Which Aquatic Enthusiast are you most closely connected to?

Question

It's Shark Week so we're looking at aquatic enthusiasts in the Connection Finder starting with Jacques Cousteau, famed ocean explorer.

Here are others to check your connection to: 

• Hobart Alter, inventor of the Hobie Cat
• Peter Benchley, author of "Jaws"
• Matilene Berryman, oceanographer
• Gertrude Ederle, first woman to swim the English Channel
• Archibald Hunstman, fisheries biologist responsible for fast-freezing of salmon filets
• Duke Kahanamoku, The Big Kahuna
• Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick"
• Albert I of Monaco, founder of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco
• Ed Ricketts, marine biologist who inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell
• Sir Charles Thomson, father of modern oceanography

Which one is most closely connected to you? If you're one of the 26.6 million of us who are connected to each other on our big tree you can check with the Connection Finder.

Special Feature: Check out how you're connected to other Notables, like Explorers,  Biologists, and Authors using the green MyConnections button in the upper right hand corner of these category pages.

Let us know how you're related below! If you want to share your connection on social media with cousins and friends, click the "get shareable image" below the results, e.g. Jacques Cousteau and The Big Kahuna. Then just upload it along with the URL of your direct connection. (Please refrain from sharing your connection on the featured profiles themselves, though. It clutters conversations on research and collaboration. Thanks!)

Help us with next week's Golf feature by helping to choose and improve profiles for it.

Answer 1

16 degrees from Herman Melville (12th cousins, 5x removed)
17 degrees from Hobart Alter (11th cousins, 2x removed)
17 degrees from Ed Ricketts (18th cousins)
18 degrees from Peter Benchley (9th cousins, 1x removed)
20 degrees from Archibald Huntsman
21 degrees from Albert I de Monaco (16th cousins, 5x removed)
22 degrees from Matilene Berryman
23 degrees from Jacques-Yves Cousteau
24 degrees from Duke Kahanamoku
26 degrees from Charles Thomson
33 degrees from Gertrude Ederle

Comments

Hi Mike!

I looked you up because of our similar degree of relationship to Peter Benchley. We are 10th cousins but through an entirely different path than my connection to the creator of the vicious fishus.  

Would you help me out? I can't find directions on how to make my answers to these posts come out single spaced like yours above.

---

Hi Anonymous! Instead of enter (a "hard return"), just terminate the line with a shift-enter (a "soft return"). e.g. existing double-line spaces can be removed by deleting the gap and pressing both shift and enter where you want the new line. It looks like our closest cousinship is currently at 8th cousins, 4x removed.

---

Thank you, Mike! I also didn't know how to remove the spaces.

---

Thanks Mike!

Answer 2

As an aquatic enthusiast myself, I'm pleased to find myself just 17 degrees from some of my favorites, Hobie Alter, Merman Melville, and Ed Ricketts.

Hobie's boats were a blast, in spite of a certain tendency to stay upside down after you flipped them.  I may have been the only kid in high school who liked Moby Dick (for the descriptions of the ocean and sailing, not the symbolism), and I live walking distance from Ed's lab.

There are 5 cousins, the closest being 8th cousin Hobie Alter.

Answer 3

I am most closely connected to Duke Kahanamoku at 18 degrees.

Answer 4

• 16 degrees to Herman (Melvill) Melville (16C 4xR)
• 18 degrees to Peter Bradford Benchley (10C 1xR)
• 20 degrees to Archibald Gowanlock Huntsman
• 20 degrees to Hobart Laidlaw Alter
• 20 degrees to Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts
• 22 degrees to Albert Honoré Charles (Grimaldi)  de Monaco (18C 4xR)
• 24 degrees to Jacques-Yves Cousteau
• 25 degrees to Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku
• 28 degrees to Matilene Dorothea (Spencer) Berryman
• 30 degrees to Wyville Thomas Charles Thomson
• 34 degrees to Gertrude Caroline Ederle

Answer 5

Hobart Alter __ 21 degrees; no relation

Peter Benchley __ 17 degrees; 8th cousins

Matilene Berryman __ 27 degrees; no relation

Jacques-Yves Cousteau __ 24 degrees; no relation

Gertrude Ederle __ 32 degrees; no relation

Archibald Huntsman __ 19 degrees; no relation

Duke Kahanamoku __ 24 degrees; no relation

Herman Melville __ 15 degrees; 16th cousins 6x removed

Albert I de Monaco __ 20 degrees; 18th cousins 5x removed

Ed Ricketts __ 19 degrees; 9th cousins 1x removed

Charles Thomson __ 28 degrees; no relation

and Wikitree volunteer 

Michelle Detwiller __ 21 degrees; 14th cousins 4x removed

Answer 6

My closest relative is Albert I of Monaco at 13 degrees (8th cousin, 4 times removed), followed by Herman Melville at 17 degrees.

Answer 7

Ancestors and Cousins

17 degrees - Herman Melville (6th cousin, 5x) - MRCA - Anneke Jans
21 degrees - Michelle Detwiler (16th cousin, 1x) - MRCA - John Drummond
21 degrees - Peter Benchley (12th cousins) - MRCA - Thomas Eames Jr.
22 degrees - Albert I de Monaco (13th cousin, 4x) - MRCA - Arnoud van Egmont

Connections

18 degrees - Hobart Alter
20 degrees - Archibald Huntsman
22 degrees - Ed Ricketts
24 degrees - Duke Kahanamoku
26 degrees - Jacques-Yves Cousteau
28 degrees - Matilene Berryma
29 degrees - Sir Charles Thomson
33 degrees - Gertrude Ederle

Comments

Nicely formatted summary, Shonda!

---

Thank you, Anonymous!

Answer 8

18 degrees from Herman Melville. 13th cousin 5 times removed. MRCA Elizabeth (Stafford) Tuchet (abt 1375 - 1447).

19 degrees from Hobart Alter.

20 degrees from Peter Benchley. 15th cousin. MRCA Isabel (Meade) Berkeley (abt 1444 - 1514).

20 degrees from Albert I of Monaco. 16th cousin 4 times removed. MRCA Philippa of Hainault (abt 1314 - 1369).

21 degrees from Ed Ricketts. 12th cousin 1 time removed. MRCA Catherine (Middlesex) Hampton (1524 - 1558).

22 degrees from Archibald Huntsman.

22 degrees from Duke Kahanamoku.

24 degrees from Matilene Berryman.

26 degrees from Jacques Cousteau.

29 degrees from Charles Thomson.

32 degrees from Gertrude Ederle.

Answer 9

Hobart Alter - 22 degrees

Peter Benchley - 23 degrees; 16th cousin 3x removed

Matilene Berryman - 28 degrees

Jacques Cousteau - 26 degrees

Gertrude Ederle - 34 degrees

Archibald Huntsman - 21 degrees

Duke Kahanamoku - 26 degrees

Herman Melville - 18 degrees; 8th cousin 4x removed

Albert I of Monaco - 23 degrees; 20th cousin 10x removed

Ed Ricketts - 22 degrees

Charles Thomson - 32 degrees

Answer 10

I am most closely connected to Hobart Alter at 16 degrees of separation.

• 16 degrees from Hobart Alter
  • 2 branches (9-8)
• 20 degrees from Herman Melville
  • 5 branches (1-9-2-4-5)
• 21 degrees from Ed Ricketts
  • 3 branches (15-2-5)
• 22 degrees from Archibald Huntsman
  • 3 branches (5-9-9)
• 23 degrees from Peter Benchley
  • 6 branches (8-2-2-5-3-4)
• 23 degrees from Albert I de Monaco
  • 7 branches (1-5-6-2-1-5-4)
• 27 degrees from Matilene Berryman
  • 8 branches (2-2-3-8-2-3-6-2)
• 27 degrees from Jacques-Yves Cousteau
  • 6 branches (1-8-5-2-10-2)
• 27 degrees from Duke Kahanamoku
  • 4 branches (1-12-10-5)
• 31 degrees from Charles Thomson
  • 7 branches (1-7-5-7-3-2-7)
• 33 degrees from Gertrude Ederle
  • 5 branches (18-1-5-6-4)

Answer 11

15 degrees from Duke Kahanamoku is my closest connection.

Answer 12

• Jacques Cousteau - 24 degrees
• Hobart Alter - 9th cousins 3x removed, 21 degrees
• Peter Benchley - 10th cousins 3x removed, 21 degrees

Edit 7/27/22: I'm laughing over this! The library also has the Jaws book (along with other shark-themed books and movies) on display!

• Matilene Berryman - 27 degrees
• Gertrude Ederle - 34 degrees
• Archibald Hunstman - 19 degrees
• Duke Kahanamoku - 24 degrees
• Herman Melville - 17th cousins 7x removed, 19 degrees
  
  My mom just borrowed Moby Dick from the library the other day! She hasn't read a book in ages! (Trust me, I've tried for years.) She said out of the [deep] blue [sea], that "Maybe I could get into reading childhood books?" (Ironic thing is, I once tried that, too.) Wait until I tell her what this week's theme is, who's in the list, and who *might* be distantly related to her! (Thank you God and Herman! What a funny whale to tell!)
   
• Albert I of Monaco - 23rd cousins 5x removed, 21 degrees
• Ed Ricketts - 23 degrees
• Sir Charles Thomson - 30 degrees

Answer 13

Archibald Huntsman. 17 degrees. Here is the connection,

1st cousin 2x removed of wife of 2nd cousin 6x removed

Answer 14

My closest Connection was Albert Grimaldi of Monaco at  18 degrees. Turns out that he was also my 18th cousin 4 times removed.

BUT Rainier Grimaldi (1923 - 2005) - the one married to Grace Kelly - yes that one - was even closer. He was my 16th cousin. That's mostly because Rainier had an English grandmother. Albert did not.

Rainier's English line and my English line have the Courtenay family of Powderham, Devon, as the most recent common ancestor.

The Courtenay line goes back to the Plantagenets. The Plantagenets are the MRCA for Albert Grimaldi and myself.

Comments

I am also 23 Degrees from Peter Benchley and 21 Degrees from Herman Melville through his wife.

Answer 15

 I'm  21 degrees from Peter Benchley 10c 2xr

16 degrees from Herman Melville  17c 8xr

 22 degrees from Albert I de Monaco 20c 5xr

The others are by marriage

Answer 16

Ships ahoy!...I'm biologically barnacle connected to three of these Aquatic Enthusiasts:
1) 16 degrees: Herman Melville (6th cousin, MRCA: Anna (Hare) Fosdick)
2) 17 degrees: Peter Benchley (8th cousin, MRCA: Ruth (Burnham) Carter
3) 21 degrees: Albert Charles Grimaldi of Monaco (22nd cousins/4xr, MRCA Maud (Huntingdon) of Scotland)

Other non-related Aquatics:

18 degrees: Ed Ricketts; 21 degrees: Hobart Alter and Archibald Huntsman; 22 degrees: Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Duke Kahanamoku; 28 degrees: Matilene Berryman; 29 degrees: Charles Thomson; 34 degrees: Gertrude Ederle.

That's it for this week 'land lubbers'

Answer 17

15 Degrees from Herman (Melvill) Melville, Melvill-6, four branches (1-6-2-7) 14th cousins four times removed MRCA Humphrey Stafford MP, Stafford-218

17 Degrees from Ed Ricketts, three branches (7-3-8)

17 Degrees from Archibald Huntsman, three branches (5-3-10)

18 Degrees from Peter Bradford Benchley, Benchley-65, two branches (10-9) 13th cousins once removed MRCA Robert Warren, Warren-344

18 Degrees from Hobart Alter, four branches (9-5-4-1)

22 Degrees from Albert I de Monaco, Grimaldi-10,  four branches (4-2-3-14) 17th cousins 6 times removed MRCA Marie (Brabant) de France, Brabant-26

23 Degrees from Duke Kahanamoku, four branches (1-10-3-10)

24 Degrees from Jacques-Yves Cousteau, five branches (1-8-5-2-9)

28 Degrees from Matilene Berryman, five branches (2-2-3-9-13)

29 Degrees from Charles Thomson, seven branches (1-7-2-5-7-2-6)

34 Degrees from Gertrude Ederle, four branches (15-5-4-11)

Answer 18

28 degrees from Jacques Cousteau
28 degrees from Hobart Alter
25 degrees from Peter Benchley
33 degrees from Matilene Berryman
39 degrees from Gertrude Ederle
23 degrees from Archibald Hunstman
19 degrees from Duke Kahanamoku
22 degrees from Herman Melville 
20 degrees from Albert 1 of Monaco
22 degrees from Ed Ricketts
36 degrees from Sir Charles Thompson

Answer 19

17 degrees from Herman Melville, who is also a cousin--10th cousin, 4 times removed.

More cousins:

Peter Benchley--10th cousin

Ed Ricketts--12th cousin, 3 times removed

Albert I of Monaco--16th cousins, 4 times removed

Answer 20

19 degrees from Hobart Alter, no blood relation.

Cousins:

Herman Melville--10th cousins, 5 times removed

Albert I of Monaco--13th cousins, 8 times removed

Peter Benchley--14th cousins, once removed