Portraits | Bermuda

A Moment with Philippe Max Rouja, Bermuda

Underwater explorer – it’s the sort of job you’d associate with centuries passed, right? Well, not in Bermuda. Officially, Philippe’s title is more along the lines of Marine Archaeologist, but since he’s discovered some pretty amazing historic artefacts on his dives around the island, we think we’ll stick with underwater explorer. We had a chat with him about the history of Bermuda’s waters, and his most spectacular finds…

 

Tell us a bit about what you do…

I’m in charge of underwater marine heritage in Bermuda. I manage the shipwrecks and the system of buoys that show where wrecks are. An anthropologist by training, I focus on telling the stories of the wrecks, to make people care about them. The wrecks explain why Bermuda is so cosmopolitan, far more than an island nation of 60k should be. It’s evidence of this constant connection with the outside world and an incredible world heritage that we happen to have right here on the shores of our small paradise.

What’s been your most fascinating find on a shipwreck dive?

We found the wine and perfume in the Mary Celeste, which was pretty amazing. After storms and hurricanes, certain wrecks become cleared of lots of sand and things get exposed, which is what happened here. I had heard that the Celeste had previously revealed stuff in the bow, and this time we ended up spotting a corked bottle of wine and a case and had it recovered. After a two week excavation on the head of the bow, we had 6 bottles of wine (5 in the case) a bottle of perfume as well as ladies shoes, buttons and a bottle of Florida Water. We sent thee bottle of wine to Bordeaux to the top analyst. The perfume was also analysed and we found out Piesse designed the notation system that everyone uses in perfumery today. Find this perfume gave us a chance to retell this story.

Convince us to visit your home…

Bermuda is this weird synthesis of really civilised, safe and enjoyable lifestyle – a world that’s there for the taking. And then right next to it you’re diving on wrecks from the 16th century. You’re taking in an ocean environment that’s as wild as anything is, you’re literally in the middle of an ocean wilderness, middle of a cultural mecca in the heart of the Atlantic so you can dip into these worlds in really safe circumstances. Elsewhere, people trek through jungles to reach cultural highlights, or wild animals etc. but here you’re in a cosmopolitan place.

What’s more, being here with children is phenomenal. Come to Bermuda for the water experience. It’s astounding. There’s no moment when I get jaded. The beaches are some of the prettiest in the world. There’s something really spectacular about them.

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