At 4.30am on 4th December I went on deck, expecting to see a solar eclipse. The sky was clear with a steel-cold wind and indigo sea, and there seemed to be no sign of anything different about the sun. Instead, there was South Georgia, close up, a range of sharp edged mountains and glaciers. I continue reading »
I’m home, after 16,000 miles by air, 4,335 nautical miles by ship and two months away. I have been to the Antarctic Peninsula via York, Brize Norton, Falkland Islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands, South Orkneys and South Shetlands. But in all those miles the only time I stepped outside the UK was on the continue reading »
When I first started sailing back in the 1980s, Britain had been part of Europe for only ten years and I remember that there were still procedures to follow when Going Foreign. Sailing across the Channel to France meant that we had to fly a yellow Q flag on approach, and then report with our continue reading »
A year ago I was lucky enough to be appointed Artist in Residence by the Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. Since then of course there’s been covid and the ship was having a refit so there was no opportunity to get down to the Antarctic last season. I was happy to wait; continue reading »
Just before 2am I came on deck for the 2-5 watch. I was sleepy and slightly queasy from the westerly swell coming in from the Atlantic, making it a balancing act to pull on waterproof trousers and boots by my bunk in the forepeak. Night watches on a sailing ship can be dull and cold, continue reading »