Alcyone (ship)
 Rotorship Alcyone in harbour | |
| Career (France) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Alcyone |
| Namesake: | Alcyone |
| Owner: | Cousteau Society |
| Launched: | 1985[1] |
| Homeport: | Concarneau, Brittany , France[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Research ship |
| Length: | 103 ft (31 m)[1] |
| Beam: | 29 ft (8.8 m)[1] |
| Draught: | 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m)[1] |
| Sail plan: | Turbosail 226 sq ft (21.0 m2) surface area[1] |
| Speed: | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph)[1] |
| Crew: | 12[1] |
The Alcyone is a ship operated by the Cousteau Society. It was created as an expedition ship and to test the operation of a new kind of marine propulsion system, the turbosail. The Alcyone's two turbosails are used to augment its diesel engines. Since the accidental sinking of the Calypso, the Alcyone has been the Cousteau Society's expedition vessel.
The Alcyone in popular culture
- John Denver wrote a short song called "Alcyone The Wind" as a tribute to Alcyone. The song was sung in the 1993 documentary Secret Societies of Dolphins and Whales.
See also
- RV Calypso, for Cousteau's oceanographic expedition vessel.
References
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alcyone (ship, 1985). |
- Cousteau Society's ship page for the Alcyone
- Jean-Charles Nahon (Naval Architect Bureau Mauric) and Bernard Deguy (First captain of Alcyone): Experience with sail assisted propulsion: the ALCYONE (presentation slides, 2013. PDF, 13 MB)
- Description of Turbosail
- "Description of Turbosail" (PDF). Cousteau Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27.