Hold Fast! 4. Taking the biscuit
Lives Less Ordinary
BBC
4.6 • 814 Ratings
🗓️ 11 August 2025
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Unable to step off the ship, tensions are rising amongst the crew of the Avontuur and coping mechanisms begin to emerge. When the dry store is raided and boxes of biscuits go missing, ship’s cook Giulia is forced to turn detective.
15 people, 188 days at sea, one extraordinary ship: how the Avontuur was locked down at sea during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.
Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.
Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up on lives less ordinary, hold fast continues. |
| 0:07.7 | This would be a thing that in any ordinary case scenario would absolutely be forbidden. |
| 0:15.5 | But because everything was going insane, why don't we go insane with it? |
| 0:23.1 | This is the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship, the Avantour, |
| 0:28.9 | and its crew of 15, |
| 0:31.2 | on a wind-powered mission to transport olive oil, |
| 0:34.7 | cacao, coffee and rum between Europe and Central America. |
| 0:39.3 | But before they even make it halfway, everything they're counting on is thrown to the winds. |
| 0:47.5 | I'm Chauvinne Maxvini, and you're listening to Lives Less Ordinary Presents. |
| 0:53.7 | Hold Fast |
| 0:54.8 | from the BBC World Service |
| 0:57.9 | Episode |
| 1:01.1 | Episode 4 |
| 1:01.6 | Taking the Biscuit. It's early April 2020, and the Aventure is heading for Honduras in Central America |
| 1:33.9 | on schedule to pick up 23 tonnes of coffee. |
| 1:38.1 | After being turned away from their last port-a-call, they are hopeful of docking in their next destination. |
| 1:45.1 | The crew are still reeling from the news that the world has gone into a global lockdown. |
| 1:50.6 | Their world is confined to the 300 square metres of the ship, |
| 1:54.7 | and all of their time is accounted for by a rigid 24-7 schedule. |
| 2:00.6 | With a couple of exceptions, the crew are divided into watches, |
| 2:04.6 | all working four hours on, eight hours off, |
| 2:07.5 | four hours on, eight hours off, |
... |
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