Filmmaker Rob Stewart dies off Alligator Reef

[uwxplorer]

p 229: (Dawson (A, for answer), while looking at pictures of Sotis' previous profile):
"He did a 45 min bottom time here and he's only in the water for 96 minutes.
Q. Okay. So he --
A. So he dove twice as long as I would and shorter decompression.
Q. Okay.
A. But that will go to the 90/90 gradient factor.
Q. Okay. Is the --
A. And, again, that's personal preference. That's not something I would do.
Q. Understood."

p 230: "Q. Okay. The -- is there anything that you see in the fifteen-minute bounce dive that concerns you or that you would have done differently?
A. The assent.
Q. Okay. Tell me about that.
A. Took it rapid. The dive is only fifteen minutes long. And without having the -- a bar graph, an actual download, which I hope we get in two weeks, we'll be able to see this stuff a little bit better, it looks like he was down at the bottom for close to half of that duration, which would mean, say, seven or eight minutes.
After doing two dives that day and a very short surface interval between dive two and dive three, he's going to have more decompression and a slower assent rate then, coming up from there."

p 232: description by Dawson of what Sotis told him happened.

p 235: description by Dawson of what Wilkinson told him about Steward's disappearance.

p 246: Dawson commenting about the first dive of the day (Sotis computer's pictures):
"Q. Do you know what the surface interval was between the first and second dive?
A. Can I look?
Q. Yeah.
A. I don't remember off the top of my head, but give me a second. It might be on here.
The dive ended at 12:59 and dive number two started at 2:36. So, an hour and 37 minutes.
Q. Okay. So about half of what you would expect?
A. Half of what I would do personally.
Q. Half of what you would do?
A. Yes.
Q. And you would even, your dive profiles would be far less aggressive than those, correct, on that first dive?
A. My run time for half the amount of bottom time was the same as their total run time. So I did 25 minutes at the bottom where they did 45, according to this.

p 257: the ROV finds Steward.

p 260: inflator doesn't work (with speculation as to why and why they wanted to do that).

p 261: 50 lbs of lift doesn't work.

p 262: They use an extra 140 lbs lift bag to get him started.

p 267: Using a grappling hook was Sotis' request. The company usually does live drop. The owner and his mate would have come back the next day to dive the wreck (and pick up the grappling hook) no matter what... Sigh.

 

[uwxplorer]

One other noticeable feature of Steward's profile is the mix entered in the computer: 10/20. I hope they were not diving that at 225 ft, and I am guessing they were instead using something like 10/60ish but cheating on the entered mix to accelerate the deco profile?
While I can get a 45 min bottom time dive at 225 ft with 10/20 and GF90/90 to run in 143 min with Multideco (which is still 47 min longer than what the extract above seems to imply, and assumes no prior tissue loading), a 45 min bottom time dive with 10/60 and GF90/90 would run in 163 min.
So I guess there is aggressive and then there is aggressiverer..
Of course, I use a ridiculous 60 ft/min ascent rate and a 1 min stop time in 10 ft steps in these calculations, which I suppose is not aggressive enough.
But even using 90 ft/min and 1 s per stop the best you can do for a 45 min bottom time, 225 ft dive using 10/20 and GF90/90 is... 140 min, so I suppose there is a mistake somewhere in the transcript.

For instance, a 35 min dive at 220 ft using 10/20 and GF90/90 runs in 99 min (close enough) with 90 ft/min and 1 s per stop. I hesitate to call that a more reasonable hypothesis, however.

 

[Wookie]

I know a few well known divers who run GF 90/90 on 10/90 heliox, and run a 45 min bottom time and a 45 min deco to 210 feet.

I think that they were on 10/50. That’s part of the already discovered evidence and part of the issue. Stewart wasn’t certified for that gas.

 

[Wookie]

I also know plenty of guys who have tried it and been bent like a pretzel.

 

[uwxplorer]

I know a few well known divers who run GF 90/90 on 10/90 heliox, and run a 45 min bottom time and a 45 min deco to 210 feet.

If you say so.

I also know plenty of guys who have tried it and been bent like a pretzel.

Not mentioning now one close call and one fatality.

 

[Superlyte27]

I've dove 10/90 and straight navy tables for years with no issue but deco in a chamber and I was 15 years younger and 60lbs lighter.

 

[Wookie]

Not mentioning now one close call and one fatality.

Many close calls. More than one fatality. We just don’t hear about it unless there is a lawsuit.

 

[uwxplorer]

Exhibit B (84-2.pdf): Jeff Knapp's deposition (one of the recovery diver, who was supposed to be a safety diver with Dan Dawson for the two divers on the fatal excursion, until the Sotis decided they would be those safety divers)

(in which we learn about an incident with a lady diver who forgot her scrubber an passed out on the boat 2 years ago, p 25)

p 29: "Q: How deep were you certified to dive to using a Prism on January 31st, 2017?
A. 150 feet.
Q. What about the Meg 15?
A. 100 feet."

coming after p 17:
"Q. And Horizon Divers, in fact, stops people that are not qualified to use certain rebreathers from getting on their vessels, right?
A. That is true."

p 47: "Q. Now, Horizon Divers obviously always verifies the divers' credentials before they let them on the vessel, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And that is typically done by looking at someone's certification card?
A. Typically, yes.
Q. If someone doesn't have a certification card, how else can it be done?
A. If they were with their instructor, we can look up certifications online, all right?
Typically, if it's a third party, a dive shop coming down or a private instructor, the instructor is there. You know, they will come into the dive shop, fill out paperwork. Then I'm like, "These guys are with you?" They go, "Yes." Then we are good to go.
Q. So, you check the instructor's credentials obviously.
A. Right.
Q. And then the instructor can vouch for his students and say they are doing their course for the hundred meter or something like that?
A. For whatever they are doing.
Q. Then do you do anything to verify what the instructor has represented to you, meaning if he says, "We are doing the hundred meter course," do you go check to see if they obtained their sixty- meter certification?
A.No.
Q. Why not?
A. Because they are with their instructor.
Q. Do you not verify what an instructor tells you--- Strike that.
You never contact certifying agencies or anything like that to verify credentials?
A. Not unless they don't have credentials."

p 58: "Q. Because the crew was set, and the crew at this point in time, my understanding is, was only going to be David Wilkerson, right?
A. Yes.
Q. Was there ever any discussion between you and Dan about putting a deckhand aboard the Pisces for this excursion?
A. No, not until the first day they were down.
Q. Okay.
A. And they were coming back from already being out to pick up a hook because we had talked -- Dan and I had talked about hot dropping versus grappling, and he had said that -- he explained that we would be hot dropping, and then last minute--- I was on the boat or in the shop, and he was just letting me know that he was on his way to Islamorada with the grapple and he was going to put Bobby on the boat with him to help with that.
Q. Before we get to what actually -- you know, those days that actually happened, I'm going to talk to you more about that in a moment."

p 60: "Q. And the extent of your conversations that you had regarding their certifications and their qualifications was what you already told us in terms of that conversation you had on the phone with Brock, right?
A. And in the emails that I have read, yes.
Q. Are there e-mails about their certifications?
A. No. In their rescheduling, and it might have been other e-mails.
Q. Are you talking about the reference to the class?
A. Yes.
Q. That was in an e-mail dated January 27th, 2017?
A. What page is that?
Q. I'm sorry. HDA104.
A. Okay. Right. "I'm in class this afternoon with Peter."
Q. It says, "Sorry I missed you hot sauce. class this afternoon with Peter," right?
A. Right.
Q. And that was from Brock to Dan?
A. Yes.
Q. That was at almost four p.m. on January 27th, 3:57?
A. Yes.
Q. Have you seen any other e-mails, maybe not in this packet but in connection with these trips regarding their qualifications or certifications?
A. No.
Q. Did you have any e-mails or text messages exchanged between you and Dan Dawson about these trips?
A. I'm sure. I mean I don't remember."

p 69 (referring to his role as support diver - which eventually got cancelled due to Sotis involvement):
"Q. What type of equipment were you going to be using?
A. I wasn't sure in the beginning. Then, as it solidified and Dan and I were going to go diving, I was going to dive rebreather.
Q. Now, you already testified you weren't certified to dive to that depth on a rebreather, correct?
A. Not on a Meg 15, but I had completed the class and the training and the time for the Prism 2.
Q. Now, I thought you testified earlier that you were only certified to dive to 150 feet on a Prism 2.
A. That's because I hadn't gotten certified yet. Dan hadn't processed the paperwork yet. Everything was completed. It just hadn't been processed."

p 70-82 is an interesting series of innuendos about Sotis' diving style (and use of carbon tanks...).

p 94: "Q. Who had the lift bags on them?
A. All of us.
Q. Then tell me about what happened once you get down to depth.
A. So, we followed the ROV line down to the body. Craig's camera was broken.
Q. Craig's what?
A. His camera, his GoPro, it was broken. Dan pulled out lift bags. I tried to inflate the
bladder on his rebreather, and nothing happened.
Q. Was that because the rebreather was flooded --
A. I don't know.
Q. -- or he was out of gas?
A. I didn't check or look. He was face up at the bottom and pretty negative.
Q. Meaning he was---
A. Negatively bouyant.
Q. Okay.
A. Yes. So, I figured adding a little bit of bladder would make it easier. The rebreather has a bar across the top of it, which would have been in the sand because of how he was oriented. So, to get to the bar and to be able to hook lift bags to it,a little bit of gas in the bladder of the rebreather would have helped. But when I hit the button, nothing happened.
So, then I moved back to help tie off the rebreathers or to help tie off the lift bags. We added a little bit of gas to get him up. And then once everybody was good, I used a little bit of bail-out and filled up the bags to send him up.
Q. You are certain you used your bail-out tank to fill up the lift bags?
A. I used my bail-out for one of them. There were two bags on.
Q. So, you filled up one bag with your bail-out.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know who filled up the other bag and how?
A. I don't remember."

p 96: "Q. When you got down there, was the loop out of Rob Stewart's mouth; do you know?
A. Yes.
Q. You recall seeing that?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you recall seeing anything else about his equipment down there that piqued your interest or that you noticed?
A. Other than the inflater not working, his bail-out bottles were still attached. Everything was intact and on him. I didn't do that detailed of an inspection on him.
Q. Do you recall if his loop was open or closed?
A. I don't recall.
Q. You didn't look?
A. No."

p 108: "Q. Can we agree that you diving on February 1st with a Meg 15 to a depth of 225 feet was not the first time a diver dove off of a Horizon Divers boat to a depth that he was not qualified to dive to?
A. I don't know."

Aside from the repeated attempts to fault Horizon Divers' enforcement of dive certification, we learn (in combination with Dan Dawson's deposition) that Rob had turned off his diluent and, without any additional buoyancy from a drysuit, probably sank like a stone to the bottom.
The rEvo sure is heavy... but with carbon-reinforced Al cylinders and a fully inflated wing, there should be sufficient floatation to prevent sinking. Hard to do with a closed diluent cylinder though...

 

[PfcAJ]

Exhibit B (84-2.pdf): Jeff Knapp's deposition (one of the recovery diver, who was supposed to be a safety diver with Dan Dawson for the two divers on the fatal excursion, until the Sotis decided they would be those safety divers)

(in which we learn about an incident with a lady diver who forgot her scrubber an passed out on the boat 2 years ago, p 25)

p 29: "Q: How deep were you certified to dive to using a Prism on January 31st, 2017?
A. 150 feet.
Q. What about the Meg 15?
A. 100 feet."

coming after p 17:
"Q. And Horizon Divers, in fact, stops people that are not qualified to use certain rebreathers from getting on their vessels, right?
A. That is true."

p 47: "Q. Now, Horizon Divers obviously always verifies the divers' credentials before they let them on the vessel, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And that is typically done by looking at someone's certification card?
A. Typically, yes.
Q. If someone doesn't have a certification card, how else can it be done?
A. If they were with their instructor, we can look up certifications online, all right?
Typically, if it's a third party, a dive shop coming down or a private instructor, the instructor is there. You know, they will come into the dive shop, fill out paperwork. Then I'm like, "These guys are with you?" They go, "Yes." Then we are good to go.
Q. So, you check the instructor's credentials obviously.
A. Right.
Q. And then the instructor can vouch for his students and say they are doing their course for the hundred meter or something like that?
A. For whatever they are doing.
Q. Then do you do anything to verify what the instructor has represented to you, meaning if he says, "We are doing the hundred meter course," do you go check to see if they obtained their sixty- meter certification?
A.No.
Q. Why not?
A. Because they are with their instructor.
Q. Do you not verify what an instructor tells you--- Strike that.
You never contact certifying agencies or anything like that to verify credentials?
A. Not unless they don't have credentials."

p 58: "Q. Because the crew was set, and the crew at this point in time, my understanding is, was only going to be David Wilkerson, right?
A. Yes.
Q. Was there ever any discussion between you and Dan about putting a deckhand aboard the Pisces for this excursion?
A. No, not until the first day they were down.
Q. Okay.
A. And they were coming back from already being out to pick up a hook because we had talked -- Dan and I had talked about hot dropping versus grappling, and he had said that -- he explained that we would be hot dropping, and then last minute--- I was on the boat or in the shop, and he was just letting me know that he was on his way to Islamorada with the grapple and he was going to put Bobby on the boat with him to help with that.
Q. Before we get to what actually -- you know, those days that actually happened, I'm going to talk to you more about that in a moment."

p 60: "Q. And the extent of your conversations that you had regarding their certifications and their qualifications was what you already told us in terms of that conversation you had on the phone with Brock, right?
A. And in the emails that I have read, yes.
Q. Are there e-mails about their certifications?
A. No. In their rescheduling, and it might have been other e-mails.
Q. Are you talking about the reference to the class?
A. Yes.
Q. That was in an e-mail dated January 27th, 2017?
A. What page is that?
Q. I'm sorry. HDA104.
A. Okay. Right. "I'm in class this afternoon with Peter."
Q. It says, "Sorry I missed you hot sauce. class this afternoon with Peter," right?
A. Right.
Q. And that was from Brock to Dan?
A. Yes.
Q. That was at almost four p.m. on January 27th, 3:57?
A. Yes.
Q. Have you seen any other e-mails, maybe not in this packet but in connection with these trips regarding their qualifications or certifications?
A. No.
Q. Did you have any e-mails or text messages exchanged between you and Dan Dawson about these trips?
A. I'm sure. I mean I don't remember."

p 69 (referring to his role as support diver - which eventually got cancelled due to Sotis involvement):
"Q. What type of equipment were you going to be using?
A. I wasn't sure in the beginning. Then, as it solidified and Dan and I were going to go diving, I was going to dive rebreather.
Q. Now, you already testified you weren't certified to dive to that depth on a rebreather, correct?
A. Not on a Meg 15, but I had completed the class and the training and the time for the Prism 2.
Q. Now, I thought you testified earlier that you were only certified to dive to 150 feet on a Prism 2.
A. That's because I hadn't gotten certified yet. Dan hadn't processed the paperwork yet. Everything was completed. It just hadn't been processed."

p 70-82 is an interesting series of innuendos about Sotis' diving style (and use of carbon tanks...).

p 94: "Q. Who had the lift bags on them?
A. All of us.
Q. Then tell me about what happened once you get down to depth.
A. So, we followed the ROV line down to the body. Craig's camera was broken.
Q. Craig's what?
A. His camera, his GoPro, it was broken. Dan pulled out lift bags. I tried to inflate the
bladder on his rebreather, and nothing happened.
Q. Was that because the rebreather was flooded --
A. I don't know.
Q. -- or he was out of gas?
A. I didn't check or look. He was face up at the bottom and pretty negative.
Q. Meaning he was---
A. Negatively bouyant.
Q. Okay.
A. Yes. So, I figured adding a little bit of bladder would make it easier. The rebreather has a bar across the top of it, which would have been in the sand because of how he was oriented. So, to get to the bar and to be able to hook lift bags to it,a little bit of gas in the bladder of the rebreather would have helped. But when I hit the button, nothing happened.
So, then I moved back to help tie off the rebreathers or to help tie off the lift bags. We added a little bit of gas to get him up. And then once everybody was good, I used a little bit of bail-out and filled up the bags to send him up.
Q. You are certain you used your bail-out tank to fill up the lift bags?
A. I used my bail-out for one of them. There were two bags on.
Q. So, you filled up one bag with your bail-out.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know who filled up the other bag and how?
A. I don't remember."

p 96: "Q. When you got down there, was the loop out of Rob Stewart's mouth; do you know?
A. Yes.
Q. You recall seeing that?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you recall seeing anything else about his equipment down there that piqued your interest or that you noticed?
A. Other than the inflater not working, his bail-out bottles were still attached. Everything was intact and on him. I didn't do that detailed of an inspection on him.
Q. Do you recall if his loop was open or closed?
A. I don't recall.
Q. You didn't look?
A. No."

p 108: "Q. Can we agree that you diving on February 1st with a Meg 15 to a depth of 225 feet was not the first time a diver dove off of a Horizon Divers boat to a depth that he was not qualified to dive to?
A. I don't know."

Aside from the repeated attempts to fault Horizon Divers' enforcement of dive certification, we learn (in combination with Dan Dawson's deposition) that Rob had turned off his diluent and, without any additional buoyancy from a drysuit, probably sank like a stone to the bottom.
The rEvo sure is heavy... but with carbon-reinforced Al cylinders and a fully inflated wing, there should be sufficient floatation to prevent sinking. Hard to do with a closed diluent cylinder though...

Sorry I might have missed it but where did it say the dil bottle was closed?

 

[uwxplorer]

Sorry I might have missed it but where did it say the dil bottle was closed?

It's not explicitly stated in either deposition, which in fact leave the option open that the bailout tank was empty:

Exhibit A p 260 and following:

"A. So Jeff reaches over and grabs his inflater for his wing and hits the button, and nothing inflates.
Q. Where is that inflated from?
A. We can inflate it from -- well, I don't know. Usually, how I plumb mine is off my dil. So I don't know how he has his plumbed.
Q. So when he tried to inflate it -- A. Nothing --
Q. -- it didn't --
A. Nothing happened.
Q. Does that then mean the tank was empty? A. It could, or the tank was turned off.
Q. Okay.
A. Some divers, I hear some divers do this, I would never do this, turn off their diluent when they get to the bottom because they don't really need that gas at the bottom anymore so maybe he turned it off. I don't know."

Exhibit B p 94:

"Q. Was that because the rebreather was flooded --
A. I don't know.
Q. -- or he was out of gas?
A. I didn't check or look. He was face up at the bottom and pretty negative."

So strictly speaking, we don't know.
However, it's difficult to fathom how a diluent tank would end up empty after two and a half square profiles at 220 ft...