Call Trevor now for an entertaining lecture about his expeditions
Update November 2007
Trevor will be lecturing aboard the Corinthian II for Travel Dynamics International during the northern winter. Expedition cruises will be to the Antarctic Peninsula, Beagle channel-Magellan Strait, Chilean Fiords, Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha.
.Trevor Potts is best known for his expeditions to Antarctica to re-create Sir ernest Shackleton's epic rescue mission from Elephant Island to South Georgia and his epic crossing of the mountains to get help from the whaling stations. Trevor is a qualified Outdoor Education Teacher with a Certificate in Education. He taught for many years in a variety of Local Education Authority Outdoor Centres. In recent years he has specialised in freelance outdoor education work and expedition lecturing. Trevor was the leader of the only unsupported expedition to successfully repeat Sir Ernest Shackleton's legendary escape from Antarctica.
In 1994, Trevor and his team built a replica of the 22 foot open rowing boat that Shackleton used to sail from uninhabited Elephant Island to South Georgia in 1916 after their ship, the Endurance, was crushed by pack ice (picture and details on the sailing page). The journey involved crossing 800 nautical miles of the Southern Ocean; the most feared piece of water on the planet. Even today, large ships are swamped and sunk by the enormous waves that are generated in the inhospitable seas around Antarctica. Somehow Shackleton and Potts came through unscathed.
But the struggle from Elephant Island to South Georgia is only half of the Shackleton story. After 17 days at sea, Sir Ernest finally landed on the uninhabited south side of the island. However, the whaling stations were on the north side 35 miles away across a number of treacherous mountains and glaciers. So Shackleton was forced to cross South Georgia on foot, which at the time was unmapped and unknown. More than a year after The Endurance was crushed, Shackleton returned to Elephant Island to rescue the rest of his men. Not a single member of the party lost his life.
In 2001, Trevor returned to South Georgia to follow Shackleton's footsteps across the island from King Haakon Bay to Stromness. In doing so, he became the only person to have successfully repeated Shackleton's odyssey unsupported by escort/rescue ships.
Trevor now lectures about his Antarctic experiences, blending Shackleton's story with his own unique perspective on the polar hero's achievements. In the past decade, he has spoken at dozens of venues including the Royal Geographical Society, the Scientific Exploration Society, the National Maritime Museum and the Commonwealth Institute. During the northern winter he spends time in Antarctica on cruises ships lecturing about Antarctic History and his own expeditions.
For the corporate audience, Trevor gives an illustrated talk that focuses on Shackleton's famous leadership style, as well as the explorer's commitment to forward planning, organisation and a determination to overcome whatever obstacles were placed in his path. Trevors' delivery has been described as, relaxed and understated with a dry sense of humour: perfect for bringing a fresh and relevant perspective into todays business environment.
In addition to his Antarctic exploits, Trevor was part of a team that completed the only kayak crossing of the Bering Strait from Alaska to Siberia in single seat kayaks, attempted the first kayak circumnavigation of Bylot Island on the northern end of Baffin Island, and sailed single-handedly around the Atlantic islands of the Canaries, the Azores and Madeira. A former Director of the British Marine Industry Federation, for many years he managed a boat-building yard that specialised in traditional wood boats and fibreglass canoes. He is currently establishing an outdoor education centre on the most westerly point of the British mainland. A past recipient of the Cruising Association's Duggan Cup and Fid Trophy, he is playing a centrifugal role in the creation of the newly-established South Georgia Association, and continues to find time to tend the bees that he keeps on his sustainable croft in Scotland.