19.50 m long, 8.5 m wide... These are the dimensions of the Amphitrite, the largest semi-rigid built by Zodiac in the 1960s. At the time, it was the world's largest inflatable and was built for Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It was christened on December 10, 1960 in the port of Monaco before making its maiden voyage to Nice, with the presence of Monaco Princess Grace Kelly.
To propel this giant boat - equipped with a pressurised cabin for 5 people at the bow - no less than 8 outboard engines were needed... But the speed was nothing like today's engines as the Amphitrite was travelling at around 13 knots.
Cousteau and his team used this boat as a backup base between the explorer's various exploration equipment: scuba gear, bathyscaphe (underwater devices used to explore the deep sea from the 1950s to the 1980s) and the saucer.
There was also a metal structure on the boat for launching and retrieving the saucer. The team also sailed on board to explore the shallow waters of the Mediterranean and carried out underwater installations.
Unfortunately, this ship - unlike the famous Calypso, the oceanographic vessel of the red-capped researcher - never became famous, even though it remains to this day the largest ship built by Zodiac.
