Meeting an Antarctic Explorer

Tim Jarvis,an Antarctic Explorer, Author,chasing Shackleton adventures

It is one thing to read a book of the expedition to the Antarctic, it is quite another experience listening in person, a few feet away from the podium, at Stanford's  Travel Writers Festival,Olympia 7 February 2016, to a man who had come back alive to recreate both the exciting and trivial aspects of his expedition, the journey and back to Antarctica, where day seems like night and night seems like day.

I was enthralled by his narrative for over 48 minutes,his passion for environmental issues, the challenges he and his crew of five rugged sailors faced on recreating the original 1916 journey of Sir Ernest Shackleton to the polar reaches of Antarctica.

Tim Jarvis

Tim Jarvis born in Australia in 1966, a six foot five inch, sturdy built, charismatic explorer, a veteran of multiple polar expeditions, gave a packed audience his personal experience of this expedition in February/ March 2013.

His expedition was under the patronage of Shackleton's granddaughter,The Hon. Alexandra Shackleton, whose name his small sailing boat carried. He said it,was an achievement in sailing 1500 kilometres across the Southern Ocean from Elephant Island,Antarctica to the Trading Post at South Georgia.In waves as high as five metres, his boat capsized on one occasion.It was the coldest climate on earth, with frost bite and sea sickness all the way.

Whilst there, he said, he and his team could witness climate change in Antarctica. Some of the glaciers recorded in Shackleton's reports have now disappeared during his visit some 100 years later and other than that the spray and smell of the rugged mountains,the landscape remained the same.

His Books

Two well known books, "Chasing Shackleton," and "Shackleton's Epic: The Greatest Journey of Survival," are memoirs by Tim Jarvis published writings  by Harper Collins and Wm.Morrow & Co.The books retrace the legendary expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1916 and how he was stranded on Elephant Island, Antarctica after the loss of his ship "Endurance" and his adventure in his small rowing lifeboat "James Caird" through 800 miles of roughest seas and mountain peaks to South Georgia island.

The DVD "Death or Glory" also by Tim Jarvis is a picture tale of this adventure.

His Team 

His team,he said, consisted of five sailors besides. Each had a special expertise to tackle this arduous expedition. The combined effort of his team was to return alive.

Ed Wardle,41 years lives in London, was the expedition's cameraman.He had worked for Channel 4 TV and Discovery Channel and was an experienced high altitude mountaineer and Arctic explorer. His expertise was both with his camera as well as climbing the high mountains on the Antarctic coasts.

Paul Larsen,42 years,Australia born,lives in Weymouth,Dorset.He is an offshore sailor with 7 world records in sailing.His talents were necessary not only sailing but also when the crew was sea sick and needed attention.

Skipper Nick Bubb,33 years lives in Lymington, Hants. He is a professional offshore sailor,an accomplished around the world yachtsman,a sea survival engineer as well as Maritime Radio Operator. He was necessary for rescue operations when boat capsized

Barry Gray ,35 years, of Plymouth,Devon, is a Royal Marine and a Mountain Leader..He has extensive experience climbing and mountaineering in South Georgia.

Seb Couthard,30 years of Bewdley, Worcs,works for Lynx Helicopters, a branch of Fleet Air Arm.

The Mission

To the general public, the mission was an adventure of sorts. But it was a scientific adventure.It was not only drama to witness the majesty of the Antarctica,the towering mountains, icebergs,to record the landscape,the leopard seals,the porpoising penguins,to explore world's last greatest of wilderness on planet earth, but also study climate change as they share the achievements of Shackleton's leadership and story of the "Endurance" expedition,some 100 years earlier. 

Comment

Tim Jarvis through his books and DVD combines drama of the contemporary adventure with challenging reactions,a story of human survival.

He relates how humans react and deal with and survive extreme cold.The body will divert blood flow as the temperature drops so the most important parts stay warm the longest.This keeps the blood in the rest of the body from becoming cold.When blood flow is gone from the extremities for too long,the cells die.Depending on the severity of the damage,new cells will either replace the old or part of the body is lost to frostbite and battle scars like blisters and swollen feet. 

He stated he lost 32 kilos in body weight, surviving on lard. He let us into a secret that he and his crew were able to enjoy shots of Whyte & Macay Scotch whisky, courtesy of this blender. 

He was able to regain his weight in three later months. 

Behavioural adaptations such as wearing appropriate clothing similar to the clothing of Shackleton's crew.Survival requires two simultaneous events, food generating sufficient body heat by burning appropriate food,in this case,lard and secondly, preventing loss of heat by suitable body clothing.

Normal human body core temperature is 37 degrees C.Below normal temperature at 36 degrees C,the body starts to shiver and by 35 degrees the cold feeling is very intense,the skin feels numb and appear blue/green as a result of diminished blood flow. A common symptom of this is the effect on urine production.The body's response to cold is to reduce the fluid volume by getting rid of some water via urine.

Sea sickness is another reaction of the body's balancing mechanism.

The greatest achievement of his expedition was to recreate Shackleton's voyage of discovery and to return back with all his crewmen intact. 

Another's Attempt

Henry Worsley,55, a former Army Officer from London,had to abandon his history making attempt to be the first adventurer to cross the Antarctic alone on ski's. He had lost 50 lbs during his mission and reflected his despair that he would come to terms with stopping 30 miles short of the finishing line.

He was airlifted to a Chilean hospital in Punta Arenas suffering exhaustion and dehydration and died after succumbing to infection 71 days into his 950 mile charity trek on 24 January 2016.

No words can describe the sadness of this loss.

The Antarctic is both a challenge and an adventure and has claimed the lives of many, including Sir Ernest Shackleton and now Henry Worsley, a close friend of Tim Jarvis.

   

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