In 1939, Anita Conti (the first female French oceanographer) set sail on the cod-fishing boat Viking for a three-month voyage that would see her tossed around the North Atlantic, while trying to take notes and photographs of life in and on the ocean. Dressed in a sailor’s smock and white gloves, she clambered among the masts and ropes, recording the hardships of life at sea, from the loneliness to the physical challenges presented by storms and fierce winds. During World War II, Conti headed out with the minesweepers, producing images that were eventually published in , a weekly French newspaper, before heading towards Africa, studying fauna and fishing techniques along the way. The challenges of shooting at sea were manifold. ‘Some films were developed in muddy and brackish waters; others dried too slowly in the damp shade of mosquito-filled huts,’ she recalls. ‘And I haven’t counted the number of shipwrecks with the cameras and their load of film.’
