Big earner! “Albie” the Wandering Albatross, photograph by Beate Hölscher

In January last year the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project held auctions towards ridding Marion Island of its albatross-killing mice aboard the MSC Musica during the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage.  Following this success, and with the essential help of several of its passionate supporters, the Project has been the beneficiary of similar auctions held aboard several Antarctic expedition vessels over the last two summer seasons.  One such ship, Compagnie du Ponant‘s Le Commandant Charcot, recently held an onboard auction while sailing from Hobart, Tasmania to Cape Town, South Africa, raising USD32 500.  With additional donations, hectare sponsorships and sales, the total raised for the MFM Project aboard the ship was USD36 135, equivalent at the time of posting to a little over R617 076.

You get to visit the bridge and be photographed at the wheel! Petra Glardon (left) and Alain Bidart auction an “experience”, photograph by Lucia Sala

Petra Glardon, Expedition Guide aboard Le Commandant Charcot, writes “To prepare for the auction we held lectures about eradication programmes at Macquarie Island (in English) and Ȋle Amsterdam (in French), both given by people directly involved in the successful eradication programmes on those two islands.  A talk about the MFM Project was live streamed from South Africa prior to the auction by Sue Tonin, MFM Assistant Project Manager, when the ship was in the general vicinity of Marion Island, with one of the ship’s naturalists giving a live translation for our French-speaking passengers via audio guides.”

VIP on the bridge! A calm sea in the Southern Ocean as Albie joins the watch, photograph by Petra Glardon

Petra and her husband, Alain Bidart, Assistant Expedition Leader, also raised interest in the forthcoming auction among the 184 passengers by displaying and photographing “Albie”, a Wandering Albatross mascot, around Le Commandant Charcot on its Hobart to Cape Town voyage, including on the bridge being held by the ship’s Captain Stanislas Devorsine.  Albie was especially designed and made for the auction by Barbara Jordaan of Quirky Kids Creations, and travelled by air and ship to join Le Commandant Charcot in Argentina’s Ushuaia, at the southern tip of South America.

Petra and Alain’s sterling efforts were well-rewarded, with Albie, the last item to be auctioned, proving to be the “hot ticket item” by contributing a substantial portion to the auction’s total proceeds.  The 100 or so photos taken of the mascot throughout the voyage were loaded as a PowerPoint presentation onto a memory stick and slipped into its little backpack as a unique memory of the trip for the successful bidder.

A total of 11 items was auctioned, ranging from photo and art prints by Ian Dawson and Leigh Wolfaardt, to books, especially commissioned original paintings, silver and gold jewellery and two onboard and post-cruise “experiences”.  Most of the items had been donated or produced at cost and, to reach Hobart in time for the 17 February sailing, were safely tucked away in the luggage of willing travellers, thus saving on expensive international courier charges.

Brazilian-based Kitty Harvill works on her “Mersey River Majesty” for the auction, photograph by Christoph Hrdina

Two auction paintings, of a Tasmanian woodland scene beside the Mersey River and of two Emperor Penguin chicks on Snow Hill Island, were donated by Kitty Harvill, a long-term project supporter, who says “It’s so rewarding to see my artwork working for this cause.  It’s an honour to be a part of this effort for the Mouse-Free Marion Project, and I appreciate the opportunity to participate with my time and talent.”  Kitty used two photographs taken and kindly supplied by Laurie Smaglick Johnson for her inspiration.

Silver and gold Wandering Albatross pendant by Tobias Beyers, photograph by Beate Hölscher

A jewellery item was exclusively made for the auction by Tobias Beyers, a silver and goldsmith based in Pretoria, who charged only for the cost of the precious metals used.  His pendant, depicting a Wandering Albatross below a golden sun, went to partners Pia Trunzer and Jascha Marie Lang, who most generously then added USD2000 to their winning bid!

Pia Trunzer is clearly delighted with her Wandering Albatross pendant, photograph by Deborah Pardo

The Marion Island photobook was auctioned in its absence, with only its cover displayed on screen, photograph by Beate Hölscher

A 68-page photobook entitled “The Human History of a Beleaguered Island.  Told by way of rare and intriguing historical photographs”, especially compiled by John Cooper, MFM Project’s volunteer News Correspondent, unfortunately was not printed in time to reach the ship.  Nevertheless, its projected cover page at the auction still raised USD1000 on the promise that the book will follow the successful bidders to their home in Switzerland – who kindly added an extra USD100 when paying after the auction.

From left: Sophie and May Warner, SANCCOB Resource Developer Jacqueline du Plessis, and Ian and Grace Warner at the SANCCOB rehabilitation facility, photograph by John Cooper

A day after the Le Commandant Charcot docked in Cape Town on 16 March 2026, the four members of the Warner family, from Melbourne, Australia, were taken on their winning experience, the “Great Penguin Tour”.  Led by John Cooper and Sue Tonin, the outing started with a guided tour of the SANCCOB Foundation’s rehabilitation facility for the Critically Endangered African Penguin.  The family was shown how abandoned eggs are incubated and chicks raised from hatching, as well as the pens for oiled and injured birds, where they watched penguins being fed by hand.  The excursion then headed south along the Cape Peninsula to visit the mainland penguin colony at Boulders Beach, part of the Table Mountain National Park, where birds incubating eggs, brooding small chicks, moulting, and swimming in the sea were seen.

The penguin tours were a fitting end to what has been a most rewarding exercise for the MFM Project, by not only raising much-needed funds, but also spreading the word among the ship’s passengers and crew and working with new project supporters.  You are all much valued ambassadors for a “rewilded” Marion Island!

From left: Florence Kuyper, Expedition Leader; Petra Glardon, Expedition Guide; Sue Tonin, MFM Assistant Project Manager; Robyn Adams, Communications Officer and Project Assistant; and Alain Bidart, Assistant Expedition Leader meet up aboard Le Commandant Charcot on the day it docked in Cape Town, photograph from Petra Glardon

Thanks are due to Captain Stanislas Devorsine (who kindly provided a damaged small boat propellor for the auction); Florence Kuyper, Expedition Leader; Alain Bidart, Assistant Expedition Leader; and Petra Glardon and Deborah Pardo, Expedition Guides, aboard Le Commandant Charcot for accommodating and so successfully organising and holding the MFM Project auction during its one-month long Hobart to Cape Town leg across the southern Indian Ocean.  Laurie Smaglick Johnson was essential in acting as a link between the project team and those who facilitated and conducted the onboard auction.  She also generously sponsored the making of Albie.  The couriers who transported auction items to Hobart were Pat and Rob Kerr, and Chris Jones kindly took Albie to Ushuaia. To join the ship  Jacqueline du Plessis donated her time to give the tour of the SANCCOB Foundation.  Tobias Beyers, Ian Dawson, Kitty Harvill, Barbara Jordaan, Patrick Mavros, Beverly and Peter Pickford and Leigh Wolfaardt donated or produced auction items at cost.  The whole MFM Project team is deeply grateful to all these individuals for their support, which was freely given in support of our restoration mission for Marion Island.

John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 31 March 2026

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Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot among floating ice. The 31 757-ton and 150-m long icebreaker is named after French polar scientist Jean-Baptiste Charcot; it can carry a maximum of 245 passengers. Delivered in 2021, the ship is the first hybrid electric polar exploration vessel powered by liquefied natural gas

The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean.  The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.  Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate.  For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.