Richard's bio:
Author of FROGMEN
A Personal Account of Journeys With Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and the Crew of Research Vessel Calypso
Richard was a diver, photographer and navigator aboard Captain Jacques Cousteau’s relatively small and unsteady wooden famed research ship named Calypso.
His first job was to drive a supply truck from Los Angeles, California in the U.S. to the Canadian wilderness. There he worked with Cree Indians to build a cabin for the Cousteau team to winter in and film Beavers of the North Country.
Then as deck hand aboard Calypso:
- In Florida they filmed manatee, and stone crab fishermen.
- In Mexico, The Incredible Migration of the Spiny Lobster.
- Sailing south, they filmed the Belize Barrier Reef and the spawning of thousands of grouper, The Fish that Swallowed Jonah.
- Also, singer songwriter John Denver paid the crew a visit and performed a concert.
On Richard’s final expedition sailing from Norfolk, Virginia to Venezuela:
- He graduated to diver, navigator, and also did underwater lighting and photography.
- En route, he experienced deep dives on the wreck of the USS Monitor off North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
- Also skeletons at midnight inside deep wrecks off the island of Martinique.
- Sadly, also the death of Jacques Cousteau’s son, Philippe.
Richard’s career has been in business.
He is a PADI-certified Aquanaut. He conducted a webcast on Ocean Exploration and Climate Change, from Classroom Under The Sea, an underwater habitat.
He is passionate about our environment, particularly the ocean and its creatures. He gives back by mentoring students. He is Co-Founder of Future Frogmen, an organization for students eager to learn about ocean-related science, issues and solutions. He is starting an organization focused on helping environmental organizations work better together.