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Mensun Bound

@mensunbound

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Marine archaeologist. Trustee @falklands_maritime_heritage
Sunday Times best-selling author of “The Ship Beneath the Ice” and “Wonders in the Deep”

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So sorry to have missed John Geiger’s talk @geiger.john at the Shackleton shop @shackletonofficial in Piccadilly last night (we are abroad). But the good news is that his book about the remarkable discovery of Shackleton’s Quest is now available in British bookshops. I will post more on this when I get my copy.

In the meantime, I’d love to share three other wonderful books that I’ve been proud to endorse. Great writers all.

The Mate by H. J. Dawson – The fascinating life of Jameson Adams, who accompanied Shackleton on the Nimrod expedition.

Towards the Coldest Place by Michael Smith – A compelling history of Antarctic exploration. @mgsmith1946

The Quest for El Dorado by David Gibbins – The extraordinary deeds and adventures of Sir Walter Raleigh. @davidgibbinsbooks

Three terrific books, each bringing remarkable stories of exploration, adventure and history to life. Think Christmas.

#Shackleton #AntarcticExploration #Eldorado #TheQuest #JamesonAdams by @mensunbound

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a day ago

From tiny acorns…

Tourism has become such an important industry in the Falklands, and I am proud to think that my parents played a small part in getting it all started.

Back in the mid-1960s, they set up a business called Outward Bound Tours. One day, Lars-Eric Lindblad @lindbladexp arrived at our home in Stanley. He was on a recce to see whether he could bring his ship, the Lindblad Explorer, to the Falklands and Antarctica. And if he did, would we be willing to act as guides for his passengers?

Of course we would!

Last season some 53 cruise vessels were operating around the Islands.

Anyway, last week I had the great honour of giving the keynote speech at the Expedition Cruise Network Conference in London. @expeditioncruisenetwork

As a boy, I used to take Lindblad’s passengers to see the penguins on Saunders Island and else where. Now, as an old man, I found myself addressing a hall full of the great and the good of the expedition cruise industry! It was a ‘full circle’ moment.

Also there was Elena Lewendon of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, @falklands_maritime_heritage who unveiled our wonderful new 3D model of Shackleton’s Endurance, showing the ship exactly as she lies today on the bottom of the Weddell

#FalklandIslands #ExpeditionCruising #Lindblad #Endurance #Shackleton @bound_tours taken in River Thames by @mensunbound

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5 days ago

What a fantastic two days we’ve had at the Expedition Cruise Network Conference at the beautiful Glazier’s Hall! Huge thanks to @expeditioncruisenetwork and @hayevents for putting together such a fantastic event. Our COO Elena and @mensunbound had the privilege of presenting to an amazing crowd of specialist travel agents, expedition cruise operators and industry experts. Not only that, we got to display our latest 3D print of Endurance and a new pop up display!
Thanks to our designer Mark Peters, our model makers @luma_id, @kgkgenix for creating and contributing to our environmentally friendly cardboard pop-up and the Falkland Islands Tourist Board for their generous contribution @ilovethefalklands
If you haven’t considered an Expedition Cruise, you really should!
#ecnconference2026
#polarhistory
#discovery
#maritimehistory
#exploration by @mensunbound

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17 days ago

An age ago, back at the beginning of the 80s, when my wife and I were students, we directed our first wreck excavation. A ship from 600 BC, with a cargo of Greek painted pottery, off the tiny Italian Island of Giglio. It marked the beginning of a long career full of high adventure and archaeological learning. But it was on Giglio that Jo - in her words - pressed the forever button on our relationship. At that moment we were climbing the old mule track (la vecchia mulattiera) between Campese Bay (where our wreck was located) and the fortified medieval hilltop town of Castello. It was at a spot where the track through the bush opens slightly to reveal a huge cactus. A few days ago my son Torin proposed to his girlfriend Bunny beside the cactus on the mulattiera. It all feels so right.

Last two images Campese Bay and Greek pot (600 BC) painted with wild boar from Giglio wreck 1982.
#giglio #campese taken in Campese, Isola Del Giglio, Italy by @mensunbound

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20 days ago

FMHT will be at the Expedition Cruise Network Conference 2026 in London next week!

Our COO Elena Lewendon and trustee @mensunbound will both be speaking at the conference at Glaziers Hall on 29–30 September.

With perspectives spanning maritime heritage, deep water archaeology, polar exploration, education and public engagement, it’s a great opportunity to share ideas and connect with the expedition cruise community.

We’re looking forward to being part of it!

#ECNConference2026 #ExpeditionCruiseNetwork #ExpeditionCruising #MaritimeHeritage #MarineArchaeology
#Endurance22 by @mensunbound

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a month ago

Jo and I are so proud of our son, Zak, and his fiancé Libby. This week marks a new adventure for them as they take over Lafone Guest House from the wonderful Arlette, who has run it so successfully for over thirty years. Alongside this exciting new chapter, they’ll also be continuing to run Bound Tours, sharing the very best of the Falkland Islands with visitors from around the world.
Please read and share their story here :

https://www.lafonehousefalklands.com/blog/welcome-to-lafone-guest-house

@lafone_house @bound_tours @yellowleesbound
#falklandislands
#cruiseexcursion #wildlifetours #shackletontours taken in Lafone House by @mensunbound

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a month ago

Gave a talk to the St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. An audience of wonderful mariners who really get Shackleton. Thank you from Jo and I to SFYC and Tom and Lesley Dietz of Explorers Club and Naomh McElhatton from the Atlantic Shackleton Foundation for organizing it all.

Many years ago I directed the biggest, deepest and most expensive (and some would say most dangerous) hands-on underwater excavation ever. 22 kilometres out to sea off Hoi An, Vietnam. 3 vessels, 3 deep ocean tugs, a shuttle boat and 2 gunboats (to protect us from pirates who were then active in the South China Sea). We raised enough to fill two huge warehouses full of porcelain. It all came under the office of the Prime Minister. Some of the duplicate pots ended up in museums around the world: British Museum, Smithsonian, etc. Some pots ended up at the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco where we became reacquainted. Here you see me with an ornate jug from the wreck in the San Francisco collection. Other pictures include one of the two warehouses, one of the gunboats and a skull from the wreck. Thanks Tony Shields.
@explorersclub_norcal @the_explorers_club @explorersclub.gb #shackleton #hoian #shipwreck #stfrancisyachtclub @atlanticshackleton @falklands_maritime_heritage taken in Hội An, Vietnam by @mensunbound

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2 months ago

Gave a talk for the Atlantic Shackleton Foundation and the Northern Californian Chapter of the Explorers’ Club at Stanford University’s ‘Hopkins Marine Station’ at Monterey, California. Some world-renowned marine scientists in attendance (Robert Dunbar and Barbara Block). Also spoke about some of the marine ecological issues that worry me (loss of sea ice, ocean warming, ocean acidification, the annihilation of the phytoplankton communities and the slowing down of the inter-oceanic circulation system). No doubt I depressed the pants off everybody.

Then on to Alameda for a tour of the DOER (Deep Ocean Exploration and Research) workshops where they are building the next generation of manned submersibles. After which dinner with the founder of DOER, Her Eternal Deepness Sylvia Earle and family at Pasta Pelican on the waterfront looking towards Oakland.
Gratitude to Barbara Berg, Tom and Lesley Dietz, Andrew Chamberlain and Chris Tomlinson for setting it all up, and to Liz Taylor and Ian Griffith at DOER.

@atlanticshackleton @explorersclub_norcal @hopkinsmarinestation @falklands_maritime_heritage @dr.sylviaearle @the_explorers_club taken in Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University by @mensunbound

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2 months ago

An explorer so nice, we hosted twice!

Mensun Bound FI’18 and the Atlantic Shackleton Global Foundation team led two events with the NorCal Chapter last week, recounting the incredible moment Shackleton’s Endurance was found 3000 meters under the ice of the Weddell Sea on March 5, 2022, 107 years after its sinking.

Mensun, a Fellow of the Explorers Club, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Canadian Royal Geographic Society, has conducted wreck surveys and excavations the world over in a career that has spanned over 40 years. His journey to find the Endurance, the lost ship of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, is chronicled in his latest book “The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance”.

From Monterey to San Francisco, the audience was captivated. A special thank you to our venue organizers, NorCal Chapter Members Chris Tomlinson MN’26 with the Hopkins Marine Station and Meg Ruxton MN’22 with the St. Francis Yacht Club.

📸:

1. Mensun on the ice (Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust)
2. The 13,700-tonne icebreaker SA Agulhas (Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust)
3. The stern of Endurance (Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust)
4. Endurance sinking, November 1915 (Royal Geographic Society)
5. NorCal Chapter Members at the Hopkins Marine Station (Atlantic Shackleton Global Foundation)
6. Mensun receiving the St. Francis Yacht Club’s burgee from Commodore Kimball Livingston, and a TEC NorCal chapter flag and speaker certificate from Chapter Chair Tom Dietz FN’20 (Atlantic Shackleton Global Foundation) taken in St. Francis Yacht Club by @mensunbound

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2 months ago

We have just completed the first in our world tour series on our trip to California, it was an incredible opportunity to shine a light on the work of the Atlantic Shackleton Global Foundation and to begin building relationships that I hope will shape the next chapter of our journey.

Over the course of the week, we hosted events at Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, and the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.

Both events were headlined by our Co-President, Mensun Bound, who shared the remarkable story of discovering Endurance. His keynote was a powerful reminder that exploration still has the ability to bring people together, inspire new thinking and create opportunities for the future.

Naomh had the stage to share where the Foundation is heading. We exist to create impact through ocean health, youth development and leadership. Through the Spirit of Shackleton, we're developing opportunities for young people, scientists and educators to learn, lead and collaborate at sea.

Looking ahead, Endurance 2 represents our ambition to create a world leading platform for ocean science, education and international research.

We're still at the beginning of this journey, but California showed what's possible when you bring together people with a shared sense of purpose.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, with a special hat tip to the incredible Lesley and Thomas J. Dietz, PhD for making it all happen, to our hosts at Hopkins Marine Station and the St. Francis Yacht Club and to Mensun for leading two exceptional events.

The Global Tour has officially begun, and we are excited for what comes next. If you'd like to learn more about the Foundation or explore opportunities to partner with us, we’d love to hear from you. ⛵️✨

#OceanHealth #YouthDevelopment #Leadership #Stanford #BlueEconomy by @mensunbound

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2 months ago

Opened the Financial Times today and there in salmon-pink was the smiling face of my hero Sylvia Earle. The greatest spokesperson there has ever been for ocean care and marine science. The article explains Sylvia’s life and work well. She actually has a ship named after her which I have lectured on a couple of times about marine ecology and archaeology. For years I worshipped her from afar but a couple of months ago when Jo and I were last in the States we had dinner at a restaurant with Sylvia and her family, Liz and Ian. A friend of mine who was with us got into a panic as he had just ordered sea bass. ‘Rule of thumb’, he told me after, ‘you do not eat fish when you are with Sylvia Earle!’. Quite.

@dr.sylviaearle @financialtimes @aurora_expeditions #oceanscience @the_explorers_club by @mensunbound

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3 months ago

This time last year the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust was exhibiting at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. We had on display the Saab ‘Sabertooth’ subsea vehicle with which we found the Endurance and we unveiled the 3-D model of the wreck on the seabed. Since then the model has been on show at the Shackleton shop on Piccadilly; now it’s at the Discovery Centre in Dundee. Next stop Edinburgh. This year we were back at Goodwood as guests for a big party hosted by the organisers. The highlight for me was the car made from LEGO bricks. See also the photo of the model with astronaut Tim Peake and Elena Lewendon of the FMHT.

@falklands_maritime_heritage
@fosgoodwood #endurance #shackleton #3dmodel @shackletonofficial @saab @discoverydundee taken in Goodwood Festival of Speed by @mensunbound

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3 months ago