Carnet de bord de vingt ans de campagnes océanographiques Logbook from twenty years of oceanographic cruises Joseph Coïc Preface by Yves la Prairie, founding president of Cnexo, author, member of l'Académie de Marine and columnist 2008.

This book is full of anecdotes, with a wealth of original photos. The reader is swept across seas and oceans - from the Southern Lands of the French Antarctic to searching for Boat people in the China Sea, from Easter Island to Clipperton atoll, from French Polynesia to Micronesia, from New Caledonia to the Fiji islands, from the Tonga isles to Vanuatu - and finally, from 1983 to 1987, for a sail round the world aboard the research vessel Jean Charcot, taking up with some major scientific expeditions of the 19th century.

As a sailor who found himself in a privileged position to witness fabulous, and sometimes unusual, exploration and research, he shares a keen, occasionally amused, look at twenty years of multidisciplinary scientific cruises aboard research vessels of the former French centre for ocean exploitation (Cnexo - which became Ifremer in 1984).

They covered marine geosciences, ocean physics, hydrothermalism, seismic and acoustic sea floor surveys, the hunt for polymetallic nodules, plate tectonics, the volcanic arc, study of tsunamis, and more. Author Joseph Coïc, a writer who has sailed the Seven Seas and is Chevalier of the Maritime Order of Merit, was born in Le Guilvinec, a fishing port in Brittany, France and is currently retired.

He is the author of the following books published by Ar Men Du: Journal de bord d'un marin au long cours. Du Guil aux Émirats (a seafarer's log, from Le Guilvinec to the Emirates) and Missions Titanic : Recherches, découverte et explorations (the Titanic missions: search, discovery and exploration).

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Carnet de bord de vingt ans de campagnes océanographiques par Joseph Coïc

Joseph Coïc was born in "Le Guilvinec" (France) in 1943. He wrote a first book entitled "A foreign-trade sailor's log book - "From Le Guilvinec to the Emirates", (edited by Ar Men Du).

He carries on his maritime memory work by making us share the French-American research and exploration missions where, as a naval officer on the IFREMER ships, he will have the priviledge to keep close to the main decision-makers in charge of these expeditions : the heads of the mission, Jean-Louis Michel and Dr Ballard ; the man in charge of the "Nautile" submersible : Paul-Henri Nargeolet and the President of Titanic Ventures LLD and RMS Titanic Inc : the Americans, George Tulloch and Arnie Geller.

He was been deeply precise and concise throughout his long and patient work of research and translation of newspapers at that time, of survey reports of the American Senate and the commission of Lord Mersey in England in 1912.

Any big tragedy includes its part of mysteries, of doubts and interrogations. The author, with his sailor's sensitivity, makes us go back to those moments of emotion when seeing the Titanic wreck, lying straight and majestically at the bottom of the ocean deeps.

Joseph Coïc, without trying to engage in polemic about the aim of these missions, makes us discover this submarine scientific milieu with sometimes astronauts like Buzz Aldrin who, after having walked on the moon, comes to discover this fascinating and dramatic environment too.

As a member of the Titanic French Association (AFT), the author also pays a tribute to the french, working on board and makes us discover unpublished photos and documents belonging to the Association members.