News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 08 September 2009
203
A Royal Marines duo have successfully navigated the central
section of the Arctic’s notorious North-West passage, in a 17 foot
open boat.
Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Oliver (42) and Major Tony Lancashire
(36) have taken 42 days to sail and row their 17-foot boat Arctic
Mariner 1,400 miles through Canada’s Northern provinces. They
started from Inuvik, on the Beaufort Sea on July 24, travelled
east and arrived safely in Gjoa Haven on King William Island at
the weekend.
A year in the planning, the duo’s expedition was conceived to
raise awareness of the charity ‘Toe in the Water’ for which they
have raised in excess of £10K. The charity is dedicated to
inspiring injured servicemen and women to move beyond their
disability through competitive sailing - an extension of Headley
Court’s rehabilitation programme. Both of them are veterans of
Iraq and Northern Ireland and Tony has also served in Afghanistan.
Kevin will be deploying to Afghanistan on his return from the Arctic.
The adventurers used the latest Canadian ice charts to weave
their way through the hostile
Arctic seas and landscape,
braving freezing storms, pack ice, charging bears and curious
whales. With typical Royal Marine sang froid, Lieutenant Colonel
Kevin Oliver said, “This has not been all plain sailing, we have
had 90% more ice than the seasonal norm and as a consequence have
had to drag the boat across ice as well as row and sail it. The
weather and local wild life has provided us with a number of heart
stopping moments which rank among the most memorable of the trip,
all of which was topped off by the hospitality of the people we
met. A great adventure!”
At the successful conclusion of the voyage, Tony Lancashire said,
“Every one of the 42 days has offered a unique experience, from
the Arctic landscape and wildlife to the incredibly hospitable
people that we have met in the northern communities.
Patron of the expedition, Major General Garry Robison (Commandant
General Royal Marines), praised their achievement today:
“I have enormous admiration for what Kev Oliver and Tony
Lancashire have accomplished. Not only have they demonstrated
outstanding qualities of determination, fortitude and cheerfulness
in the face of adversity, the money they have raised for the
charity Toe In The Water will directly benefit and support
servicemen and women seriously injured in the cause of their duty.
The Royal Navy and Royal Marines should be justifiably proud of
what they have achieved.”
The epitome of Royal Marine resourcefulness, Kevin and Oliver
have succeeded where others have failed using a sailing and rowing
‘cruiser’ designed and built in Nova Scotia; called a Norseboat,
the versatile craft was specially reinforced to cope with ice
laden with a range of survival equipment and stores of
freeze-dried food. It remained just light enough for Kevin and
Tony to haul her onto the ice when floes threatened to crush her
and to travel significant distances across the ice to reach open
water.
For centuries mariners and explorers have dreamt of a Northwest
Passage which would link the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean – and
many have perished in the attempt to get through. Among the most
notable was the voyage in 1847 by Captain Sir John Franklin during
which he and the crews of HM Ships Erebus and Terror were lost
without trace.
The expedition titled ‘Arctic Mariner’ has its own web site and
Kevin and Tony managed to keep a blog running and post images
through-out the voyage (www.arcticmariner.org).
Notes to Editors:
1. Background
Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Oliver joined the Royal Marines in 1989
and is a mountain and Arctic specialist. He has served in Iraq and
Northern Ireland. He is a certified sailing yacht skipper and on
one expedition floated down the Amazon on a raft he built from
balsa wood. He lives in Devon with his wife and two children.
Major Tony Lancashire has been a member of the Corps for 14 years
and is a small boat operations specialist who has served in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Northern Ireland. He is an
experienced sailor and has spent time in Arctic Canada and Norway
as well as the jungles of West Africa and the Far East. Tony also
lives in Devon. His partner Lara, a commando doctor also serving
in the Armed Forces, is an accomplished mountaineer, summiting
Makalu in the Himalayas last year.
The North West Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean,
along the northern coast of North America via waterways in the
Canadian Arctic, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It
was first successfully navigated by Roald Amundsen in 1906, taking
three years in a steel-hulled seal-hunting vessel. Success depends
very much on the northward retreat of sea ice during the summer
and while recent trends suggested favourable conditions, 2009
proved especially challenging with the worst ice in the Amundsen
Gulf for a decade.
2. Footage and Imagery
High resolutions stills of the expedition can be downloaded from
the Latest Packages section of the Defence News Imagery website
(www.dni.mod.uk). For help
on how to use DNI, please contact the MOD Press Office Bureau on
0207 218 7907. Moving pictures will be available later this week.
3. Opportunity to speak with the participants
There will be an opportunity to speak with Kevin Oliver and Tony
Lancashire direct from their Arctic base camp this afternoon
(Tuesday). Journalists wishing to speak with the team should
contact James Gater at Fleet Media on 02392 625249 to arrange bids.
Contacts:
Ministry of Defence
NDS.MOD@coi.gsi.gov.uk