Historians
Historians
There’s the archeologist who spent 16 years directing the excavation of a Viking site in Norway. The traveling professor spending the summer in antiquity sharing sites of ancient Greek commerce. Or the writer who just finished another book on the conquest of the Caribbean.
Lindblad Expeditions staffs explorations of cultural capitals with talented historians who are passionate about sharing the places and people they’ve dedicated their lives to studying. They bring to life regions guests explore by sharing the lore, legends, and a running dialog of on-the-spot commentary. It adds context to every journey, and turns what would otherwise be a string of intriguing days into a holistic narrative that takes guests through time and shows them how and why things are the way they are.
Even in areas as wild as Antarctica and the Arctic, the historical prospective they provide gives a framework to consider mankind’s relationship to both poles today. And combined with the tools for exploration, they give guests an enduring picture of each region. For example, it’s one thing to hear that French explore Jean-BaptisteCharcot brought hundreds of cases of wine with him on his exploratory journey to Antarctica. It’s another to hear it, and then look up at a video monitor to see a video shot beneath the bow of the ship that shows a pile of 100-year-old bottles tossed over the side by Charcot’s crew.
There’s the archeologist who spent 16 years directing the excavation of a Viking site in Norway. The traveling professor spending the summer in antiquity sharing sites of ancient Greek commerce. Or the writer who just finished another book on the conquest of the Caribbean. ...
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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
Stephen was born in Singapore but 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. This fascination led Stephen to take part in groundbreaking excavations in and around Stonehenge in 2007 and 2008 and, since then, his work has embraced archaeology and history and the sharing of the stories they tell. As well as researching elements of all periods of European history, he has led investigations into the history of the New Forest National Park in England and studied more than one thousand First World War shipwrecks lost in the English Channel. Among his most extraordinary discoveries are two German destroyers, which had been abandoned in the middle of a Royal Navy base in the 1920s and completely forgotten. 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. He is a trustee for the Coastal Forces Heritage Trust, who commemorate the Royal Navy’s Motor Torpedo Boats and Motor Gun Boats. Stephen is well-traveled; after graduating he spent four years in Japan and made the most of the journey back to the U.K. by traveling across land and spending time in each country on route. He has extensively explored Europe and likes nothing more than loading up his bicycle and visiting another country.
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
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
Bob St. George
Bob is a native of Massachusetts and has lived in Connecticut, Maine, the Florida Keys, New Mexico, Philadelphia, California, and Colorado, where he currently resides with his wife. He began his career in education as an Outward Bound instructor and course director before transitioning to the classroom of independent schools. Bob is a retired educator with more than 30 years of teaching experience and leading students on adventures in the wilderness and abroad. He has expertise in the history of the United States, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. He is widely traveled and is dedicated to continued learning and exploring. He holds degrees from Trinity College in Connecticut and the University of Pennsylvania. Bob believes that understanding the history of a region involves the analysis and comprehension of the art, architecture, literature, music, and primary source material of the time period, not just facts and dates. Bob enjoys spending time with his family, sailing, hiking, mountain biking, climbing, riding horses, skiing, traveling, and playing sports.
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 to so many wonderful places in the world; from the Himalayan Mountains to the Amazon rainforests. Pelin finally settled in Chilean Patagonia in 2013 where she has worked 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 other words, she caught “Polar Fever”. 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
Anna Webster
Anna's love for nature and wildlife can be traced back to her upbringing, where she spent her childhood exploring the diverse landscapes of Scotland. From the dramatic mountains of the highlands to the beautiful bays and beaches found along the coast, Scotland's beauty inspired an appreciation and wonder for the natural world of Anna. School trips spent exploring the many ancient ruins and castles of Scotland stirred Anna's curiosity in politics and history, and she went on to gain a First-Class Honors in International Relations. After working as a policy intern in the Colombian Government, Anna went on to join the UK Civil Service where she worked in the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland. She also spent time in the Cabinet Office working as a Policy Advisor on Brexit. Anna is particularly interested in how history and politics influence culture and identity, and she loves to share these insights with guests. In her spare time, Anna likes to read, write, and explore her local area on the West Coast of Scotland
Historian
Joe Rottman
Joe is a Colorado native. His love for the outdoors and adventure started early. Growing up mountain climbing, camping, skiing, and kayaking. While in college he became a rafting guide, rodeo bull rider, skydiver, and forest fire fighter in Alaska. Joe has summited over fifty peaks above 14,000 feet in elevation. He has led hundreds of whitewater raft trips including two down the Grand Canyon. After college he worked as a licensed structural engineer and became Supervisor of Engineering Services for the United States Antarctic Program. In Antarctica he became a leader on the US-New Zealand Antarctic search and rescue team. More recently he worked as a long-range planner for the US Arctic and Antarctic stations. This included design work for both South Pole Station and Summit Station in Greenland. Joe has worked fourteen seasons at the South Pole. He has been to all seven continents and has circled the globe several times. Currently he is an expedition guide/lecture in the Arctic and Antarctic. He is also a commercial pilot with multiengine and seaplane ratings.
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
Matthew Whyte
Born and raised in the south of Ireland, Matthew Whyte is an Art Historian specializing in the visual and cultural history of Italy from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. He has lectured in University College Cork (UCC) since 2014, where he is also in the final stages of his doctoral research in the History of Art Department. His present research focuses on fifteenth-century Italian sculpture, assessing the impact of medieval visual principles on the development of style and the religious context which drove this cultural interaction. Matthew completed an undergraduate degree in History of Art and Philosophy in 2014 and a Masters in Renaissance Art History in 2017. His current doctoral research frequently takes him to cultural sites, research institutes, and archives across Italy. He teaches across all areas of Western Art History, with an emphasis on the historical, cultural, political, and ideological circumstances in which art and architecture was produced. Matthew has most recently presented his research at conferences organized by the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) and the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes in London. As part of his teaching activities, he frequently leads study trips in cultural sites across Europe, and he has participated in cultural expedition-based tourism in the Mediterranean. Outside art and history, Matthew's personal passion lies in cooking - for him, learning about and sampling local cuisine is one of the most joyous parts of travel.
Historian
Tom Heffernan
Tom, a native of New York City, who has had a life-long passion for travel and exploration, is the Kenneth Curry Professor of Humanities at the University of Tennessee and the founding Director of the university’s Humanities Center. His areas of interest are anthropology of religions and historical linguistics. Tom’s BA is from Manhattan College and his Ph.D. from Cambridge University. His Ph.D. studies were on Latin church histories and ancient Greek biography. Tom did post-doctoral work at Harvard University in the study of ancient manuscripts. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters LHD ( honoris causa ) from Manhattan College in 2008. Tom has taught in the U.S. and Europe. He has received numerous fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is the author of sixty essays and six books. His most recent a study of the conflict between the Roman state and early Christianity, The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, for which he received the prestigious Modern Language Association Prize for best Scholarly Edition for 2013. Tom has received the Alumni Outstanding Teaching Citation by the University of Tennessee, and the Alexander Prize in 2012, the most significant research and teaching award presented by the University. Tom teaches every summer at Cambridge University which also allows him access to English and European archives. He has appeared on National Public Radio and local television. Tom is married and has a daughter. He has worked with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic since 1991 and has loved every minute of it.
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