Hold Fast! 5. No better mirror than the sea

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Denied entry to a series of ports in the Caribbean, the crew of the Avontuur begin to wonder whether they will ever be able to get off the ship. They mend sails and find creative ways to entertain themselves until, one night, Giulia begins to feel unwell.

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	I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.
0:08.9	In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?
0:16.2	Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.
0:20.0	A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by
0:23.1	their own light and that light is to be recognized by others. The long history of heroism with me,
0:28.6	Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. Coming up on Holdfast. What if I really did get the bug?
0:37.9	What if I really do contaminate and pass it on to my crew?
0:43.2	What if, because of me, something terrible happens to everybody else?
0:48.7	And once again, an infinite, very scary list of what ifs possessed me and they don't let me go.
0:56.9	This is the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship, the Avantour, and its crew of 15,
1:03.5	on a wind-powered mission to transport olive oil, cacao, coffee and rum between Europe and
1:10.3	Central America.
1:11.8	But before they even make it halfway, everything they're counting on is thrown to the winds.
1:19.6	I'm Chauvin McSweeney and you're listening to Lives Less Ordinary Presents.
1:26.1	Hold Fast.
1:29.8	From the BBC World Service Episode
1:33.2	No Better Mirror than the Sea
1:36.5	No Better Mirror than the Sea.
1:36.5	Music It's now the 12th of April 2020.
2:04.1	The Aventure is in the Caribbean Sea, sailing north along the coast of Belize in Central America
2:10.3	and heading towards their next port of call in Mexico.
2:15.0	It's three months since the ship first set sail and around six weeks since the crew last set foot on land, having been repeatedly denied shore leave on account of COVID regulations.
	...

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