Jungle team's water ceremony will honour Sir Peter

By CATHERINE MASTERS

Water from melted Antarctic icebergs will be mixed with South American river water as members of Sir Peter Blake's "jungle team" pay tribute to their slain friend and leader.

Five of Sir Peter's Seamaster crew left the boat about a month ago to explore the Casiquiare and Orinoco Rivers in Venezuela and were due to rendezvous with the rest of the team before Christmas.

Isolated and far from the tragedy, they felt yesterday that the reality of Sir Peter's death was only just beginning to sink in.

An e-mail from a jungle team member, travel doctor Marc Shaw, to work colleagues at the Worldwise travel health centre in Remuera describes the team's devastation on learning of the death of "larger than life" Sir Peter, who was shot dead during a raid on the Seamaster last Thursday.

Dr Shaw said: "The shock of the event is hitting us now and I am certain that none of us will be unaffected by the tragic event."

He said the team was down to three now as two had returned to help the Seamaster crew.

"We will stop at the bifurcation [division] of the two rivers and symbolically pour water from Antarctica into the rivers.

"This is something that Peter would have wanted and represents union, two worlds. We are also to plant a cross there as remembrance."

Seamaster crew member Rodger Moore told the Herald yesterday that the water had been collected from a melting iceberg for drinking when the boat was in Antarctic seas for three months this year.

It was stored on board the Seamaster in jerry cans for emergency supplies, and some was taken by jungle crew members.

"The jungle team must have had an inkling ... It was a nice thing to do, to take water from one of the coldest places in the world to one of the hottest."

Mr Moore said the crew left on board the Seamaster was itching to get out of the flat water of the Amazon River and go sailing in saltwater again.



Brazilian police yesterday arrested the last two suspects in the hunt for Blake's killers. The first step in the trial of the six so-called water rats accused of killing Blake and looting his yacht begins this week with the cross-examining of witnesses.

Mr Moore, who was pistol-whipped during the attack, said Brazil's legal system was convoluted and the crew had to be careful not to say anything which could prejudice the case.

"We have been advised to basically just say that Peter was an amazing man, which everyone knows, and we're deeply shocked, obviously."



Since the attack, crew members had been spending their time preparing to take the yacht back to sea. and sharing memories of Sir Peter.

They talked about him all the time, said Mr Moore.

"In fact, we were flicking through a few photographs of him ... Yeah, he was a good guy."

Sir Peter's body began its journey back to England yesterday on board a Brazilian Air Force plane and accompanied by three Seamaster crew. His funeral will be held on Saturday New Zealand time.

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