Jacques Boissy, born in 1929 in Monaco, was a professional diver at the Port of Monaco. A monitor at the Yacht Club de Monaco founded by Prince Rainier III in 1953, he was active in the club’s underwater exploration section. He shared his passion for his subaquatic activities with Prince Rainier...
Jacques Boissy, born in 1929 in Monaco, was a professional diver at the Port of Monaco. A monitor at the Yacht Club de Monaco founded by Prince Rainier III in 1953, he was active in the club’s underwater exploration section. He shared his passion for his subaquatic activities with Prince Rainier III, and dived regularly with the Sovereign. He collaborated with Captain Cousteau, who was appointed director of the Oceanographic Museum in 1957. Aboard “L’Epave” and “Le Dauphin”, he was in charge of maritime security for the Formula 1 Grands Prix. In 1955, he rescued Alberto Ascari after the Italian racing driver crashed into the harbour. In 1961, Jacques Boissy was awarded the Médaille d'Honneur for his acts of devotion. On 25 July 1965, he was in a pocket submarine towed by Le Dauphin into the waters off the coast of Monaco. Shortly after diving, the submarine imploded. Jacques Boissy died at the age of 36. The same year, he was posthumously made a Knight of the Order of Saint Charles by Prince Rainier III. Jacques Boissy is commemorated in the Principality. His fellow divers sank a metal cross at the site of the tragedy, where they gather to honour his memory every year. A marble stele representing Neptune protecting the diver Jacques Boissy in his arms was installed on the Port’s north pier. In 2015, the stele was moved to a new location outside the Yacht Club de Monaco on the official opening of the Esplanade and Allée Jacques Boissy, in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II, the Mayor Georges Marsan, and relatives of Jacques Boissy.
Ange Zagoni was a sculptor born in 1913. In 1939, he took part in the 14th Salon Monégasque de Peinture, Sculpture et Arts Appliqués. Most of his works were funerary monuments. In November 1954, the sculptor produced the stele that supports the bust of Emmanuel Gonzalès in the Jardins Saint-Martin. In 1965, he made a sculpture in tribute to Jacques Boissy. In 1977, Zagoni sculpted the medallion of the writer and member of the Académie Française, Marcel Pagnol. The medallion is placed on a stone stele in La Turbie, not far from Pagnol’s Monegasque residence. In 1978, Zagoni took part in the 13th Grand Prix d’Art Contemporain de Monte-Carlo. He created La Fontaine aux Dauphins which until recently stood in the Square Gastaud in the centre of La Condamine, where his studio was located. Some of his sculptures are kept at the Monaco Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology. Ange Zagoni died in 1995.
