Variety is the spice of life for intrepid Peter
Lifestyle - Peter Vine’s career as a marine biologist took him all over the globe, gaining and sharing expertise on subjects from conserving coral reefs to setting up fish farms. The Clifden resident has also been involved in publishing and film-making, with one of his films earning an Oscar nomination. Some of his global adventures have now been captured in a new book, as JUDY MURPHY learns.
During Peter Vine’s primary school days in England, an insightful teacher remarked in one end-of-term report that the youngster had such a keen sense of adventure he should have been born two centuries earlier, at a time when England was on a mission to explore the globe.
Peter, who celebrated his 75th birthday recently, laughs at the memory. The teacher’s assessment was spot-on – although being born in the 20th century proved to be no obstacle to Peter living an action-packed life. As a marine biologist who has worked in more than 30 countries, from the South Sea Islands to the United Arab Emirates, the Seychelles to New Zealand, he’s witnessed some of the world’s most extraordinary cultures and wildlife. A modern-day renaissance man, his career has spanned scientific research, book publishing, film production and lecturing. Among the universities he lectured in was UCG where he met his future wife, Clifden woman Paula Casey, in 1971.
Peter had finished his PhD in Swansea University and was aware that Ireland’s deep Atlantic waters remained relatively unexplored, offering a unique opportunity to further his career. His professor in Swansea contacted the head of UCG’s Zoology Department Professor Pádraig Ó Céidigh, who had met Peter previously at a social event in Salthill. Without even applying, he got a post-doctoral job in UCG.
Shortly after he moved over, the British Army opened fire on civil rights protesters in Derry in January 1972, in what became known in Bloody Sunday. The care taken of this young Englishman by his new friends in Galway is captured in Peter’s new book Spirorbis: Stories from My Life which has just been published by Letterfrack-based Artisan House.
He points out that Spirorbis isn’t an autobiography, more a collection of events and recollections from his action-packed and travel-filled career. Its beautiful photographs capture some of his great passions – deep-sea diving, sailing, travel and film.
The book’s title comes from “the tiny tube worms that live on rocks, shells, weeds, boats, marine structures and drifting objects”, as he explains in its opening chapter. Collectively, these are known as Spirorbis and there are many different types. Peter did his PhD on spirorbids in New Zealand, Hawaii and the Red Sea, and has had a genus of the family – Vinearia – named after him. He credits his professor at Swansea University, Wyn Knight-Jones, and these creatures with earning him the title of ‘Dr’.
This was a significant achievement for a ‘slow burner’ who had been in the least academic stream of his grammar school for five years. Peter’s intelligence was overlooked for those five years because he was regarded “as a renegade”. However, he defied expectations – and then some.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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