National Geographic Endurance

Born in the Falkland Islands, Mensun Bound was the Triton Fellow in Maritime Archaeology at St Peter’s College, Oxford, and the director of the first academic unit for underwater archaeology in England. Known as the “Indiana Jones of the Deep”, Bound has conducted wreck surveys and excavations all over the world in a career that spanned 40 years.

During that time he excavated one of the oldest known shipwrecks (600 BC) and, in 1997, he used saturation diving methods to carry out the deepest shipwreck excavation there has ever been.  Twelve museums around the globe hold permanent displays of artefacts raised by Bound. His work has been the focus of numerous documentaries including a 4-part series by the Discovery Channel entitled ‘Lost Ships’.  In 2019 Bound stunned the world with his discovery of Admiral von Spee’s  flagship, Scharnhorst which had been lost in battle during World War One.  That same year Bound was Director of Exploration for the fist search to find Shackleton’s Endurance which ended in disaster when their Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) imploded from pressure and their principal search vehicle, a Hugin-class Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) disappeared without trace.  In 2022 the search resumed under the auspices of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust with Bound in the same role.  On 5 March the Endurance was found and, as predicted by Bound, it was upright, largely intact, proud of the seabed and in an excellent state of preservation.

Acclaimed documentary photographer Chris Rainier specializes in highlighting endangered cultures and traditional languages around the globe. In 2002, he received the Lowell Thomas Award from The Explorers Club for his efforts in cultural preservation and was elected in 2014 as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London, where he specializes in cultural preservation. During his continued tenure with the National Geographic Society as a National Geographic Fellow and Explorer, he has been the co-founder and co-director of the Enduring Voices Project and director of the All-Roads Photography Program, both designed to support indigenous groups desiring to document their traditional cultures and create sustainable solutions to preserve the planet in the 21st century.

Rainier also served as a cultural editor and photographer for National Geographic Traveler magazine for over 18 years. Today he directs The Cultural Sanctuaries Foundation, whose mission is to create legally protected cultural zones around the globe that protect both traditional knowledge as well as the biodiversity the communities are guardians of. In the early 1980s, Chris served as the last assistant for famed photographer Ansel Adams. The two worked together to amplify the use of art photography as a social tool, ultimately helping to preserve threatened wilderness areas and national parks in the United States.

Rainier has traveled extensively across the globe, from South America to the South Pacific, Antarctica and the Russian Arctic, and beyond. He was one of the first journalists to journey to the Russian North Pole aboard a Russian icebreaker when the Soviet Union ended. Since then, Chris has travelled extensively on National Geographic Expeditions on the Lindblad ships as well on the Jet Expeditions. Chris has a deep passion for teaching photography, particularly for the National Geographic Expeditions for the past 20 years.

Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Rich Reid has specialized in environmental and adventure photography for over three decades. On assignment with National Geographic Adventure, he cycled Alaska’s Inside Passage by ferry and explored California’s Gaviota Coast by bike and kayak. North American Nature Photography Association elected Rich as a Fellow for his significant contributions to nature photography, and he was a finalist for the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his time-lapse video documenting forest fire ecology.

His start in photography was accepting the full-time positions as photo editor for the college yearbook and daily newspaper while pursuing his business economics degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. This is where his love of the natural world and art merged to create a lifelong passion for the environment. His work to advocate the preservation of the Gaviota Coast in Southern California was highlighted in National Geographic magazine titled ‘New Park for California Coast?’ Alaska captured Rich’s imagination early in his life as a camping guide leading guests throughout the state photographing wildlife and landscapes from the temperate rain forest to the arctic tundra. He has shared his photography passion as an Alaskan tour operator, Visual Journalism instructor at Brooks Institute in California, and now as a National Geographic photographer with Lindblad Expeditions.

Rich has served on photo expeditions to Antarctica, South Georgia, the Falklands, Svalbard, Galapagos, British Columbia, and the Columbia and Snake Rivers. When not aboard, Rich is using his multimedia skills to preserve open spaces with non-profit organizations and teaching students the fundamentals of garden-based learning. He is based in Ojai, California.