The Epic Redux

The first thing we did on the Sergey Vavilov ship before heading south was meet in the bar, don a nametag and mingle. As most people were older, well-traveled folks, I whispered to Harry that I felt like I was geriatric speed dating. Take that comment as lightly as it was delivered because they were a well-educated, inspirational bunch to the man. One of the first people I met was a woman with a thick British accent who kept having to tilt and swing her head to get the hair out of her face. “Alexandra Shackleton’s my name,” she introduced. My lightning-quick mind responded, “What a coincidence!” or something idiotic like that.

After the meet and greet, the expedition leader gave us a trip overview and introduced Alexandra as the granddaughter of THAT Shackleton. (In case you don’t know, Ernest Shackleton is considered one of the greatest leaders and adventurers of all time. Read ‘Endurance’ by Alfred Lansing.) Apparently, Alexandra had commissioned a group of men to recreate the adventures of “grandfather” on a boat identical to the 22 foot Cairn he and his men travelled. We were to meet up with her crew at the conclusion of their trip.

Having read Lansing’s book, I thought a recreation was somewhere between a wee bit indulgent to downright ridiculous as no one could ever mimic the sort of conditions Shackleton and his men endured. I tried to suspend my initial condemnation and remain open to something more. A few weeks later, that something more came bounding into the bar off a Zodiac from the old whaling town of Grytviken, South Georgia in the form of Tim Jarvis. If ever there was a man to walk straight out of a Hemingway novel or adventure on the tall seas, it was this huge man with hands the size of those of Michelangelo’s David. He was dressed in period clothes as was the other gentleman who was the climbing specialist on loan from British Special Forces SAS. (Everyone on the trip was world’s best at some skill necessary for the success of the journey. A Swiss-army knife hodgepodge of men, if you will.) Tim is a modern day adventurer, one of those people who climb mountains because they’re there, does things just because no one else has. I didn’t even know these people still existed..

Shortly after the bar talk, all the passengers were transported to the cemetery where we joined in a 10 am whiskey toast, pouring the last drops on the grave of ‘the Boss’, as is customary.

It didn’t occur to me to write a post about this but when we were sitting around in Cusco, Peru waiting to acclimate to the altitude, I saw that CNN made reference to the journey on their front page online edition. Indeed the Discovery Channel filmed the Epic re-enactment and were with us (since we carried the trip’s benefactor) to the toast at the end of the journey.

Carter

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_tvbx#/video/world/2013/03/22/intv-verjee-shackleton-mission-jarvis.cnn