The Honourable Alexandra Shackleton
The Hon. Alexandra Shackleton succeeded her father, Lord Shackleton KG OBE PC (1911-94), younger son of the explorer, as President of the James Caird Society, and has been at the heart of all the expedition’s activities since its conception.
She fully supports The Shackleton Epic Expedition and as Patron she says: “The educational, scientific and historical worth of this project shall be the principal aim of the expedition – I am confident they will succeed in their endeavours”. [see Patron Letter]
Tim Jarvis AM FRGS - Expedition Leader
Tim Jarvis, AM is an environmental scientist, adventurer and author with Masters qualifications in environmental science and environmental law, and is a Senior Associate Sustainability at Arup. His environmental work is mainly focused on sustainable aid provision in developing countries and improving corporate environmental sustainability. For more information about Tim visit his Bio Pages.
Capt. Darren Naggs MN AMNI – Skipper
Captain Naggs, from Ryde on the Isle of Wight, worked his way up through the Portsmouth based Tall Ships Youth Trust ranks to become the Trust’s youngest Captain at the age of 32. Darren has had the privilege and enjoyment of serving for over 20 years on Sail Training Vessels in the UK and worldwide. The Thomas Gray Medal was awarded to Darren in 2006 by the Marine Society for deeds of professional merit, in this case the crew of TS Stavros S Niarchos under Darren’s command, braved extreme conditions in the mid-Atlantic to effect a rescue operation.
WO Barry Gray
Barry Gray’s career in mountaineering began in the Royal Marines back in 1992 and completed his Mountain leader course in 1999. He’s been working as an instructor in a mountainous and cold weather environment ever since.
Having been involved in expeditions to Nepal, the Andes, Swiss/French and Italian Alps and Norway, he was also the lead cold weather expert for the Ship HMS Endurance (The UK,s Antarctic patrol vessel) in 2005, giving him extensive experience climbing and mountaineering on South Georgia, Deception Island and many other fantastic parts of Antarctica.
In 2009 Barry was made the Royal Marines Mountain Leader Chief Instructor giving him the responsibility for the training of all other Mountain Leaders as well as the entire Tri Service environment (Army, Navy, RAF). In 2010 his team of instructors trained over 2000 men in Cold weather survival and mountaineering.
PO Seb Coulthard
Over the last twelve years Seb has worked at the sharp end of naval aviation with previous postings overseas spanning half the globe. The Royal Navy has exposed him to some of the most inhospitable regions of the world including the Southern Ocean, the safe quadrant of a few developing hurricanes in the Caribbean, and mined areas surrounding the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the Northern Arabian Gulf. Seb’s past expeditions include to Tanzania, Atacama Desert, and Yosemite National Park. Seb currently works for Lynx Helicopter Force, a branch of the Fleet Air Arm which specialises in small ship aviation.
[more information on The Crew to come]
An expedition of this scale involves a large team of experts across a variety of disciplines, from film to public relations, environmental science and education. [more information on The Team to come]