Lunchtime Meeting

Giovanni B. Biasutti was born in Trieste, on the North East coast of Italy. He started his career at sea at the age of 17 years on container vessels with the rank of Young Deck-boy. After graduating from Trieste’s Nautical Institute he served in the Italian Navy for two years as a diver. He continued his life at sea as a junior officer on modern full-container and ro-ro ships. 

In 1991 he got the opportunity to sail in the Antarctic waters on a research vessel engaged in seismic surveys, bathymetry and oceanography, named OGS Explora, on this vessel he spent one whole year between the Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea. In 1995 he got his first command on an Ocean going tug boat and in 1996 he started his experience on passenger ships on the former Lindblad Explorer, sailing to Antarctica, the Amazon River and the Arctic. For over 25 years he has completed over 200 expeditions to both Polar Regions, including a number of North West passages, the first circumnavigation of James Clark Ross Island and contributed to the hydrographic survey of a number of previously uncharted waters. He retired from active command in 2012 to provide services as Ice Pilot for the last 5 years before being trained as Sea Pilot on the Thames under the Port of London Authority.

In his career, Giovanni has been interviewed twice by the Telegraph and once by the Daily Mail and several times by other minor newspapers. For his achievements, Giovanni has been acknowledged in a renown BBC travel book.