It is with deep regret that I learnt recently of the death of Robert Sténuit, peacefully at his home in Brussels. Robert was a very good friend to me, my family and to our company DOS.
Robert was a professional diver and a pioneer who had been involved with early experiments in deep diving. He was recruited for the US Navy’s Man in the Sea project and became a diver/guinea pig for Edwin Link’s deep habitation project in Villefranche bay near Nice and then in the Bahamas.
Link Cylinder
He was also a historical researcher, who discovered many important ancient shipwrecks around the world, with the help of Henri Delauze, the founder and president of Comex. It was Delauze who financed these expeditions, from the Spanish Armada ship, Girona,1588, off Northern Ireland, to the Witte Leeuw,1613, carrying spices and Ming porcelain, lost off St. Helena in the South Atlantic. These and many other hugely successful searches were described and published in scientific and popular journals alike.
Robert was a dedicated and rigorous underwater archaeologist and stands as the reference to excellence in his work and his reporting, a far cry from some of the ‘long on self-promotion and short on modesty’ types sometimes to be found in this field.
A man of great learning, speaking many languages and reading them in their original 17th and 18th century script; a great feat in itself. He was also a perfectionist. When replying to my faxes and later emails, in English, I would note that in his response, he had thoroughly corrected my spelling and punctuation. I would check his corrections and have the unfortunate duty to report that he was always right.
He was also a precious source of support in difficult times, when on occasion the suggestion “quit now” would be offered, he would remind me, gently but firmly, that the need to discover is not negotiable; “it’s in the blood and there’s nothing you can do about it”.
To all the team members of DOS, past and present, who have contributed so much to the knowledge of deep-sea exploration and who have been bitten by the same bug as Robert, I recommend his advice to you all: never give up!
Cave diving
He was a man who could tell a story against himself, always something to look out for. After spending years studying Spanish, English and Irish records for the location of the Spanish galleon Girona, he at last discovered where it had been lost, off the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland at a place called the Giants Causeway. Taking his team of divers to reconnoitre the site first, from the cliffs overlooking the small inlet below, he bought a footpath guide to the area and in the place where Robert had deduced was the location of the wreck, he saw stamped over the bay a great black cross and the notation ‘wreck of the Girona’.
A man also of humour and great patience. When each grab load coming up from the wreck of the Ancona would arrive on deck, Robert would insist on being the first to inspect the contents. After a few unproductive results, I decided to liven things up by tossing into the pile of debris a shiny new 50 pence coin. This weas duly found by Robert, cleaned off and held up to the assembled smiling crowd with this statement. “I wondered who would be the first cretin to try this”. I put my hand up, slowly.
A rare mix this man; gentleman, a mentor to me and to DOS, scholar, a friend and companion, a support and an expert in what we can say were absolutely his fields of excellence – research, discovery, sharing of results, and perhaps above all, the excitement of his finds.
We shall sorely miss him.
Our condolences go out to his daughters Marie-Eve and Ondine, and to all of his family.
John Kingsford, General Manager