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Historians
Historians
Our historians add context to every destination, sharing tales of famous polar explorers, tracing the legends of the Vikings, or delving into mythology as we explore the temples of the ancient Greeks. They tell holistic narratives of the places we visit and connect the stories of neighboring destinations, bringing centuries-old sites to life and putting the modern day into perspective—whether they’re guiding you through prehistoric sites in Scotland or sharing insights into the Khmer empire that built Angkor Wat.
We also invite guest speakers to join us in certain destinations, including professors, scholars, and even former prime ministers.
Our historians add context to every destination, sharing tales of famous polar explorers, tracing the legends of the Vikings, or delving into mythology as we explore the temples of the ancient Greeks. They tell holistic narratives of the places we visit and connect the stories of neighboring destinations, bringing centuries-old sites to life and putting the modern day into perspective—whether they’re guiding you through prehistoric sites in Scotland or sharing insights into the Khmer empire that built Angkor Wat....
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Expedition staff are subject to change.
Meet our Historians
Historian
Rebecca Ingram
A research associate and archivist with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA), Rebecca Ingram has studied ancient Mediterranean seafaring and trade since 2000. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. through the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University. Rebecca spent several years conducting archaeological research in the eastern Mediterranean, primarily Turkey. She has studied and documented a wide range of artifacts, including the 400-year-old Ottoman sultan’s galley, Kadırga, on display in the Istanbul Naval Museum, and glass beads from the Late Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck, housed in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Between 2005 and 2008, she worked year-round with the INA team at the Theodosian Harbor excavations at Yenikapı in Istanbul, Turkey, a fascinating site yielding 37 Byzantine shipwrecks. Growing up in an Air Force family, Rebecca developed a passion for travel and cultural exchange at a young age. She spent her junior year of high school as an exchange student in Hannover, Germany, and is conversant in German and Turkish. Rebecca’s eclectic experience in recent years includes creating exhibits for a natural history museum, managing museum and archival collections, and editing for an academic journal. As a historian for Lindblad in the Mediterranean, Rebecca looks forward to sharing her unique perspective on the history, archaeology, and culture of this fascinating region.
Historian
Stephen Fisher
Born in Singapore, Stephen spent his early childhood on British Forces bases in Germany and his teens in the iconic World Heritage Site of Stonehenge. The combination of armored cars behind the school playground and the view of 4,000-year-old burial mounds from his bedroom window created a deep fascination with history, which he has made into his profession. Living inside a World Heritage Site led Stephen to take part in groundbreaking excavations in and around Stonehenge in 2007 and 2008 and, ever since then, his work has embraced archaeology and history and sharing the stories they tell. Specializing in military history and maritime archaeology, previous projects have included investigations into more than one thousand shipwrecks in the English Channel, including the extraordinary discovery of two German warships in the middle of a Royal Navy dockyard. Between 2019 and 2021 he was the historian and archaeologist during the restoration of the world’s last surviving Landing Craft Tank that served at Normandy during Operation Overlord. A recognized expert on D-Day, Stephen has extensively investigated the extent of surviving D-Day infrastructure on England’s south coast and the work of the landing craft that sailed from there. As well as researching elements of all periods of European history, he has also studied Far Eastern history and spent nearly four years living in Japan. Stephen currently splits his time between Lindblad expeditions, archaeological surveys of England’s National Parks, and writing books. When he has the time, nothing pleases him more than hopping on his bicycle and cycling around Europe.
Historian
Robert Heacock
Robert is a native of eastern Washington and an avid outdoorsman who enjoys exploring and sharing the splendor of the Pacific Northwest with others, whether it is by foot, auto, or boat. His work career was in agribusiness, insurance claims/Special Investigations, and project management. A graduate of Washington State University, Robert is also familiar with the region’s vast agriculture production and exporting. He has been “fiddling around” since as early as 1997 with the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Aside from that of the Native Americans, the story of Lewis and Clark is one of America’ s great adventures and is the first story in the Pacific Northwest. This has naturally led to interest in other subjects, such as Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, early maritime explorers, the vision and desperation of the Astorians, and the founding of the fur trade, as well as geology and the Ice Age floods. Robert feels that simply reading about a subject is often not enough; it is often necessary to see where an event occurred, which has enhanced his local explorations and taken him on eight European trips. Robert has served as president of the Washington chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. and is a frequent contributor to the Washington chapter’s LCTHF newsletter, Worthy of Notice . He is also the author of Wind hard from the west: The Lewis and Clark Expedition on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Robert resides in Liberty Lake near Spokane, Washington with his wife Melanie, and has taught most of his eight grandchildren the art of eating ice cream.
Historian
Josh Peck
A native Falkland Islander, Josh has always been fascinated by the natural world and exploring new destinations. Growing up in the wildlife haven of the Falklands - with the polar regions on his doorstep - Josh has spent most of his life living alongside penguins, seals and whales, most recently in South Georgia where he was based for 4 months working for the Government of South Georgia. Josh is used to living and working in remote locations and on isolated islands, travelling and working extensively around the world from the USA and Canada to Iceland, Zambia and Poland. Following on from obtaining degrees in History and Politics in Bristol and London in the United Kingdom, Josh returned home to the Falkland Islands to pursue his passion for wildlife and wild places, co-founding a local tour company with two childhood friends in 2016. Focusing on nature and historical tours, Josh worked for the following four seasons guiding and sharing his love of his home with the many guests that visited. An avid photographer and an international footballer (soccer), he is always looking for new experiences and places to visit to broaden his horizons and is looking forward to the next adventures with Lindblad Expeditions.
Historian
Gerard Baker
Gerard Baker is a BBC presenter and documentary maker, having made more than 30 radio and television documentaries in the past 25 years from Antarctica to the Himalaya. A renowned author, Gerard has published 15 books on subjects as wide as beekeeping to books for the Great British Bake Off. As a historian, he shares his love of the destinations we travel to with passion and clarity. As a naturalist with degrees in Botany, Zoology and Environmental Management, he also shares a love of the natural world and is well placed to interpret on shore within all the zones in which we travel. Gerard has spent more than 4000 nights on the Antarctic continent as a multiple winterer, working in logistics and conservation. When at home, he keeps bees and breeds fox red Labradors.
Historian
Karin Murray-Bergquist
Karin Murray-Bergquist is a folklore PhD student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, focusing on nautical folklore and ghost ship legends around the province, as well as interactions between the natural and the supernatural, particularly with regard to fantastical geographies. The most recent iteration of her research is a digital map of these legends which is an ongoing project. Previously, Karin studied social anthropology at Dalhousie University, and obtained an MA in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies at the University of Iceland, with a focus on the role of sea mammals in medieval literature. A writer, actor, stained glass and watercolor artist, and SCUBA diver, Karin's interests tend to be eclectic. The endeavors in which she is currently engaged include an ocean history and folklore podcast, The Deeps, as well as Terra Precognita, a map of original poems.
Historian
Pelin Asfuroglu
Pelin was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. Growing up in a very big city, she was amazed by the stories she read about the adventures of early explorers and mountain climbers who traveled to the most remote places in the world. She discovered her real passion for the great outdoors at age 17 when she first started paragliding. Thanks to the great extracurricular student activities offered in her university, she ended up spending most of her time paragliding, mountain climbing, caving and sailing. During the long summer holidays, she worked as a trekking/mountain guide in diverse locations throughout Turkey. Her love of outdoors has taken her so many wonderful places in the world; from the Himalayan Mountains to the Patagonian steppes. Pelin finally settled in Chilean Patagonia in 2013 where she has been working as an outdoor guide leading multi-day hiking and wildlife trips. Her interest in Polar Regions was kindled when she first traveled to Antarctica in 2019. In other words, she caught “Polar Fever”. Since 2021, she has been working most of the year on board expedition vessels both in Antarctica and the Arctic. Pelin holds a master’s degree in History from the University of Leiden. She specially is interested in Polar Exploration history and loves to share her knowledge with the guests.
Historian
Maria Intxaustegi
Maria Intxaustegi is an internationally awarded maritime archaeologist, naval historian, commercial diver, professional offshore sailor, and expedition guide from the Basque Country. An in fatigable researcher and passionate about knowledge, her specialty in history is the Modern Age with emphasis in shipwrecks from the 15th to the 19th century and the Age of Exploration. She has been diving and researching all over the world in different kinds of maritime history projects. In 2015, her master thesis about the Havana shipyard in the 18th century, was awarded with the Iberoamerican "Cortes de Cadiz" prize. When she is not diving in a shipwreck, researching, or writing a book she will probably be outdoors in nature, sailing in the ocean or hiking in the mountains. Her love for wildlife and nature inspires her to go one step further and during her Ph.D. she became a professional skipper. She already sailed around the Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters several times and in 2020 she received the award "Expedition of the Year" by the oldest exploration society of Spain for her sailing trip from Ushuaia to the Netherlands during 82 days without stops. Nowadays she combines her research with her other passion: Guiding expeditions, showing, and sharing all her knowledge and passion about the wonders of our blue planet.
Historian
Simone Edgar-Holmes
Simone grew up in New York City, Amsterdam, and Vermont, where striking historical architecture and stunning autumn foliage inspired her love for both natural and built environments. She combined these passions by approaching her studies of art and architectural history through an environmental perspective. Simone earned her undergraduate degree in Art History from Middlebury College in Vermont and spent a year abroad at the University of Oxford, where she researched English garden design and Dutch marine painting. Her love of travel brought her back to the United Kingdom to pursue a master's degree at The Court auld Institute of Arts, where she focused on colonial cartography and the architectural history of the Dutch and British empires. Simone is convinced that personally experiencing historic spaces and exploring cultural sites are the best ways to learn about the past and develop a deeper connection with the present. Aside from art and history, Simone holds a fascination with wildflower identification and botanical folklore. She is currently living in London, where she spends her free time volunteering at the Design Museum, singing in a folk choir, and joyfully dancing at Scottish group dances. On board, you can catch her browsing in the shipboard library and eagerly sharing book recommendations.
Historian
Douglas Kenck-Crispin
Doug Crispin is a historian who honed his craft at Portland State University (Hist. BA, MA) in Portland, Oregon. A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, he has been captivated by the exploits of exploration since he was a boy, and he has continued his professional career with that same infatuation. He is a filmmaker, journalist, and historical consultant who loves sharing the stories he discovers. Doug relishes researching documents at regional archives and burrowing through the back of musty used bookstores, but nothing compares to voyaging the same historic terrain, and seeing the sights as our predecessors saw them, from the perspective of the water line and beyond. Whether in Lewiston, Idaho, or Santiago, Chile, Doug likes to explore local breweries, wineries, and restaurants noted for their regional cuisines, so be sure to ask him for a recommendation! A seasoned traveler, Doug has extensively explored Southeast Asia, South America, and most recently, Belgium. When not investigating historic sites up and down the Columbia and Snake, Inland Passage, Antarctic, and all points beyond, you'll find him at his cabin on Puget Sound, shucking oysters, reading history books, and trying to figure out where D.B. Cooper stashed all that dough.
Historian
Udo Zoephel
Born and raised amidst the breathtaking landscapes of Bavaria, Germany, Udo's affinity for nature, mountains, and the sea was cultivated from a young age. Growing up amidst the Bavarian Lakes and mountains, he found solace and inspiration in the rugged beauty of his surroundings. From the outset, Udo's adventurous spirit led him to explore the great outdoors through trekking, hiking tours, sailing, diving, and kayaking. His love for exploration soon took him beyond the borders of his homeland to the farthest reaches of the planet, particularly the Arctic and Antarctic regions. In recent years, Udo has emerged as a prominent figure in polar exploration, often assuming leadership roles in various film projects, research endeavors, and expeditions. His expertise and experience have made him a trusted tour leader, guiding fellow adventurers through the icy wonders of the polar landscapes. In his exploratory pursuits, Udo draws inspiration from legendary figures like Tom Crean in Antarctica and Knud Rasmussen in the Arctic, whose indomitable spirits mirror his own quest for discovery and adventure. With each expedition, Udo continues to push the boundaries of exploration, unraveling the secrets of Earth's polar regions while inspiring others to embark on their own journeys of discovery.
Historian
Ailsa Mainman
English by birth, Ailsa grew up in Canada before returning to England to study archaeology. Most of her career has been spent researching and publishing aspects of the world-famous Viking discoveries made in York, although she has worked on excavations in many different countries and time periods. Ailsa has worked for Lindblad intermittently for many years and loves the ethos and the culture on board the ships. In recent years she has become a freelance researcher, continuing to lecture and write about archaeology while also writing fiction. Ailsa is a Research Associate at the University of York and at York Archaeological Trust and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Archaeology gives a great excuse to travel which is what she loves to do and, although she is based in the UK, she divides her time between home and family living in Canada and New Zealand.
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