Robert Adrian Langdon

Robert Langdon (1924–2003) was an Australian scholar known for his work as the executive officer of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, a part of the Australian National University.

Langdon was born in Adelaide, served in the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War, skipped university in favor of a writing career, and spent six years exploring South America. He undertook many different jobs prior to making his way to Tahiti to escape a cold Canadian winter. This journey changed his life. Because he couldn't find a single book that told the story of Tahiti, he returned home to Adelaide and write his own; Tahiti, Island of Love. After some time reporting for The Advertiser in Adelaide, Langdon took on a role at Pacific Islands Monthly in Sydney. During his six years at the magazine his reputation for original and high quality research on forgotten aspects of Pacific history caught the attention of Professor Henry Maude who was setting up the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau.

Langdon's research on the history of Amanu island and the possible origin of antique Spanish ship cannons discovered on the atoll in 1929 resulted in his book The Lost Caravel. In this book Langdon presented evidence for his controversial theory that the cannons were from the San Lesmes, a ship of the Spanish Loaisa Expedition. Langdon proposed that the San Lesmes had foundered on the atoll, thrown off the cannons to refloat, sailed to Tahiti where some members of the crew remained, and then onward to discover New Zealand. This theory had all but been forgotten until Greg Scowen published his novel The Spanish Helmet in 2011, basing much of the story on the presumed journal of the captain of the San Lesmes, Francisco de Hoces.

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