The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart

[Wookie]

The press of Key West are particularly interested in this documentary to observe Beaver, not necessarily anything about Stewart.

 

[tridacna]

Talk about a biased one-sided article. Was that commissioned by Sotis and Add Helium? Fluff news. Can't wait for the CBC version.

 

[Rosborne]

I watched a documentary about Rob Stewart beginning of the month and I am not part of the initial opinion giving crowd when the incident occurred. My effort remains to be as unbiased as possible. No skin in the game and I don't know any of the players.

Even Wookie stated that "the chain of evidence was broken" and he followed this from the beginning. I assume Wookie knows that for a fact? Perhaps from the PI? To what extend was the evidence compromised? The upcoming documentary might give some very compelling accounts.

Who is this insurance investigator who was on the boat when the body was recovered? Why was he there and what was his role?

It's one thing to find the body and notify the coast guard to extract/recover it and quite another for divers untrained in forensic recovery unintentionally (or intentionally??) tamper with evidence.
I remember in the documents that there was a radio transmission where they announced that they are doing forensics on the boat before the coast guard got there! Who was the person/persons qualified/trained/authorized to conduct any forensics? Is that why the medical examiner is so beside himself?

A lot of blame was assigned when the story first broke. Now, with this coming out, I am not sure what to make of it. Tampering with evidence is a serious offense and tampering they did: 1. illegally recovering (rather than just locating) the body, 2. conducting unauthorized "forensics" on the boat without the ME present.

What else happened on the boat?

BTW, did the coast guard ever publish their report? Maybe Wookie has it since he mentioned a "report" where more details are listed.

Lots of questions...

All excellent questions that started me down the road of investigating the piece. I think the documentary answers a lot of them. The chain of evidence question is perhaps the most telling about how some people reacted to Stewart's death. I have copies of the radio transmissions between Pisces, the recovery boat, and the Sheriff's department. I've asked repeatedly, the people on board and the Coast Guard, to explain these statements and been met with a wall of silence. There's much more of course, but you'll have to wait.

 

[boulderjohn]

@Rosborne, I asked you a couple of questions yesterday morning. You have been in this thread at least twice since, but you have chosen not to answer either one. Is there a reason for that?

Here they are again, in case you have forgotten.

There seems to be some question about the credibility of @Rosborne as a journalist. As a former journalism instructor, I understand the need for establishing journalistic credibility. I would therefore suggest that @Rosborne respond to two issues.

1. Please describe your background as a journalist, including training and any employment for known journalism organizations, such as newspapers, news services, or news websites.

2. In the Code of Ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists, the third section (Act Independently) tells journalists that they must "Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts."

Can you please disclose any conflict of interest, including any unavoidable conflict, as is required by the SPJ Code of Ethics? Do you have any connections to any of the individuals or organizations involved in this affair?

 

[Rosborne]

@Rosborne, I asked you a couple of questions yesterday morning. You have been in this thread at least twice since, but you have chosen not to answer either one. Is there a reason for that?

Here they are again, in case you have forgotten.

Dear John,

You're a journalist. Do your own legwork and look up my background. As the administrator requested I'm keeping my posts to the topic of this thread: the documentary and the events that led up to it.

Regards
Robert

 

[Rosborne]

Kinda hard for a Canadian to do 500 dives a year.
That's a lot of ice dives

Kinda hard to finish school and edit 3 movies well doing 500 dives a year

Could he have possibly dived outside of Canada? Just a thought--particularly given that most of his films were shot in tropical locations.

 

[Rosborne]

More info on the details for those who are interested.

X-Ray Magazine

 

[fullytek]

Could he have possibly dived outside of Canada? Just a thought--particularly given that most of his films were shot in tropical locations.

Not likely that he spent all of that time in a more diver friendly climate.

Can we all agree that the claim that rob had 10000 dives is not at all accurate?
divers professional and amateur have on occasion exaggerated their qualifications and experience.

I recall a blog post some years ago from a prominent figure in the diving community tell a tail of a near miss whare her buddy made all the mistakes and panicked, had it not been for the authors superior skills they but would have perished. Sounds plausible? Well to put a cherry of this fairytale she finished by saying somthing along the lines of" throughout the near death ordeal i had been able to maintain a 0.2 sac rate. "
Now I'm no expert and my resting sac rate is atleast 3 times that. I find that detail impossible to believe, as the process of accurately measuring a sac rate requires recording time ,pressure , and depth , difficult to do well managing an emergency.

Heck mr Osbornes buddy bosted to me about his 1500+ dives over his 33 month diving career prior to his untimely and "suspicious " passing .

 

[lv2dive]

Your credentials and background are very much on topic.

Dear John,

You're a journalist. Do your own legwork and look up my background. As the administrator requested I'm keeping my posts to the topic of this thread: the documentary and the events that led up to it.

Regards
Robert

 

[Dogbowl]

A quick Google search turned up this:

http://rsj.journalism.ryerson.ca/team/robert-osborne/