Interview with Dan Etheridge for Mutiny

Why on earth would you want to sign up to something like this?
It’s a funny one. That’s the first question everybody asks about doing something like this, and obviously it was pretty horrendous, but from my perspective, when I get offered the opportunity to do something so incredible, I actually find it weird for people to turn it down. I think that’s the perspective I come at this from. I just feel lucky to be allowed to do something like this.

Why do you think you were chosen?
I suppose, in reality, they were looking for as safe a pair of hands as they could find, as far as the shooting side was concerned. Obviously ‘ve done quite a few series similar to this in the past, and I suppose word just gets around. It certainly wasn’t for my personality! It was more to do with the fact that they knew I would probably stick it out.

How did you prepare for the series?
You can’t prepare for something like this – I really believe that. I tried my best. I tried to mentally prepare myself, by trying to imagine it being as bad as I possibly could, so that when it was bad, I wouldn’t be shocked by it. But, to be honest, I tried and failed. It was worse than I could have imagined it.

What were your worries going into it?
My worry going into anything like this is something small catching me out. And I suppose, with this, my other main fear was falling out with somebody, and that becoming a major thing. Not that I do fall out with people, as a rule, but the idea of having to sit next to somebody that you hate for weeks on end is unthinkable, especially when you throw everything else into the mix at the same time.

What was the reality like, compared to the theory?
It was horrendous. It was absolutely horrendous. Anybody who says it wasn’t is a better man than me. I really, really struggled – mostly internally. The brutal, brutal conditions, just being wet for such prolonged periods of time, or being too hot. All of the elements that we were exposed to are fine for a day. If you know you’re going to go back and get yourself warm and dry at the end of the day, you can go again. I’ve done that on other shoots, where I’ve gone again and again and again. But this was a prolonged experience of falling asleep soaking wet, waking up soaking wet, falling asleep boiling hot, waking up boiling hot. There was no respite. It just grinds you down day by day.

What did you miss the most, from everyday life?
Hugs from my kids, walks in the woods with my family. There’s nothing quite like the affection of somebody close to you, and to be away for that for a length of time I found the hardest.

What was the aroma like, all living on close quarters on the boat?
It wasn’t pleasant. I spent half my time searching for the source of the smell of maggots, which I couldn’t find, and which drove me absolutely mad on a daily basis. I knew there were maggots somewhere on that boat, and I was right. The strange thing is, when you’re subjected to those smells on a daily basis, it becomes normal. So you’re probably better off asking somebody who experienced it for the first time. But there was certainly a pungent smell of man and maggot.

Did you get enough food and sleep?
No! I probably slept for about two or three hours-a-day on average. Food-wise, you have two mealtimes. And each meal is about the size of five or six crackers, and a small palm full of dried meat. We had that twice a day, and the second you finished it, you just fantasised about the next time you got it.

What kind of relationships did you form?
I forged some very, very close relationships. A shared experience like that inevitably forges very close relationships, and that was definitely the case fir me. And it also worked in completely the opposite way – when you’re not so keen on somebody, the way they sneeze or the way they scratch their arse annoys you to distraction. Essentially, though, it was all about strong and close relationships, but there were times when certain guys absolutely drove me mad.

What was Ant like as a skipper?
Amazing. He was incredible. He’s exactly what we needed in that kind of circumstance, really. He was really tough when he needed to be, and kind and gentle and giving and comforting when things were at their absolute worst. He was so organised – I learned so much from him, about that mentality of how essential it is to be organised in those kind of conditions. You’ve got a space of about one foot by one foot to keep all of your belongings in. He taught us to take your clothes off in a certain order and put them back on in a certain order.

What were your lowest moments?
When you can see an end, you get a lot of energy. So when you think things are going to get better – whether the wind picks up a little bit, or the temperature drops a little bit, or you see a cloud on the horizon when you’re desperate for water – it gives you an energy and a will to carry on. But when you’re in the middle of something and you can’t see an end to it, which happened to me about twice, those were the times I found hardest.

What were the high points?
The sun rising every morning, sun setting every night. We had some incredible moments. We saw pilot whales swimming right alongside us, you could touch them. Some incredible things. We saw a baby dolphin taken by a shark in mind-air. When you’re outside in the wold for that long, you’re inevitably going to get moments of outstanding beauty.

What did you learn from this experience?
I think I probably learned that I don’t need to test myself anymore. I don’t feel the need to prove myself, I feel a little more comfortable that I’ve done it now, and I can put all of that behind me.