“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Wednesday 13 April 2011

Tim and Pauline Carr. May they stay forever young.

I woke up this morning, did my usual half an hour with the weights and after a bit of breakfast prepared for a few hours work down the allotment. I think that I'm reasonably fit for my age but I certainly don't have the stamina that I had only a few years ago. When I was young I worked on a ship alongside a guy called Tim Carr. Tim was a couple of years older than me, was already widely travelled, had been curator of birds at Jersey Zoo and was an environmentalist long before it became the trendy thing to be. He was also one of the most doggedly self-reliant people that I have ever met. Not long after this Tim acquired a girlfriend (Pauline) and a very old and very small wooden sailing boat (Curlew). Tim and Pauline came to stay with us at the cottage in Devon in 1970 having spent the intervening years getting Curlew fitted out for a round the world voyage. We lost touch eventually and it was years later that I discovered that they had spent their lives sailing the world on a shoestring in this tiny vessel before finally settling in remote South Georgia. They moved on when even this haven of tranquility became too busy with tourists. This morning I came across this video of a lecture they gave a few years back.
I mention all this because I well remember Tim saying how he dreaded getting old and not being able to do all the things like climbing the mast that he took for granted. I have no idea where Tim Carr is today but I hope that he is fit and well. May you stay forever young.

6 comments:

peter young said...

Hi, I found the Tim and Pauline clip very interesting, having just returned from a short visit to South Georgia.

They have imprinted themselves into almost everything there - the Gallery, museum, cemetery, industrial landscape, church, etc.

Amazing couple. cheers, Peter

Mrs. O'Connor said...

Thanks much for the link to the lecture. I went to SG March 2000 to have my wedding with Tim & Pauline as our witnesses. I told my man I would not marry him unless it was there and he made it so.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I spent 7 months on South Georgia with Tim and Pauline in 1997/8. They are the most fantastic and extraordinary couple of people I have ever met. How they managed to sail around the world on that tiny boat with no electricity or motor astounds me. Talking to both of them was nothing less than awe inspiring and I would relish every word of it. Martin B.

eva said...

I spent a month last January sailing with them on a trip with Cheeseman's ecology safaris. It was a tourist trip but the tour operators are amazingly knowledgeable and I think Tim and Pauline's presence on the expedition speaks to that. They are incredible people to talk to and have such amazing stories.

Unknown said...

Hi Eva.....do you have Tim and Paulines email address, if they have such a thing. My father in law built a fantastic model of their boat Curlew and he would like to send photos of it to them....cheers Mark -

1markappleby@gmail.com

Unknown said...

I traveled with Tim and Pauline Carr around South Georgia; Here is a wonderful movie that I made. https://youtu.be/8ZeIeiyDquA