Rob Stewart Investigation

[Rosborne]

For someone late to the game can someone give a brief factual description of what happened. All Google showed was that he drowned after surfacing.

What happened is, of course, the million dollar question. Without bogging down on the hundreds of details, Stewart went on a final dive of the day to 200 feet to retrieve an anchor that attached the dive boat to the wreck where he was filming. He and his buddy, Peter Sotis, surfaced from that dive, gave an okay sign and after that there are as many versions of what happened as there are people who were on the boat. What we can say as fact is that Stewart disappeared and was found three days later on the bottom. I've attached a link to my documentary and it gives you more details. My upcoming book will give even more.

 

[formernuke]

Says video is not available.

 

[Rosborne]

Says video is not available.

It's geo-blocked. I'm in the process of offering the doc in the United States on my own site. Give me a week or so to get it sorted and I'll let you know. Sorry.

 

[Dsix36]

Use a vpn to watch it. worked for me.

 

[KenGordon]

For someone late to the game can someone give a brief factual description of what happened. All Google showed was that he drowned after surfacing.

Bloke (doing a course) and a instructor do something dives. The instructor has some unconventional ideas about what deco is required, either allowing for high GF or lying about helium content - I don’t recall exactly. Third dive is a 60m bounce to release an anchor (after two similarly deep but longer dives that day). On surfacing both are seen but the instructor is in trouble and efforts are made to recover him. The bloke vanishes and his body is recovered reasonably close by a few days later.

<insert endless tedious speculation with people showing off their minute legal expertise>

I was once in a room where the bloke who has done more rebreather death investigations than anyone else was asked what happened. He said they were bent for sure.

There are a few of ways of looking at this:

Saintly bloke taken in by evil and conniving instructor, taught iffy technique and dies.

Or

Corner cutting bloke goes to known corner cutting instructor and loses his bet.

Or

Everyone did everything right and they were just very unlucky. (I don’t think anyone thinks that)

 

[Rosborne]

Bloke (doing a course) and a instructor do something dives. The instructor has some unconventional ideas about what deco is required, either allowing for high GF or lying about helium content - I don’t recall exactly. Third dive is a 60m bounce to release an anchor (after two similarly deep but longer dives that day). On surfacing both are seen but the instructor is in trouble and efforts are made to recover him. The bloke vanishes and his body is recovered reasonably close by a few days later.

<insert endless tedious speculation with people showing off their minute legal expertise>

I was once in a room where the bloke who has done more rebreather death investigations than anyone else was asked what happened. He said they were bent for sure.

There are a few of ways of looking at this:

Saintly bloke taken in by evil and conniving instructor, taught iffy technique and dies.

Or

Corner cutting bloke goes to known corner cutting instructor and loses his bet.

Or

Everyone did everything right and they were just very unlucky. (I don’t think anyone thinks that)

To be clear, Sotis was not acting as Stewart's instructor. The court documents show that he had been invited to the dive to act as a safety diver by Stewart's partner Brock Cahill. That may seem like a small point but much of the legal case revolves around that small point. Also, no additional efforts were made to retrieve Sotis. When they surfaced the boat was beside him and Stewart was further away. Sotis climbed up the ladder first. When he collapsed, the crew lost sight of Stewart.

And finally, I agree, there has been "endless tedious speculation" by people who know virtually none of the facts--that hasn't slowed them down a bit from coming up with the most outlandish theories. I'm sure we'll go through another round on this thread.

 

[Wookie]

To be clear, Sotis was not acting as Stewart's instructor. The court documents show that he had been invited to the dive to act as a safety diver by Stewart's partner Brock Cahill.

THIS!!! This statement is critical to the facts in the lawsuit. Sotis was not Stewart's instructor on the fateful dive, he was a safety diver (one of 3 IIRC) who had a different duty of care in a very legal sense.

I am (have been) a safety diver on a number of film shoots. The Diving Safety Officer along with the Safety Divers, as a general rule, have absolute control of the shoot, with the cooperation of the producer and studio. And the studio's insurance company. I no longer carry instructor insurance, I carry a commercial policy for that type of work, and a hefty rider for each shoot. Sometimes for every day of the shoot, depending on what talent is in the water. Now, I've only worked on commercials and documentaries, never on a feature film like Pirates of the Caribbean. Which was shot in a tank in Mexico, because it was far more easily controlled than in the ocean. When the safety diver says "I'll go retrieve the anchor, you stay on the boat", the talent stays on the boat. But the safety diver would never ever ever go retrieve the anchor. That's the job of the vessel crew.

 

[formernuke]

Ok, I'm starting to piece it together.

 

[kelemvor]

Bloke (doing a course) and a instructor do something dives. The instructor has some unconventional ideas about what deco is required, either allowing for high GF or lying about helium content - I don’t recall exactly. Third dive is a 60m bounce to release an anchor (after two similarly deep but longer dives that day). On surfacing both are seen but the instructor is in trouble and efforts are made to recover him. The bloke vanishes and his body is recovered reasonably close by a few days later.

<insert endless tedious speculation with people showing off their minute legal expertise>

I was once in a room where the bloke who has done more rebreather death investigations than anyone else was asked what happened. He said they were bent for sure.

There are a few of ways of looking at this:

Saintly bloke taken in by evil and conniving instructor, taught iffy technique and dies.

Or

Corner cutting bloke goes to known corner cutting instructor and loses his bet.

Or

Everyone did everything right and they were just very unlucky. (I don’t think anyone thinks that)

Good summary. My opinion is option 2.

Now that we have the issue settled, it's time for breakfast.

 

[abnfrog]

im not seeing a great difference as to sotis being IN-CHARGE of the dive as a safety diver incontrol ....... he still has a duty of care ,(maybe not as much as an instructor on a course ) but he will have to answer to the speed that stewart rose threw the ranks also .......in court will be the decider as usual