Philippe Tailliez
Philippe Tailliez (French: . He was an underwater pioneer, who had been diving since the 1930s.
Biography
He was the younger son of Félix Tailliez, a career sailor then in station in
In 1936 he introduced Cousteau, while both were officers on the Condorcet, to the sport of spearfishing and two years later to Frédéric Dumas, another diving companion. These three men would start the history of deep-sea diving.
Passionate about cinema and owner of a camera, Cousteau dreamed of making underwater films at once, but for lack of time the dream spent several years to be carried out, and the German
In the summer and autumn of 1943 he aided Cousteau in testing the prototype of the
The
On
In 1945, the Gaullist admiral Lemonnier, having viewed this film, entrusted to Tailliez the direction of the G.R.S. (Group of Underwater Research) (which in 1950 became the G.E.R.S. (Group of Studies and Underwater Research), and is now CEPHISMER - CEllule Plongée Humaine et Intervention Sous la MER). He had Cousteau and Dumas assigned there, and obtained a ship, the sloop "Elie Monnier". Admiral Lemonnier appointed him as the first commanding officer of the Elie Monnier, with which the three made innumerable missions of mine clearance, underwater exploration, physiological tests (discovering the principle of the diving tables), of underwater archaeology (in Mahdia in Tunisia) and of supporting the first bathyscaphes of Professor Jacques Piccard: the FNRS II in 1949 in Dakar.
At the same time they started their underwater exploration and archaeological finds off the coast of Mahdia, Tunisia. They did physiological tests, discovering the principle of diving tables.
In 1949 they helped Jacques Piccard off the coast of Dakar with his prototype of the bathyscaphe. Tailliez has described these adventures in his book Plongées sans câble (Diving without a cable).
These adventures are told in the book of Philippe Tailliez "Plongées sans câble" ("Dives without cable") and in the book of James Dugan, Frederic Dumas and Jacques-Yves Cousteau "Le Monde du silence" ("
On his return to France, Taillez began, together with Hans Sellner, the development of the Aquarius, a new type of bathyscaphe that used
On 20 January 1955 he was designated Commander of the Northern
At the same time he conducted several underwater archaeological explorations.
In 1960 he retired from the French Navy. From then on he devoted himself to the protection of the sea from environmental pollution. In 1964 he was a founding member of the scientific committee of the Port-Cros National Park. In 1982 he became the president of the GRAN (Groupe de Recherche en Archéologie Navale). He was, from 1960 to 1963, the president of the technical commission of the Fédération française d'études et de sports sous-marins (French association for underwater studies and sports). He was also one of the founding member of the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (World Underwater Federation).
Philippe Tailliez is considered one of the fathers of modern deep-sea diving. He inspired Cousteau to his environmental consciousness. He was given many awards in France and abroad, for his multiple contributions.
From 1960 to 1963 Philippe Tailliez was president of the National Technical Commission of the FFESSM and one of the founder members of the CMAS (World Confederation of the Subaqueous Activities).
He was at the same time in underwater archaeology and led many sites with the assistance of the Management of underwater archaeological research and Navy. He chaired, as of his creation (1982), the GRAN (Group of Research in Naval Archaeology).
After 1960, date of his retirement from the Navy, he was devoted to marine environmental protection. Keeping away from the media contrary to Cousteau, he was nevertheless very active. Founder member of the scientific Committee of the national park of Port-Cros, created in 1964 and of the Paul Ricard Oceanographical Institute, he helped and advised with a constant generosity of many impassioned explorations, cinema and sea, of which some became famous.
Considered the modern "father of deep-sea diving" and the inspirer of the environmental conscience of Cousteau, Philippe Tailliez received many distinctions, in France and abroad, for his many contributions.
Movies
In 1943 he was awarded, with Cousteau and Dumas, the first prize ex-aequo on the Congrès du film documentaire for the first French underwater film Par dix-huit mètres de fond (Eighteen meters deep), shot the year before. He was awarded, again together with Cousteau and Dumas, the CIDALC Prize at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival for their film Epaves (shipwrecks).[2]
Bibliography
Books in French about Philippe Tailliez:
- Philippe Tailliez, le père de la plongée. Patrick Mouton, Glénat, 1993.
- Philippe Tailliez, pionnier de la plongée . les cahiers d océanorama, inst P.Ricard, 1995.
He was the author of several books :
In French
- La plongée en scaphandre, co-authors : Ph. Tailliez, F.Dumas, J.Y. Cousteau, J. Alinat, F. Devilla, Ed. Elzevir, 1949. First manual dedicated to diving in an atmospheric diving suit
- La plongée, co-authors : Ph. Tailliez, F. Dumas, J.Y. Cousteau, J. alinat, F. Devilla, Ed. Arthaud, 1955. Reissues in 1960 and 1967
- Plongées sans câbles, Philippe Tailliez, Ed. Arthaud, 1954. Prix Nautilus
- Nouvelles plongées sans câbles, Ed. Arthaud, 1960
- Aquarius, Philippe Tailliez, Ed. France Empire, 1961. Prix de l'Académie de Marine
- Nouvelles plongées sans câbles (1943 à 1966), Ed. Arthaud, 1967
- Plongée sans câbles, Ed. Edisud, 1998
In English
- To Hidden Depths ; E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., New York: 1954
- The complete manual of free diving; Putnam, 1957
- Aquarius; Harrap, 1964
Notes
- The Silent World (book)
- ^ 1946 Cannes Film Festival
References
- Philippe Tailliez's Last Voyage, by Gerard Loridon
- Captain Philippe Tailliez; by Koulbanis, G. 1993; Calypso Log 20, no. 2 : 10–11.
- Philippe Tailliez, mousquemer et humaniste; by Mouton, P. 1993; Thalassa, nr. 69; pages 56–58