By Jun V. Lao
In his native Australia, 62-year-old Rudolf Schiller has had several successful ventures spanning close to five decades, which included stints in life insurance and finance brokerage.
On the side, he got his feet wet, literally, leisurely pursuing scuba diving as an instructor.
He was making waves in Perth’s financial sector when the opportunity to live out his lifelong passion knocked—and loudly. This time, he could not pass it up.
His recent trips in the Philippines became more frequent that he has decided to reside in Angeles City. For some reason, after a holiday trip in February 2015 to visit friends, Schiller found himself staying longer within our shores—and for a specific personal mission.
Fil-Hispanic maritime history
An eventful drive to Subic Bay for a museum visit rekindled his dream of diving for sunken ships. From then, he started doing his own research on the Spanish Galleon trade, which he learned lasted for about 250 years, from 1565 to 1815. Of the documented 26 ill-fated galleons in the Philippines, he made it his personal quest to find at least one.
Now retired and with more time to enjoy the archipelago extensively, Schiller has come back to seriously chase his dream: to locate missing sunken galleons that used to ply the Manila-Acapulco trade. His ultimate goal is to locate and identify a submerged vessel and pass this information to the National Museum’s Heritage Division. To achieve this, he recently chartered a yacht, the Caribbean Tigress.
This writer met Schiller through Michael Richard Stefurak, owner of Sea Scan Underwater Adventures (SSUA), where the former is currently the official underwater photographer for special projects of the company. Schiller chartered the services of SSUA to spearhead his initial expedition in the Philippines. It was pure coincidence that Schiller met Stefurak at Magellan’s Landing in Butuan City, where, just after 20 minutes of discussion, they sealed the agreement of chartering his equipment Sea Scan Survey, along with the crewmembers, to embark on the journey into the historic underwater site.
Assisting local folks
Beyond the hopes of making history, Schiller plans to share the proceeds of the endeavor to help local communities where the galleons will be found. While adventures run deep in the veins of Schiller, he has also done several philanthropic pursuits in Angeles City with the Return Servicemens’ League, such as monthly medical missions among the locals.
The initial expedition has already started on its course on February 12, and is hoping to add details to Philippine history books from the expedition in the coming days.
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Jun V. Lao is a marine alchemist specializing in underwater travel photo stories for conservation groups, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines, US Agency for International Development and the Asian Development Bank, among others. A certified Professional Association of Diving Instructors scuba teacher and frequent traveler, he aspires to share his stories to have more people curious and involved with issues concerning Philippine seas.