 Jasper
Shackleton is related to Sir Ernest and has the sea and small open boats
in his blood. In 1989 he undertook what can be described as a highly
dangerous 4,500 mile voyage through the coral reefs and Open Ocean of the
South Pacific. The idea was born in 1987, while Jasper was visiting the
remote Pitcairn Island - the island hideout of Fletcher Christian and The
Bounty mutineers. His scheme was to retrace the voyage of Captain William
Bligh after he and his supporters had been cast adrift in an open-boat.
Bligh, together with seventeen men, sailed their over-loaded launch 3,600
miles from Tofua to Timor, with barely sufficient food and water to
sustain life. As a tribute to Bligh and to mark the bi-centenary of his
outstanding achievement, Jasper Shackleton resolved to make an identical
voyage in a replica twenty-three foot open-boat using only traditional
navigation methods. On his return home from Pitcairn Jasper had a little
less than two years to prepare …
Never having built a boat before, and with only limited sailing
experience, Jasper set to work, and exactly 200 years to the day after
Bligh was cast adrift, Jasper’s boat, the Elizabeth Bligh, complete with
crew, were standing off Tofua, and the perilous voyage began…
The story is dramatic and includes a
member of his crew developing acute appendicitis while at sea - radio
failure hindered any emergency assistance, and coral infested waters
barred the route to the nearest and most rudimentary of hospital
facilities. Now short-handed, Jasper only narrowly avoided wrecking his
boat at night on a remote coral reef in the Fiji Islands. Once clear of
the coral the constant risk of capsize in the open ocean prevailed - as
with Bligh’s, Jasper’s boat had no self-righting capability: death of the
crew through drowning or shark attack would surely have been the result.
With storms and high winds, and alone hundreds of miles out in the ocean,
vast Pacific rollers battered the tiny craft…...sometimes followed by
roasting tropical calms – so would the drinking water and provisions last
the duration, as shipping was very scarce in that part of the Pacific? The
story tells of sea snakes in the Timor Sea; of navigation by sextant
observation of the sun and stars - Elizabeth Bligh carried no Global
Positioning System; of gear failure; hallucinations; exhaustion; crew
stresses; deportation; some temporary crew dejection; some sheer good
fortune; and then finally, finally and against the odds, ‘Sweet Success’.
(100 photographs illustrate the presentation).
Ex-Marketing Director of Sellotape, John
Grantham, says “I have hired many motivational speakers for conferences
over the years, but I wish I had known earlier of Jasper. His success
used, and his talk demonstrates, all the key tenets of Leadership –
including Vision, Target-setting, Planning, Determination, Commitment,
Accountability, Persuasion, Flexibility, Team-work, Grit, Follow-through
and an Iron Will to Succeed – and yet he had had no formal training in any
of these. Moreover, the talk inspires and is highly entertaining”.
“Jasper’s talk includes illuminating
insights into Bligh – insights more thought-provoking than anything
portrayed by Hollywood. Jasper also welcomes a lively Questions session,
where his positive attitude to this project and to life generally rubs off
on listeners. Audiences have sometimes requested a second and even a third
presentation”.
Despite little pro-active PR at the time,
the expedition was featured in local and national media including The
Independent, Times and Express, BBC and ITV, Intrepid magazine and Far
Eastern press. Even more recently, in 2005, Le Monde picked up the story
and ran a full 2-page feature on it.
Jasper threads his detailed understanding
of ‘The Mutiny on the Bounty’ into his talk – it’s a subject actually
suitable for a talk in its own right. In addition he is knowledgeable on
other less known Pacific Ocean maritime history, and is naturally well
versed with the Endurance Expedition and Sir Ernest Shackleton; however he
urges that the initial presentation is on his own voyage.
Jasper’s veteran boat the ‘Elizabeth Bligh’ is now moored at Weymouth,
Dorset and he currently has a number of exciting new maritime projects in
the planning stage scheduled for 2007/08. “Raising funds is an expedition
in itself, but it is always worthwhile when one is then able to taste the
real thing” says Shackleton. |
