Obituary: David Lewis

By AINSLEY THOMSON

* Adventurer. Died aged 85.

David Lewis was once aptly described as a romantic adventurer of the epic mould. His love of adventure and challenge led him to great success, but on many occasions it came close to costing him his life. Disaster always lurked on his many journeys.

The veteran explorer, who won fame for his solo trip to Antarctica and his studies of traditional navigation methods, died in Australia.

Lewis, who lived the world over but always called himself a New Zealander, had his last encounter with calamity only two years ago. He and three friends were at the start of a trip to Fiji when the mast on their yacht broke loose and gashed the hull. They were forced on to a liferaft and rescued off Great Barrier Island.

Lewis was born in Plymouth, England, but moved to New Zealand with his family when he was 2. They eventually settled in Takapuna, where he learned to sail - his maiden voyage was as a sea scout in 1926.

The first inkling of Lewis' adventurous streak was revealed when, as a 17-year-old at Wanganui Collegiate School, he paddled in a canoe from Wanganui to Auckland. It took him five weeks - travelling across lakes, rivers and the open sea - and he almost drowned shooting rapids on the Tongariro River. But he made it, and began a lifelong passion for adventure.

These adventures continued and grew more ambitious. In 1936, while at Otago University, he took part in the ascent of 19 previously unclimbed peaks, including the first ascent of the southwest ridge of Mt Aspiring. With characteristic modesty, he later described the climbs as "not difficult peaks, just a bit hard to get at".

Lewis left New Zealand at the end of 1938 to continue his studies at Leeds University. After qualifying as a doctor in 1942, he served in World War II in a parachute field ambulance in Normandy.

After the war he set up a medical practice in London, but the conventional life soon left him with a feeling of "mental and physical softness".

To counter that, he decided to enter the first single-handed transatlantic race in 1960. He finished third, despite losing time when his mast broke.

Once again he returned to London and resumed his medical practice. But the sea lured him back and in the mid 1960s Lewis, with his wife and two young daughters, embarked on a three-year round-the-world voyage on the catamaran Rehu Moana - the first time a catamaran had been sailed around the world.

From Rarotonga to Auckland Lewis navigated using traditional Polynesian navigation methods. He later said he had expected to hit land one day early and was starting to think he had made an error.

"I was beginning to think the first land we would see would have wallabies and kangaroos hopping around."

In 1972 Lewis sailed to Antarctica on the 32ft (9.75m) Ice Bird. He was presumed drowned when 88 days passed without any word from him.

Then, a month overdue, he finally arrived at Palmer Base and moored along side Jacques Cousteau's Calypso.

When Cousteau dispatched the news that Lewis was safe, the full extent of his adventure was revealed. His sloop had capsized twice in fierce storms. After the second capsize he spent eight hours bailing out water and suffered extensive frostbite to his hands. He was then forced to sail under jury-rig for nine weeks.

Lewis said his memories of the time were of fear, frostbite, agonising thirst, and the thought that his family probably thought he had died. "I don't feel ashamed of feeling as scared as hell," he said.

In 1974 he resumed his mission to circumnavigate Antarctica. At the time he said he twice had to "get out and push" the Ice Bird when she became stuck in pack ice.

Again on this journey the Ice Bird capsized, smashing her mast, and again Lewis was lucky to survive.

After this adventure he said he could not face the idea of any more solo sea travel. So he headed for the Australian outback - about as far away as he could get from water - and worked with Aborigines to discover whether their wanderings were navigated by the sky or other means.

Lewis was intrigued by difficult cultures. While living on the Caroline Islands in Micronesia he received traditional tattoos, and his love of culture saw him reunite Russian and Alaskan Eskimo families that had been divided by US-Russian politics for 50 years.

Lewis was a renowned expert on natural methods of navigation and was the author of numerous books, including his autobiography Shapes on the Wind.

Last year he was made a distinguished companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, our third-highest honour.

Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/marine