Arctic Role

I have just bumped into the former Priest at the Church where I used to regularly attend. 

He is quite a bit more frail than I remember but not unexpected given that he has battled and won through against throat cancer in recent years. 

In spite of his stiffened limbs giving rise to a slowness he has not lost that steely eyed determination that led him, nearly 30 years ago, to participate in a perilous maritime adventure in Arctic waters that so inspired screen writers, producers and directors that it was brought to the big movie screen with a stellar cast of British Actors and was received with critical acclaim. 

The big adventure that played out in 1991 centred on the quest of a pleasure boat operator, Jack Lammiman,  based in the old whaling port of Whitby, himself a native of God’s Own Country, Yorkshire, to celebrate two of his heroes, also sons of Whitby, and their achievements in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries. 

They were father and son, both called William Scoresby who had sailed in the same waters and beyond in pursuit of whales and for the sheer adventure of being explorers at a time when there were still unknown territories to be discovered and with the enticing prospect of claiming to be the first human to see or experience something in those places. 

The Scoresby legacy also included the invention of the "Crow’s Nest" lookout by William Senior and the development of a compass that could be used in the emerging technology of the Victorian Era of iron hulled ships by William Junior. 

What better tribute to the Scoresby Dynasty, in the mind of Lammiman, than to assemble a fleet of Whitby based boats and sail to a former whaling base in the Arctic Ocean and leave a commemorative plaque. 

It was an ambitious idea given that the base, Jan Mayen island lies 370 miles north east of Iceland and at two thirds of the distance between Greenland and Norway. 

The intention of a flotilla did not materialise and Lammiman, or Captain Jack, realised that he would have to go it alone. 

His old 65 foot long Danish Fishing boat was good for inshore excursions with holidaymakers and keen anglers but would have to be officially approved by the Maritime Authorities for anything more ambitious on the open sea. 

It was not good news after an inspection by the local Ministry of Transport Inspector who ruled that a lengthy list of defects would have to be rectified to an approved standard even for Jack to go out of the shelter of the River Esk Estuary and Harbour wall. 

It was a matter of safety violations relating to life jackets, fire precautions and general equipment. 

Further complications arose with the plan to take along my former Priest in a sort of official clergy role and others including three senior citizens and a retired traffic policeman. 

The technical difficulty of such a planned expedition elevated the boat to an altogether different status with Regulations demanding, instead, qualified  crew members. 

The pressure and expense of complying with the legal requirements was too much for Jack. 

However, rather than just give up everything it was early one July morning in 1991 that the boat and makeshift compliment slipped away from Whitby and headed North up the coast for the four week trip which on the outward leg was via The Shetland  and Faroe Islands.  

A summer time-frame was essential as this would hopefully avoid the worst of the icy sea conditions around Jan Mayen Island. 

My old Vicar has always been a people person but it seems that the older passenger-deckhands, some of whom actually paid Jack a daily rate for the privilege, did not take to each other and there was much grumbling and back-biting by all accounts. 

The duped Maritime Authorities were on the case and the boat was monitored by a Fisheries Protection Aircraft but Jack was a cunning adversary to the extent of altering the appearance of the boat, taking avoiding action when the radar showed a potentially hostile party and taking on supplies from the shore at night. 

Green stripes on the hull of the boat were in the style of a certain well known Eco-Group to add to the confusion over identity and the whole of the superstructure also had a part-paint job during the trip. 

A Diplomatic Incident was brewing over the plans to make a landing on the island to assemble a sort of cairn on which to mount the commemorative plaque. 

A telephone call by one of Jack’s acquaintances to the Norwegian Embassy in London from her Whitby Caravan Park resulted in permission to do so. 

It was my former Priest and a 69 year old collaborator who took the small dinghy with its outboard motor on the next perilous stage. The little engine developed a fault, actual landfall was difficult and there were fears of attack from Polar Bears on what was for much of the year an uninhabited island. 

After fulfilling the purpose of the expedition the return to the boat presented further life threatening dangers as the engine failed and an offshore wind caused them to drift off course for any rendezvous and in freezing fog as well. 

My friend was suffering from a broken rib as well as palpitations from being a heavy smoker in the very cold temperatures and feared for his safety before eventually being thrown a line by Jack and hauled aboard. 

The flight from the Authorities began to catch up with the intrepid adventurers. 

At first there was an issue of having no money to pay for refuelling in Iceland until one of the by now exhausted passenger-deckhands gave over his emergency funds. 

There was something of a heroes welcome on the return to the Whitby Quayside with the exception of the Ministry Inspector whose subsequent report led to a Court Case and imposition of a fine. 

Jack was of course a bit short of money and in lieu spent four days in prison for non-payment. 

What must have been, for much of the time, an exhilarating but also terrifying experience did get the Movie makeover in 1999 with Bob Hoskins in the role of Captain Jack in a comedy genre film of the same name. 

My former Priest was unhappy about the interpretation and representation of the events and personalities for the sake of commercialism. 

This is summed up in the opening titles to the Movie where it is acknowledged that it is based very loosely on a true story. 

Only those who were there know what really happened.