Charles Mattheson Love was an learned geologist, esteemed anthropologist, intrepid explorer, vivid storyteller, all-around great guy, and my friend. I had lost touch with him in recent years and meant to reconnect with him. Now I will never get that chance again. I was saddened to learn that he had passed away last month at the age of 80. His obituary.
I thought back to the times I had spent with him, the wonderful and remote places around the world that I had traveled to with him, and the numerous fascinating stories he told -- many of which relate directly to this great voyage I am currently on. Charlie was a great storyteller; he had a way with words that brought to life the story he was telling so as to make you feel you were actually there.
I first heard of Charlie Love on my first trip to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) when I ran into some associates of his. I mentioned my fascination with the island and my desire to solve its great mysteries. They said, "Well then you should meet Charlie. He's a scientist currently doing research on the island. He has many of the answers you seek." I then desperately wanted to meet him and we even tried to set up a meeting but due to time constraints I was not able to meet him that time.
I did meet him later that year at the university in Wyoming where he was a professor and joined him on a geology tour of the Midwest, covering Utah, Wyoming, and ending in Yellowstone National Park and Montana. During this trip I got to know him, his intellectual acumen, and his storytelling skills.
Later I accompanied him on a trip to Peru, exploring the Inca civilization at Machu Picchu, and the much older civilization at Caral.
Finally I did another trip to Easter Island with Charlie. Charlie had already done much research on the geology of Easter Island and was well known to many of the islanders. Have you heard that Easter Island had many trees in the past? It was Charlie who first made that ground-breaking discovery. This time he was leading a tour group on the island. During the day would would explore some part of the island and the moai, and in the evenings I would sit with Charlie and discuss the theories of the mysteries of Easter Island, or listen to one of his many stories. By this time I had developed my own theories, which overlapped with Charlie's theories in some areas, but disagreed in others. In particular our theories differed markedly in the details of the method of transport of the gigantic moai statues[1].
Once I mentioned to Charlie that I wanted to visit Pitcairn Island and he said "I've been to Pitcairn but it was under less than happy circumstances." He then went on to tell his story. It took place many years ago, perhaps 20 or 30 years back. He had been working on Easter Island doing research there. After he was done he boarded a small sailboat heading to Tahiti, which would be a several week voyage. However soon after setting sail he fell seriously ill, perhaps a stomach virus, I'm not sure. After several days instead of recovering he just kept getting worse and he became weaker and weaker. Then disaster struck, the boat was caught in a severe storm. The wind and huge waves tossed the boat around violently. Charlie was on deck and was thrown against some object, cracking 3 of his ribs. Now the situation was dire. They were still hundreds of miles away from any island and Charlie was close to death. The nearest island was Pitcairn, so they plotted a new course and headed straight for Pitcairn. When they got close they radioed ahead that they had a critically injured passenger onboard in need of immediate medical treatment. Though he was barely conscious by then he vividly remembered the scene. He said a crew came out in a longboat to pick up Charlie and take him to the island for emergency medical treatment. The Pitcairn crew was being directed by a nimble barefoot woman with a mix of Polynesian and Caucasian features. He would later learn her name: Brenda Christian, a direct descendant of the mutineer Fletcher Christian. "Brenda Christian saved my life," Charlie said.
When I had a chance, I asked Brenda if she remembered my friend Charlie Love who had been on the island many years ago. Her eyes lit up immediately and said "Oh yes Charlie! He had 3 broken ribs!" and she smiled with clearly fond memories of Charlie. I looked at her with amazement at how good her memory was, and also smiled with her as I felt a many decades loop was finally closed.
[1] Once, toward the end Charlie approached me with an annoyed tone and grudgingly confided to me after much consideration that my theory was probably right, or at least that he couldn't refute it.
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