Grandfather sails home after epic Arctic trip

by Chris Webber

CHEERS and a few tears greeted a 73-year-old grandfather as he returned home after becoming the first person in the world to circumnativate the Arctic Circle by boat clockwise.

Jeffrey Allison, of Middleton Tyas, near Richmond, hugged his wife, Prue, and two of his daughters as he docked his 30-year-old craft into Hartlepool Marina yesterday (SUN).

The Shildon-born retired engineer laughed that he thought navigating the Arctic Circle clockwise “would be easier than the other way”.

However, he ended up sailing for 40 days and nights at sea in his 52ft-long craft called Eshamy.

He was aided by crewmate Katherine Brownlie, 28, who was with him for the toughest part of the 10,000-plus mile journey he began in June.

“I’m not tired, but I don’t want to go back in that cabin,” joked Mr Allison, who explained how he ate porridge for days on end in his epic journey and only began sailing seven years ago.

“I’m so pleased to be home but I didn’t expect this kind of reception. We weren’t sponsored and I’ve just had old British Army gear and my old climbing boots.

“There was great beauty in Greenland but, I have to say, the East Siberian Sea was bleak. There was no wildlife, no seals, no birds. That was a tough period.”

The journey, which made Mr Allison the first Briton to make the journey in either direction, took the adventurer from North-East England to Iceland, Greenland, around Alaska and Russia, then on to Scandinavia.

Mr Allison has also previously sailed across the Atlantic Ocean six times, through the Panama Canal, and across the Pacific, Indian and Arctic Oceans.


As the Eshamy appeared in the harbour yesterday Prue Allison admitted she was excited.

“My heart’s going pitter, patter, pitter, Patter,” she said.

She said her husband had spent two years studying ice charts and explained it was the fact that the ice was receding which meant her husband could make the journey.

“It was the logistical kind of chess game with the ice that was a big interest for him. But I knew he would do it, he is so determined, we’re just so proud of him.”

Catherine Millar, 35, one of Mr Allison’s six children who is pregnant with his 14th grandchild shed a tear when she hugged her dad.

She let slip that there had been a few nerves in the family.

She said: “I didn’t sleep much for quite a long time.”

Mr Allison has made several attempts at the voyage, with one in 2009 resulting in him being almost sunk by the Russian coastguard, who accused him of sailing in the Barents Sea without permission.

Despite insisting that he was sailing in international waters, he and his two crewmates were arrested, and a Russian court found Mr Allison guilty of the offence and fined him 2,000 roubles (£40).

His visa was also revoked - meaning he cannot return to Russia until 2014 and he had to be careful not to stray into Russian Waters.

The Northern Echo

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk