Loss, remembrance and legacy

During last week’s amazing range of activities marking International Women’s Day, another event happened that triggered a poignant combination of memories. When news of the discovery of the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, crushed by polar ice in 1915, was announced on 10 March, it reminded me that on this same date seven years ago I too was in Antarctica, standing on the deck of MV Ushaia witnessing dawn breaking over the frozen sea at the historic research base at Stonington.

I was on a voyage to commemorate the 28 men and one woman who have died in the pursuit of science since the first base was set up on the continent by the British in 1944. The captain of our ship the Ushaia had never sailed that far south before (68.11 degrees South, 67.26 degrees West). ?The snow covered crags and mountains, guarded by icebergs, stretched into infinity. The sky was streaked with duck egg blue and pewter grey. The sea froze around us in gleaming pancake ice. No birds, no seals or whales, no sound.

We voyagers stood silently in the bitter cold, while the ship inched forward, then when it became clear that our plans to land were thwarted by the ice, the engines were silenced whilst the names of the two men who died there in 1966 were read out and the ship’s horn sounded, the long blasts echoing around the ship held motionless in the frozen sea. The captain then turned the ship and raced north, aiming to reach the safe haven of Deception Island ahead of the rapidly approaching severe storm.

The 85 passengers on the three week voyage were supporters of the British Antarctic Monument Trust, and included relatives and colleagues of those had died.?I had been involved in the complex logistics of the trip, which began in Tierra del Fuego, on to the Falkland Islands for the dedication of a monument to the lost, on to South Georgia where we toasted Shackleton and Frank Wilde and then down the Antarctic Peninsula, stopping at the places where people had been lost and the bases where they had worked.

One such stopping place was Port Lockroy, once a research base and now the most southerly museum, shop and Post Office in the world, perched on a rocky outcrop reached through the spectacular Neumeyer Channel. After presenting a commemorative plaque, touring the museum and talking to base leader Sarah Auffret and her two colleagues about their wildlife conservation and scientific work, came the unexpected request – could two of them hitch a lift back to Tierra del Fuego with us rather than waiting for the boat bringing their replacements due to arrive in the remote outpost in the next week or so?

And thus it was that Sarah Auffret and Amy Kincaid grabbed their bags and climbed aboard the Zodiac inflatables with us to return to the Ushaia, taking the passenger manifest up to 87 and with their knowledge, experience and empathy contributing greatly to the daily lectures and conversations that made the voyage so memorable. Fluent in French and German, Sarah grew up in France, and lived and worked in the UK, Australia, Germany, Argentina, Japan, Norway and of course, the Antarctic Peninsula. She worked as a polar guide, expedition leader and was passionate about the environment. We became friends, and indeed I featured Sarah in my unconscious bias training sessions with her account of how she was presented with a hand knitted fake beard to wear so that she could fit in with the stereotypical image of an Antarctic base leader.

Exactly four years after we had stood together on a ship at the bottom of the world, on 10 March 2019, Sarah was killed. She was one of the 157 people who died when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (one of the soon to be infamous Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft) crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa. Sarah was on her way to the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi to present the Clean Seas project in her role as environmental agent for the Association of Arctic Exploration Cruise Operators (AECO).

Sarah's death stunned the hundreds of people she had inspired in her short but action filled life. In her memory, AECO set up a Clean up for Sarah campaign which takes place every year on her birthday, 16 June, when volunteers clear plastic and rubbish from beaches around the world.

To all the wonderful women who were celebrated last week, I would like to add Sarah Auffret, an exceptional international woman who fought for change with determination and charm.