The story is dramatic and includes a member of his crew developing acute appendicitis while at sea - radio failure hindered any emergency assistance, and coral infested waters barred the route to the nearest and most rudimentary hospital facilities. Now short-handed, Jasper only narrowly avoided wrecking his boat at night on a remote coral reef in the Fiji Islands.
Once clear of the coral the constant risk of capsize in the open ocean prevailed - as with Bligh’s, Jasper’s boat had no self-righting capability: death of the crew through drowning or shark attack would surely have been the result. With storms and high winds, and alone hundreds of miles out in the ocean, vast Pacific rollers battered the tiny craft…...sometimes followed by roasting tropical calms – so would the drinking water and provisions last the duration, as shipping was very scarce in that part of the Pacific? The story tells of sea snakes in the Timor Sea; of navigation by sextant observation of the sun and stars - Elizabeth Bligh carried no Global Positioning System; of gear failure; hallucinations; exhaustion; crew stresses; deportation; some temporary crew dejection; some sheer good fortune; and then finally, finally and against the odds, ‘Sweet Success’. (100 photographs illustrate the presentation).

“Jasper’s talk includes" ,adds John grantham, "illuminating insights into Bligh – insights more thought-provoking than anything portrayed by Hollywood. Jasper also welcomes a lively Questions session, where his positive attitude to this project and to
life generally rubs off on listeners. Audiences have sometimes requested a second and even a third presentation; in short, Jasper Shackleton is a first class Motivational, Leadership and After Dinner Speaker”.

Despite little pro-active PR at the time, the expedition was featured in local and national media including The Independent, Times and Express, BBC and ITV, Intrepid magazine and Far Eastern press. Even more recently, in 2005, Le Monde picked up the story and ran a full 2-page feature on it.
Jasper threads his detailed understanding of ‘The Mutiny on the Bounty’ into his talk – it’s a subject actually suitable for a talk in its own right. In addition he is knowledgeable on other less known Pacific Ocean maritime history, and is
naturally well versed with the Endurance Expedition and Sir Ernest Shackleton; however he urges that the initial presentation is on his own voyage.

Jasper’s veteran boat the ‘Elizabeth Bligh’ is now moored at Weymouth, Dorset and he currently has a number of exciting new maritime projects in the planning stage scheduled for 2007/08. “Raising funds is an expedition in itself, but it
is always worthwhile when one is then able to taste the real thing” says Shackleton.