The Princess of the Bottom of the World (Episode 6): Course Corrections

By Dan Linehan

Provocative, edgy, humorous, racy, thought-provoking, and full of wonder all describe The Princess of the Bottom of the World, a seven-episode series of multimedia novellas focusing on the natural world and international adventure.

Though a work of fiction, The Princess of the Bottom of the World is based on the author’s true adventures to Antarctica and the surrounding regions, time living abroad in Argentina, work with science and engineering, and nearly two decades of professional writing about the only world that we can call home.

About Episode 6:

Scott infiltrates a seaport to learn more about the shipwreck but also to track down Cassandra. They meet when she returns from sea, but the outcome crushes him. This sets into motion events that he never could have expected.

Scott meets Melina, an Argentine filmmaker traveling on assignment. Their attraction is instant. Later, the passionate couple makes a wild film documenting the crazy love stories that ignited their romance. The episode contains photos and connects to an online Multimedia Traveling Companion that includes additional photos, video footage, and more behind-the-scenes materials.

Praise for The Princess of the Bottom of the World:

“I loved going on the journey with Scott and the group. I was brought so close to the land and the wildlife by Scott’s descriptions, which can only be accomplished by someone with a heart invested in them. This beautiful travelogue swept me away.” —Mary Ackerman (nurse practitioner and book club member)

“I especially like Melina and Cassandra, who were both hard working, smart, personable, independent, risk takers, passionate, uninhibited, playful, and lived in the moment.” —Connie Clark (dean of health sciences and book club member)

“This is a great story! It was an adventure from the start! I like Scott, young and old, for his gumption and romanticism and resourcefulness and adventuresomeness, his humor and playfulness, his combination of regard for safety and protocols with his occasional interest in ignoring those very things. I like his sensuality and brains.” —Mary Rakow (author and editor)

“The Princess of the Bottom of the World reads like a collaboration between Paul Theroux, Rachel Carson, and Robert James Waller.” —Dan Bergmann (scientist and educator)

“Scott’s narrative voice is compelling, and imparts so much personality that I felt like I had gone on the expedition with him. And I was definitely craving Malbec (one of my favorite wines, too) the entire time!” —Deborah Steinberg (writer and editor)

“It’s really wonderful how strongly you express Scott’s emotions and excitement over every glacier. And all his descriptions are so vivid, right down to the feathers of the black-browed albatross. Whew, it’s a powerful ending and I am still crying!” —Gail Cheeseman (cofounder of Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris)

About the series:

Scott Sullivan must travel to the coldest and most remote place on Earth to warm his heart to love. He journeys to Antarctica and other distant regions to study and write about wildlife and environmental issues. For far too long he has put his personal life on ice.

Nothing could have prepared him for the spellbinding beauty and heart-wrenching reality he encounters. During the voyage he befriends a quirky crew member who begins the melting process on his heart. In his search to better understand the world, he unexpectedly finds a better understanding of himself.

But at the end of the voyage, Scott and Cassandra are forced to go their separate ways. When a shipwreck draws them back together, Scott makes his own course correction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan Linehan
• Release date: Jul 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463476376

Dan Linehan

In 2000, Dan Linehan switched careers from scientific researcher and engineer to fulltime writer and editor. Focusing on creativity, education, and outreach using multiplatform storytelling, he is widely published—in many forms of writing that include poetry and fiction—and has won awards for his work. Video, photography, and other visualizations often play important roles.He has authored two highly illustrated nonfiction books that cover historical and technological aspects of aerospace and space tourism, Burt Rutan's Race to Space: The Magician of Mojave and His Flying Innovations (Zenith Press, 2011) and SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History (Zenith Press, 2008), which has a foreword by science fiction legend Sir Arthur C. Clarke.Dan has worked for a film studio, a literary journal, a national laboratory, and leading educational publishers. As a writer, he explored Antarctica and the surrounding regions from 2006 to 2007 and lived in Argentina from 2013 to 2014.

Book preview

Praise for The Princess of the Bottom of the World

I loved going on the journey with Scott and the group. I was brought so close to the land and the wildlife by Scott’s descriptions, which can only be accomplished by someone with a heart invested in them. This beautiful travelogue swept me away.

—Mary Ackerman (nurse practitioner and book club member)

I especially like Melina and Cassandra, who were both hard working, smart, personable, independent, risk takers, passionate, uninhibited, playful, and lived in the moment.

—Connie Clark (dean of health sciences and book club member)

This is a great story! It was an adventure from the start! I like Scott, young and old, for his gumption and romanticism and resourcefulness and adventuresomeness, his humor and playfulness, his combination of regard for safety and protocols with his occasional interest in ignoring those very things. I like his sensuality and brains.

—Mary Rakow (author and editor)

"The Princess of the Bottom of the World reads like a collaboration between Paul Theroux, Rachel Carson, and Robert James Waller."

—Dan Bergmann (scientist and educator)

Scott’s narrative voice is compelling, and imparts so much personality that I felt like I had gone on the expedition with him. And I was definitely craving Malbec (one of my favorite wines, too) the entire time!

—Deborah Steinberg (writer and editor)

"In my preschool classroom, nature plays a big part of the curriculum. I was pleased to see that you included some stories that reflected Scott’s childhood interest in nature. We need to work hard to cultivate young children’s interest in nature so they will become better caretakers of our planet. So after reading The Princess of the Bottom of the World, I’ll be working on how to appropriately include climate change in the curriculum."

—Pat Padilla (teacher and book club member)

It’s really wonderful how strongly you express Scott’s emotions and excitement over every glacier. And all his descriptions are so vivid, right down to the feathers of the black-browed albatross. Whew, it’s a powerful ending and I am still crying!

—Gail Cheeseman (cofounder of Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris)

The Princess of the Bottom of the World

Episode 6: Course Corrections

by Dan Linehan

Over the years working on The Princess of the Bottom of the World, I've had help in many ways from many people. Thank you all! I wish to dedicate this work to poet and writing instructor David Gitin. His teaching and guidance allowed me to emerge as a writer. I miss my good friend.

List of Episodes

Episode 1: Journey to the Bottom of the World

Episode 2: Islands of Penguins

Episode 3: Glaciers, Bones, and Ghost Towns

Episode 4: Antarctica, Ho!

Episode 5: Patagonia and the World of Waterfalls

Episode 6: Course Corrections

Episode 7: When the Journey Never Ended

Book Video Trailer

The Princess of the Bottom of the World

Though a work of fiction, The Princess of the Bottom of the World is a seven-episode multimedia serial novel based on the author’s true adventures to Antarctica and the surrounding regions, time living abroad in Argentina, work with science and engineering, and nearly two decades of professional writing about the only world that we can call home.

This episode is best read with an image capable reader. Photos in high resolution are available online by visiting the Multimedia Traveling Companion, which also includes additional photos, historical video footage, and more behind-the-scenes materials. It is also linked to tags in the text: [p] for photos, [s] for songs, and [v] for videos.

The series is not intended for all ages. Episodes can contain strong language, mature situations and themes, and/or sexual content.

Cover photo by Dan Linehan

Cover and logo designs by James Linehan

Spanish translation assistance by Gisela Zunino (Buenos Aires)

Publication Acknowledgments

Excerpts: Beagle Channel, Buenos Aires, The Other Side of the Comet, and Hit Play (Homestead Review, 2015); Grytviken (Porter Gulch Review, 2015); Surfing on Rocks of Ice (Catamaran Literary Reader, 2015); An International Scene (Ping-Pong, 2015); and Fish, Frogs, and Alluvial Fans (Caustic Frolic, 2019).

Poems: Cats and Dogs (Monterey Poetry Review, 2007); Constellations (installation at Residencia Corazón, La Plata, Argentina, 2013); and Beagle Channel and Trece Fuegos (Homestead Review, 2007).

Photographs: Sunset in Beagle Channel and Street Art in Buenos Aires (Homestead Review, 2015); Dog in Ushuaia (Monterey Poetry Review, 2007); Elephant Seals and Zodiacs (Hilltromper, 2015); and Whale Tail (Otter 501: A webStory, 2012).

Version E6.08

Copyright 2019–2020 by Dan Linehan. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold, given away to other people, or shared in any other electronic manner. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

After a voyage to Antarctica, the ice-strengthened M/V Ushuaia [p] resupplies in a matter of hours to sail back across the Drake Passage (the roughest seas in the world) and return to Antarctica. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Praise

Title Page

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Blueprint to Infiltrate a Port

Chapter 2: Ships, Ships, Ships in the Night

Chapter 3: Cutthroat and Other Shipwrecks

Chapter 4: Busy Getting Busy

Chapter 5: Filmmakers, Pirates, and Anarchists

Chapter 6: Be My Valentine

Chapter 7: Aerial Views

Map: Argentina

Index and Multimedia Traveling Companion

About the Series and Episodes

Author Bio and More Info

1 / The Blueprint to Infiltrate a Port

Because people can enter and exit Argentina through Puerto Ushuaia [p], access to the port is controlled and restricted. The superstructures of docked ships can be seen behind this guarded checkpoint. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

DAY 37: USHUAIA, ARGENTINA

I had eaten my first breakfast in Ushuaia at the same place—thirty-four days ago—the day I boarded the Southern Aurora. I made my plan for today as I ate. It was to run around like mad. I had to nail down the time the Southern Aurora would arrive with Cassandra, get a new hotel, find out when the Northsea passengers would arrive, track down as much information on the accident as possible, begin pitching a story about the accident to news outlets, and start writing the story to a point where all I needed to do was plug in some exciting details and a few gripping quotes from passenger interviews.

However, my toughest challenge was figuring out how to gain access to the port, which would be like getting into an airport terminal—past security screening—and reaching a departure gate without a ticket. And I had to do that twice. I could do this legitimately when the Northway arrived with the Northsea’s passengers if I was writing a story as a member of the press. But, meeting up with a woman who worked on one of the ships was not a reason that would easily float.

I didn’t have much time to tackle all this, so I had to get things moving fast and in parallel. An important thing for me to get in motion immediately was to find enough interesting details and background about Deception Island to hopefully gain an editor’s attention. Once I made contact, it could take a little while to hear back. So while I waited for responses, I planned to take care of all the other things I had to do. I decided to email Mac, the guide from my expedition who knew the cool sea stories and history of Antarctica. He was a nice guy and liked to talk. I just needed to catch him while he was not off somewhere exotic and remote. If he was away, then his response would come too late for me. I wrote down what I wanted to say as I finished eating and then began typing it on the hotel’s guest computer.

Hey Mac,

This is Scott Sullivan. I’m trying to write a story about the Northsea accident. There were 116 Americans on board and likely some from California. I’m in Ushuaia now and will be at the port when the passengers unload. I would like to do an email interview with you.

I’d refer to you as "a historian and guide, for California-based Ecological Expeditions, who visited Deception Island only two weeks prior to the Northsea accident."

If agreeable, here are the questions. Please try to answer as if you were talking to me. Sometimes words on a page don’t sound conversational. Several short sentences work much better than one long one. Also avoid pronouns like it, just use proper nouns like Deception Island.

Only your answers will appear in print, not my questions. Here goes:

1. Where were the rocks that the Northsea hit in relation to Deception Island?

2. Why is navigating through Neptune’s Bellows potentially difficult?

3. How wide is Neptune’s Bellows?

4. Describe Deception Island in terms of its volcano.

5.