On the icy Weddell Sea

We went into the field in 2019, and it was a disaster, beginning to end. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. The ice constricted us like a boa constrictor, and we got stuck several times. One time in particular, we were worried we would end up on the wrong side of history, like Endurance. Three years later, we resumed the search, having learned from our mistakes and with new technology. But what we could not believe was: in just three years, the ice pack which had been there since the last ice age was virtually gone. It was brilliant news for us, but terrible news for the planet.

On Shackleton’s legacy

Shackleton was a complex character, and we don’t really know him that well. He edited his life as he went along, and his diaries tell you nothing. He was as flawed as any of us, but he was brave, incredibly determined and resilient, and he had this ability to pivot every time an obstacle came up. In this day and age, where we have environmental catastrophes coming at us down the track, we need Shackletons for the new era. If Shackleton was around today, I know he’d have been an environmentalist. We depend on this next generation of scientists as never before in human history. 

On Endurance enduring

We did not want the smash-and-grab that happened to Titanic to happen to Endurance. We did it by the book: we did not touch, we filmed, we recorded, we studied, and we left. Now the wreck is protected under the Antarctic Treaty, and it’s in the care of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. I know that someday, some person somewhere will sit down and conduct or write the final, definitive chapter on the Endurance story. But that person won’t be me. Maybe one day they’ll bring her up, but that is beyond my lifetime