William was born of a French father, himself born in the South-West of France and enlisted in the French Navy, and of a Tahitian mother, a beautiful woman from Tautira, in the Tahiti peninsula.

Young William followed his parents from posting to posting: French Polynesia to New Caledonia , and then France . He stayed in Toulon and La Seyne-sur-mer for 12 years before going back to the Fenua (Tahitian for home). He graduated from secondary education in Economy and Social Sciences and became an amateur diver in 1995, where he reached level III. He went into professional diving in 1996 and met his future wife the same year.

He worked for two years in various pearl farms on the Tuamotu atolls. When his little boy was born in 1998, he decided to come back to Tahiti , but had to give up diving for less fulfilling odd jobs.

He quickly missed diving, however. A teaching training course got him back into the sea world, and he was back into professional diving thanks to the large working site being carried out at the moment in Papeete harbour. His work there is related to every aspect of underwater work: lifting blocks, laying pipes, welding, cutting, etc.

The archaeological working site in Moorea was a new experience for him, which he found very interesting and obviously more pleasant than the work he usually performs in the muddy waters of the capital's harbour.

This well-built chap is a real Goliath: he proved it when lifting stones or placing the poles for bordering the site. A quiet man, he doesn't say no to hard work and is always ready to help others. Smart, with a good sense of humour, he didn't have any trouble integrating the GRAN team.

This Tamari Tahiti (i.e. young Tahitian, as Gaston Richmond introduced him) is especially fond of underwater hunting, but also of eating out with his friends or going to the movies. His frequent moves as a child gave him a taste for travelling.

Pascal Le Cointre was born in Lorient , Brittany . At age 12, he follows his parents to Pointe-Noire, in Congo Brazzaville, where his father, a fishing ship-owner, is moving to work. He goes to the Victor Augagneur lycée for five years and moves back to Lorient in 1973 for his final year, where he specialises in maths and physics. What he remembers from the Congo is being young and free near the sea. Incidentally, he became a national swimming champion at school level.

After completing secondary school, he got into university in Brest to study Physics and Chemistry. In his third year there, the student movements and a 4-month strike put a stop to his academic life. He then chose to spend his military service in the air force as an officer cadet and underwent a training period as a commando. He was sent to the Tours base.

After finishing his military service, he left to Tahiti with his wife. He worked in a computer company and became a maths, physics and chemistry private teacher in order to make a living. He also became an amateur diver and reached the top level.

In 1980 he decided to settle down in Polynesia and become a diving instructor. He passed every single test: the MF1, BEES1 BEES2, MF2 – he is also a PADI instructor. He also created the Tahiti Yacht Club Diving School with the help of a partner. In 1983 he became the sole owner and from then on taught amateur and professional divers, officers and state certificates, leaving his private teaching to devote himself to diving only.

Married, a father of two, he just retired after 20 years of good and faithful service, but hasn't stopped altogether: he still teaches for the diving federation and enjoys his other passion, hiking. In Moorea he got to know the kind of work an archaeological working site involves.

His physical shape, energy, handyman abilities and good humour were much appreciated and he'll be asked again, no doubt.

Even if he didn't take part in the Tupapaurau excavation directly, Gaston Richmond was its instigator when he alerted the Ministry for the Arts on the site's importance. He then became very active in his contribution, helping prepare the campaign, finding housing and “support” boats, etc. Staying together with us, keeping the inhabitants informed on both the nature of our work and its meaning, having almost daily talks trying to explain the origin of the accumulation of objects – all this makes him someone very special in this adventure.

His passion for his island's past probably has roots either in his birthplace, Umarea, near one of the great coastal marae or in his grandfather's legacy. Indeed, Gaston's ancestor was the venerable Teriitauairohtu, who remained the Tavana (both mayor and head of the village) of Afareaitu and member of the Toohitu (wise man council) for the first half of the 20 th century.

Now retired since September 2002, Gaston spent a remarkable carrier in state education. After completing his secondary studies in Experimental Sciences in 1967 at the Paul Gauguin lycée , he then got a job as a primary school teacher and became the head of a primary school by the end of his carrier.

He also took the time to learn more about the Polynesian world and completed a university degree in Oceanian Language and Culture in 1986. He also teaches reo ma'ohi (the Polynesian language) and is a founder of the “NA TOO E VA'U NO AIMEHO-NUI” society, which he presides and whose purpose is to preserve the cultural heritage of Moorea. He knows the history of the island like the palm of his hand and can tell by heart exactly where each object brought by a member of his society was found.

Open to others and giving, as are most Tahitians, he was much more than just a partner to us, he was a real friend.

In 1978, while at the Marseille lycée , he discovers underwater archaeology through an article on “Navigation in Ancient Times”. Twelve years later, he completes his degree in architecture with a thesis on wood architecture. He takes a teaching position and later contacts Jean-MarieGassend, an architect and underwater archaeologist at the CNRS in Aix-en-Provence . In this well-respected magazine, Jean-Marie had written the article “Underwater archaeology and the architect”, which had made such an impression on Robert that he had always kept it with him. The talk he had with Jean-Marie was short but fruitful beyond his wildest dreams. Jean-Marie instantly offered him his friendship and arranged for the two to meet on the underwater working site of the Lomellina in Villefranche-sur-mer.

On the working site, another man became an inspiration for Robert: Max Guérout, in charge of the excavation. Having decided to start a family with a Polynesian woman of Asian origins, Robert settles down in Papeete . This doesn't stop him from travelling from Tahiti to Villefranche-sur-mer and joining the GRAN team in the following years. The idea of carrying out a search in underwater archaeology slowly materialises with a first project: finding the anchors Bougainville lost while sailing to Tahiti in 1768. Praise Bougainville ! Indeed, while the lost anchors remain a secret, there has always been one operation after another following this first project. With the unfaltering support from Max Guérout and the GRAN, which creates a Polynesian unit with him as the head, Robert directs and carries out ever more complex operations: from a simple weekend prospecting in the Tahiti lagoon with a couple of friends to underwater excavations involving a multi-skilled team and lasting for several weeks, followed by his first published work.

While carrying out ground work, Robert also leads a professional carrier in education (he teaches secondary level at a school in Papeete), a family life (he has three children), takes the time to learn about amateur and professional diving, but also to study archaeology at the Arras university and at the EHESS (School for High Education in Social Sciences).

For Robert, this new experience has opened new horizons and the working site in the Tupapaurau pass is but the beginning of a research combining French Polynesia 's ancient history and the new techniques for deciphering it.

Anthony Lagan got in touch with us several months before the Moorea project started, because he wanted to take part in an underwater archaeological research campaign and receive some training on the field. He didn't hesitate to pay for his own travel and expenses, in order to benefit from this first experience.

He was born in Bezons, in Paris suburb. He was quite young - 18 - when he enlisted in the French Navy marine commandos; he travelled a lot in those days, to Africa, Tahiti, Réunion and Comoros Islands.
Two years later, he was stationed at Toulon, then at Papeete. Those five years serving the Navy gave him a sense of availability, adapting capabilities and the open mind of the sailor. Always efficient, unassuming and helpful, he is the perfect companion in such an adventure as the Moorea campaign.

The Navy not only gave him a robust training as a diver, but also a remarkable physical appearance, which allowed him to work as a model in France and in Brazil, taking part in fashion parades, advertisements, television programmes… Last year, he posed for an underwater photographer. A diving monitor and first-aid worker, he is also fluent in several foreign languages - English and Portuguese in particular - and he worked as a diving monitor in the Dominican Republic during almost the whole year 2002.
A dedicated sportsman, he goes in for surf, tennis, skydiving, etc.

He never travels without his computer and a lot of CDs, which allowed us to hear some music on the evenings at the Pahani fare, where neither the television nor the radio distracted us from our daily work.

Joë Guesnon was born in Caen. He studied industrial electronics and in 1968 received an advanced vocational diploma. It was only natural that this made him approach the Cherbourg Arsenal where he was hired the same year and would make his entire professional career.

During his whole career he exerted his technical abilities on the technology jewels of the shipbuilding trade, since he did not stop working on the submarine launched nuclear ballistic missiles, then on the next generation of these submarines.

Always a sports lover, he took to scuba-diving as early as 1971, and joined the "Cherbourg swimming and diving Club" while climbing the ladder of the National Diving Federation grades until he reached the Federal Monitor level. As he also was interested in archeology, he directed outstanding excavation works done by a team made up of local divers at Omonville-la-Rogue, near Cherbourg, on the wreck of a Dutch merchant ship. He published his results in the 11^th issue of Archeonautica, a scientific journal published by the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

He worked with the G.R.A.N. on the Lomellina wreck, and assisted Max Guérout till 1995. Then he helped Gordon Watts organize the diving on the Alabama wreck in front of Cherbourg. He also participated in G.R.A.N.'s search and probing campaigns in Martinique, and in the search for the Cordelière and the Regent in the Iroise Sea. He also keeps participating, on a regular basis, in excavation works directed by the Department of Underwater and Undersea Archaeological Research (DRASSM) in the English Channel and in the Mediterranean Sea as well.

Now in early retirement from the Division of Naval Construction, he takes the opportunity to travel and devotes himself to hiking, another much-liked hobby.