The beautiful south: our wild, vulnerable world, seen from a Greenpeace ship

It’s going to get easier, I think to myself, as I lie in bed in the darkness, one hand gripping tightly the edge of the mattress, the other pressing hard on the spot where my head just thudded loudly, again, into a wall. In the bunk below, my cabinmate Oleg is dozing deeply. I might not be sleeping yet, but I will once I’ve found my sea legs. I’ve come a long way, I try to reassure myself, considering it’s only my fourth night at sea.

When I arrived on board my temporary new home, Greenpeace’s MV Esperanza, even successfully navigating my way to the bathroom along the ex-Soviet firefighting ship’s labyrinth of narrow corridors had seemed impossible. The environmental NGO had invited me to join them on a month-long polar expedition departing from Patagonia, the final leg of a year-long project to draw attention to the existential threats facing the world’s oceans. The crew had set off from London, before travelling from pole to pole.

Now though, after a series of briefings, tours and tips from seasoned crew members, I know where to do laundry, where to shower, where to muster in case of emergency. I can quickly put on an immersion suit. I understand three different types of alarm. I’ve scoped out the best hiding spots for when I’ll need some privacy: the cubbyhole library; two nets on the boat’s stern where you can sit as the vast expanse of ocean stretches out behind you; and if all else fails, the floor of the linen closet. I can even use the correct maritime terms to describe the different types of wild, sudden