with
the advent of factory ships,
big, floating slaughter houses,
Deception was abandoned.
"Calypso" enters
a narrow passage,
flanked with sheer cliffs
that whalers called
Neptune's Bellows, Dragon's
Mouth, or Hell's Caldera,
a vast volcanic crater, dug
out by a tremendous explosion
and invaded the sea.
The volcano is still active,
about to explode at any moment.
Between mountains of
rocks, exhaling fumes,
glaciers dotted with ashes
slowly float to the sea.
And although the
snow [INAUDIBLE],
it is the improbable
wedding of fire and ice.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Through clouds of steam,
we perceive the ruins
of a Chilean research
station completely destroyed
in 1969 by volcanic explosions.
There have been three explosive
eruptions on the island
during the last five years.
And each time, marine
charts had to be modified.
A climbing team, led by Michel
Laval, has been improvised.
Our aim is to reach and explore
the deep fracture in a glacier
that was blown up during
the 1969 eruption.
Michel Laval is an
experienced mountain climber.
The others, including
Philippe, are novices.
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Our progress
is difficult, on granuous,
red, lukewarm lava.
Everywhere, snow is
melting and the soil
is streaming with water,
that turns it into mud.
Within the cracks, it is so
hot that water is vaporized.
The entire side of
the mountain appears
to be covered with
volcanic vomit.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The fog
makes it difficult
for Michel Laval
to find the right
approach to the glacier.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Away from the warm lava
flows, it gets cold, as the
mist comes down from the summits
and engulfs us.
Visibility is poor.
The subdued light
hurts our eyes.
The cold is becoming intense.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Using our compass,
we try to avoid a field
of cracks on the south,
that I had spotted
from the helicopter.
Michel, first on
the rope, constantly
probes the snow for
hidden crevasses.
Here, the glacier must be
at least 100 feet thick
and the pattern of the cracks
is treacherously irregular.
We are apprehensive, tense.
One more crevasse, much wider
and deeper than the others.
Michel probes for a long time.
Then he goes over and
immediately secures me.
We follow Michel, doing
exactly as he tells us.
The feeling of malevolent
spirits around us,
of imminent drama, pervades me.
If only that fog would lift.
We descend toward the
roots of the glacier.
It is satanic, an inferno that
has frozen over, exhaling fumes
and steams, about
to explode again.
The flank of the glacier, blown
out during the last explosion,
displays layers of volcanic ash,
that alternate with the snows
of successive Antarctic winters.
Like the growth rings
in a tree trunk,
these layers allow us
to date past eruptions.
They also indicate all
the climactic changes,
as far back as 1670.
It will be 2:00 AM when we
return to "Calypso," exhausted.
[ROARING WINDS]
[SPEAKING FRENCH - SINGING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The next day
aboard "Calypso,"
it is Christmas Eve.
[SPEAKING FRENCH - SINGING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
[SPEAKING FRENCH],
when the poet died.
When the poet died,
they buried his star
in a great field of wheat.
All his friends, all his
friends, shed their tears.
Michel was [INAUDIBLE].
And this was to be
his last Christmas.
December 28.
Michel Laval lost his life in
an accident, instantly killed
by the tail rotor
of the helicopter,
while on the ground, close
to the volcanic crevasse
of Deception.
Nature reclaimed him on
the border of the unknown.
[RUMBLING]
A dreadful day.
Throughout his life,
Michel sought new horizons.
For him, the world was to
marvel about and to love.
"Calypso's" flag
is at half mast.
It is my painful task to
bring Michel's body back.
In my soul, I was inclined
to drop everything.
But Philippe, who had
become Michel's friend,
offered to remain on the
island of fire and ice
and to continue the
exploration until my return.
Only his decision could bring
some warmth back into my heart.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
For nine days, a shore
team, left to themselves
on that accursed island,
will establish camp
in the ruins of a British base
and make extensive exploration
dives all around Deception.
Michel had been captivated
by Antarctica, its rich seas,
its waste of ice, its
transparent beauty.
All that lies ahead of
us will be inseparable
from the memory of Michel Laval.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SNORTING]
These majestic living
torpedoes are orcas,
nicknamed killer
whales, the most
powerful predators of the seas.
In Antarctica, large whales
have become exceedingly rare.
However, packs of killer
whales still thrive.
Each closely knit family
includes several females,
offspring from two generations,
and a single large male,
the leader and
master, identified
by his huge dorsal fin.
They feed on fish and squid.
Occasionally, they enrich
their menu with seals.
But they certainly don't
deserve the epithet "killer,"
more than any other animal.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): January 16.
We proceed to the
Melchior Archipelago
for refueling, essential before
we venture further south.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[HORN BLOWING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Our providential supply ship
is the [INAUDIBLE] of
the Argentinian navy.
[RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
In a disquieting fog,
our "Calypso" heads for regions
that are increasingly unsafe.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Progressing south, we have
crossed the Antarctic Circle,
200 years and two days
after British explorer
James Cook first
passed it in 1773.
[INAUDIBLE]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): January 23, NASA
warns us that towards the
south, the Bering Southern Sea
is frozen 120 nautical miles
further north than last year.
Fragments of ice increasingly
obstruct our course.
But the weather is fine.
And we all want to
reach seal country
and dive under the
ice pack there.
Now, we are about to slip
into another channel,
flanked by cliffs of ice.
3:00 AM, the break of day.
The low sun rays play
through layers of polar air
and create mirages and
incandescent glows.
But the blocks of ice
that impede our progress
are not mirages.
Launches are dispatched
ahead in an attempt
to push the largest
out of our way.
[MOTOR RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The observation chamber
in front of our stern is
made of thick steel and acts
as a bumper.
But I fear our props and
rudders that are not protected.
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Unsuccessfully, we struggle
against the chaos of
ice that is thickening.
For the first time,
I become worried.
What if "Calypso" became
surrounded with ice,
to the point of
being unable to move?
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
I think of Shackleton, whose
sturdy ship, the "Endurance,"
was crushed like a nut in 1915.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[ROARING ENGINE]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
I send the helicopter
on a reconnaissance flight.
Bob McKegan and Philippe will
look for a way out of the trap.
They keep radio contact
with the bridge.
[RUMBLING]
-We'll have to double
back to the left.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Philippe
has located a navigable passage.
"Calypso" and the helicopter
will rendezvous near a very old
iceberg grounded in the channel.
[RUMBLING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
At last, we have found an access
to free water, sprinkled
only with [INAUDIBLE] ice.
We all breathe a bit easier.
We have gotten off lightly, with
only a few scratches the hull.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This magic bay, luminous,
bathed with crystalline water,
is seal country.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SEAL CRIES]
-Hey, up.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): "Calypso"
is made fast to the pack,
as to a wharf and a harbor.
Yet, I am concerned.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The sea is freezing.
Our launches try to churn
lose the ice freezing
around "Calypso," that could
lock her in within a few hours.
We must depart before nightfall.
These improvised sleds,
loaded with diving equipment,
make me feel like we're
playing explorers of old.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The ice pack is cracking.
We may not come back walking.
We may need boats.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
To achieve such round,
smooth holes, the
Weddell seals gnaw
through ice six feet thick.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): We will
slightly enlarge two holes.
Philippe and [INAUDIBLE]
will be able to dive
through one of them.
And in a case of trouble, come
back up through the other.
Weddell seals are
fantastic divers.
They are able to stay
under water up to an hour,
to reach depths of
2,000 feet, and to swim
under the ice for
more than five miles.
It's not quite the case with us.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The water
below is dark, frightening.
A strong current could
sweep us far under the pack,
away forever from
these openings to life.
[RUMBLING]
Under the pack, seal
songs endlessly resound.
A Weddell seal gracefully
slips into the water.
I wonder how the seals are able
to find their breathing holes
again when that come up
from their 2,000 foot dive.
I know they have sonar systems
emitting modulated sounds
that compose the songs we hear.
However, I cannot imagine
any creature living
at ease in this forbidding ream.
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
I am eager to take down
the diving saucer, to explore
the deeper polar waters.
It's the first time
ever that a submarine
has been used in Antarctica.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Falco
will pilot the
saucer while I film.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): At my disposal,
I have a
remote-controlled exterior
camera mounted on a tripod.
[RUMBLING]
We dive alongside an
iceberg to the bottom,
where it is grounded at a
depth of a thousand feet.
As we reach the
bottom, I am struck
by the abundance of life.
We advance through
clouds of small fish.
Immense starfish,
with multiple arms,
litter the rocks
and the sediment.
Probably dazzled by our
lights, small fish bump
into the starfish, get
ensnared, and will be devoured.
A strange, thin crab, all legs,
proceeds as if in slow motion.
He looks like a tall,
bodiless spider.
Our old friend the octopus
seems to be as much at ease
in these cold waters as
in the Mediterranean.
A blue fish, with
white and black spots,
like enameled shell, Falco
checks to see if it is alive.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
This incredible creature
is a [INAUDIBLE].
The strange bowl, attached
to the rock by a filament,
is both a mouth and
a digestive tract.
It's worm-like extension,
which measures over six feet,
is covered with
venomous cells, which
paralyze shrimp before our eyes.
It twists and curls around
its prey and contracts slowly
to bring the victims
to its mouth.
It's terrifying.
A jelly-like creature,
swinging like a Christmas bell.
A pink snailfish waves
lazily, digging out
small prey from
the diatomic ooze.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Looming out of the depth, the
favorite diet of Weddell seals,
squid.
The saucer's lights are
affected by pigments
within their translucent bodies,
which are probably fluorescent.
This is the first
time that live squid
have been observed
in the Antarctic.
Another species of squid, with
wings of transparent gold.
And now, the icefish.
The elusive and almost
legendary icefish,
which has no red
cells in its blood.
Therefore, no hemoglobin
to combine with oxygen
and convey it.
It is dissolved
oxygen only, that
is carried by the colorless
liquid pumped by its heart.
The icefish has
never been filmed
before in its
natural environment.
When the temperature
goes below 29 degrees,
the icefish releases into its
blood a special protein, much
like a driver puts
antifreeze in his radiator.
The teeming world we
leave below thrives
at the very edge of life.
In water one or two degrees
colder, nothing would survive.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Falco aims upward
the jet nozzles that propel
the saucer, thus indicating
our location to
"Calypso," so we can
be hoisted out of a
rapidly freezing sea.
Summer is at end.
And we know that the season
changes here are drastic.
But we want to go on with our
work for as long as we can.
On route to Esperanza, Hope Bay.
At the entrance of
the Weddell Sea,
"Calypso" makes her way between
islands, reefs, and icebergs.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Like a yo-yo, a hammock of ice
bobs, vacillating in
resonance with a long swell.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[BIRD CRIES]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It's snowing.
The temperature, both in
the sea and in the air,
has dropped abruptly.
Studying the charts, with
regret I prepare our return.
I did not suspect that
this field snowfall would
soon turn into a
fierce blizzard.
In the meantime, Philippe and
Falco organize the last dives
before beyond the
onslaught of winter.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Nobody
on board yet realizes the
urgency of our situation.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
[LAUGHTER]
[MOTOR RUMBLING]
The Zodiac sails away
on the sea blanketed
by a snow that does not melt.
As I see them go, I feel
vaguely apprehensive.
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
We land on an ice floe,
already occupied by
a few young ones.
As children do, they play catch
with the snow as it falls.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Equipped for our dive,
we walk across the
ice raft to the water.
An unusual vision in the
Antarctic, red penguins.
[PENGUIN CRIES]
The snow is falling
even more heavily.
It is with relief that I escape
the snow and slip into the sea.
It is so cold that snow
sticks to the camera.
Is does not even melt on
contact with the water.
We swim under a translucent
canopy, between columns of ice,
in a world with no shadows.
[SPLASHING WAVES]
Soon the penguins
join us and offer
a fantastic display
of underwater agility.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PENGUIN CRIES]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The divers are back aboard.
A long, smooth swell is up
now, with no wind, a bad omen.
February 9, the
barometer is falling
and the birds are flying away.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): All of a sudden,
the wind has come up.
In five minutes, it
reaches 65 miles per hour.
The wind is pushing the
icebergs towards the entrance
of the deep, narrow bay.
And they are all drifting
toward "Calypso."
A gigantic mass of ice, many
times the weight of "Calypso,"
is on a collision
course with us.
And there is nothing we can do.
[RINGING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): I know
"Calypso" has been
severely injured.
I send Falco below
to assess the damage.
Meanwhile, [INAUDIBLE]
continues his futile efforts
against the relentless assaults.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
When Falco returns,
the wind is stronger than ever.
And also by now, it has
driven most of the icebergs
towards away from us
and toward the open sea.
The damage has been done.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
Falco reports that not only is
the starboard propeller
bent, but the shaft
of the port propeller is broken.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): It is
even more serious
than I thought.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The shaft cannot be repaired.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The blizzard is just beginning
and it is turning
day into night.
There's no visibility.
In waters too deep to cast
an anchor, day after day
we circle helplessly
in the narrow bay,
on our single bent propeller.
Without radar.
we would be wrecked.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
On the third day,
the wind goes up to 100
knots, 120 miles an hour.
Already loaded with
snow, "Calypso"
is lashed by a freezing spray
that makes her even heaving.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At last, the storm abates.
And I have my first opportunity
to check out our poor ship.
The deck is heavily
loaded with snow and ice.
All riggings are covered
with thick frost.
The winch is a mass
of ice and most
certainly could not operate.
The diving saucer,
unrecognizable,
has been turned into
a large, white egg.
With one injured propeller
and a hole in the hull
our trip back seems
very much in doubt.
"Calypso" has a 5
degree starboard list.
I estimate she's loaded with
about 30 tons of snow and ice.
She's dangerously top-heavy
and could possibly
capsize if a storm
hit her again.
Meanwhile, we begin
digging out our ship.
[SCRAPING]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): The hole
in her hull, two feet
above the waterline,
is temporarily sealed.
The rear anchor chain is freed.
If we are to proceed at
all, out of this bay,
the divers must perform
a difficult task.
They have to fasten the broken
shaft so that it does not
ram into the port rudder
and disable us completely.
From one diver to
the next, signals
are relayed to [INAUDIBLE],
who operates the winch.
And a shaft is secured
by a strong tackle.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
The depression is moving away.
It is time to start the motor
and leave this dismal bay.
The exit of the Weddell
Sea is strangely calm,
an atmosphere of
slumbering threat.
Here, icebergs, driven
by unpredictable squalls
and suddenly freezing seas,
have destroyed many ships.
All at once, the face
of a glacier collapses.
The cliffs are
undermined and cracked
by the repeated
freezings and thawings
that occur at the end of summer.
[RUMBLING ICE]
A large section of the cliff
falls near Philippe's Zodiac,
raising a mountain of water.
It is time we left the coast
and escaped to the open sea.
Along with danger
and drama, Antarctica
offers us magnificent
days that no one on board
will ever forged.
[PLAYING MUSIC]
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
It is a great, white sphinx,
recalling the Egyptian
monster, with its human head
and the body of
a reclining lion.
It is grounded.
But if tossed by the swell,
it could break up or capsize.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): One
has to come close to
the sphinx to realize
the enormity of its mass.
It is so vast and heavy
that the powerful swell
breaks on it, as on a coastline.
The waves charge into caves
at the base of the giant.
100 feet away, from a concealed
tunnel, the water spouts out.
The entire structure
is a labyrinth
of passages and caves.
I think of the thousands of
years necessary to accumulate
snow into such a gigantic block.
Then how many years of Sun, of
waves, of cold, and of storms
were needed to
carve out this mass
and make it what it is today?
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): We
will try to board
the island of ice.
We use the swell as a
lift to attain a grasp.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
(VOICEOVER): Christian
is the first to climb
the slippery wall.
He is followed by Dominique,
and then helps Raymond and me.
At any moment, under
inside stresses
of fantastic magnitude,
the colossal sculpture
could explode, disintegrating
to innumerable pieces,
annihilating "Calypso"
and all of us.
The thought obsesses me.
The iceberg is alive.
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SPLASHING SEAWATER]
I need more intimacy
with the iceberg.
From the Zodiac, we
discover a fragile cave,
an opening into the giant.
At close range, one can see
that the corridor reaches
deep into the heart
of the sphinx.
At the end of the
narrow passage,
lies a basin of dark,
therefore deep water,
probably connected
to the open sea.
As soon as we're equipped,
we slide into it.
The basin extends into a
vertical well, irregularly
shaped, that leads
us, 60 feet below,
to a terrace on the
flank of the iceberg.
There, everywhere,
the ice is corrugated
by thousands of
small depressions.
The exact symmetry of design
and embossment is incredible.
The ice, filled with small air
bubbles, is smooth and bright.
It was the encounter of
freshwater ice and salted sea
water that created this
improbable surface.
Jutting out of the
cliff, a sword of ice,
the blade transparent
as crystal.
A little lower, an
opening gapes in the wall.
Within the entrails
of the sphinx,
dull, cracking sounds,
and alarming fissures
are warnings that
the iceberg is under
immeasurable internal stress.
My curiosity is stronger
than my apprehension.
We are in a natural
hall of mirrors.
One cannot resist caressing
the smooth surfaces
that dazzlingly
reflect our lights.
We leave behind the cascading
echoes of our bubbles
within the palace of ice.
[BUBBLING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Farther down, below a ledge, we
discover sheaths of frozen air
bubbles, like
showers of diamonds.
Dominique plays with his
light, like a magician.
Everything here is made of air
and water, water liquid, water
solid, water pure and water
mixed with air, air that
is trapped in
microscopic bubbles,
shining like pearls,
stars, or comets.
Our light beams penetrate
deep into the transparent ice,
revealing the secrets
of the iceberg's past.
For hundreds of
thousands of years,
while the iceberg was
still part of a glacier,
every storm, every
winter and summer,
was engraved in its heart.
Now in the sea, it is a giant
crystal, melting under my eyes.
We are witnesses to the
vanishing of an eternity.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JACQUES COUSTEAU (VOICEOVER):
In spite of her wounds,
"Calypso" has carried us to
our greatest and most daring
adventure.
We were in quest of the
unknown, but rediscovered what
our ancestors once knew, harmony
and purity on our planet.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We have confirmed that the
southern polar waters are
the richest of the
world's oceans.
May this continent, the
last expelled by man,
be the first one to
be spared by man.
May, out of the
errors of the past,
rise a dawn of respect and love
for the free-living creatures
and pristine beauty of
the last virgin land
on Earth, Antarctica.
[MUSIC PLAYING]