As told by WUSTL alumna Stacey Robertson Maurice
And then John Evans, the brave man that he is, walked out on the spit to one side of the cove, the waves crashing over his legs. He got out far enough that he was past the worst of the breakers, and then the Zodiac with the broken floorboards drove as close to him as it could and the driver threw him the life ring.
After many, many attempts he caught the ring, and then he walked the ring, which was tied to the rope, back to the beach.
We left all of our equipment. We took it up on the shore, put it behind some rocks under tarps and said, We’ll get that next year. We can’t risk trying to get the equipment and ourselves towed out of here.
And then we all got in the Zodiac without the motor and the Zodiac with the broken floorboards, which had stood off to avoid the crashing waves inside the cove, towed us back to the ship.
And that was that.
The next morning when I woke up there were signs posted all over the boat that said “Stuck on a remote Antarctic beach? Don’t forget to call 1-800-Pull Boat, the Lawrence M. Gould towing service. We’re wet but we’re quick.”