Doug Allan

Though he recovers, one arm remains weak for the rest of his life.

When he resumes duty at the naval base in Toulon on France's Mediterranean coast, he works hard to rebuild his strength.

Beneath the water, Cousteau discovers a hidden world.

Forests of kelp and waving seaweed, and fish in colors he has never seen before.

It is love at first sight.

Not long afterwards, another encounter will change the course of his life.

While staying with his family, he attends a party at the apartment of Henri Melchior, head of Air Liquide, a company that produces compressed air stored in steel cylinders.

There he meets 17-year-old Simone Melchior.

Fluent in French and Japanese and raised in a naval family, she shares Cousteau's love of the sea.

In 1937, Cousteau marries Simone, and they settle in southern France near the naval base at Toulon.

The following year, their son, Jean-Michel, is born.

At Toulon, Cousteau works as an artillery instructor, but whenever he can, he swims in the Mediterranean.

Philippe Tallier introduces him to a diver named Frédéric Dumas, nicknamed Didi.

Dumas can hold his breath to dive as far as 65 feet underwater, practicing what today is referred to as free diving.

The three of them dub themselves the Sea Musketeers, with the water-loving Simone as an honorary member.

With his enthusiasm for cinematography still going strong, Cousteau finds ways to protect his camera underwater, such as sealing it inside a glass jar.

Encouraged by his friends, he also begins diving, reaching depths of up to 50 feet.

Having grown up on the books of Jules Verne, author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the young adventurers push themselves further each day, aspiring to become what they call men-fish.

But their dives leave them craving more time to explore the depths.

By the 1930s, divers are experimenting with compressed air systems that allow them to breathe underwater for limited periods.