LAKEVILLE — Students and faculty from The Hotchkiss School are shaken (quite a bit, in fact) but unharmed after a massive storm blew their expedition to Antarctica off course over the weekend. This is the school’s third trip to the South Pole sponsored by alumnus Forrest Mars Jr., class of 1949. Previous trips were in 2003 and 2009. There are 107 students and faculty on board, including Head of School Malcolm McKenzie; John Virden, who is associate head of school and dean of students; and six Hotchkiss students who live in Salisbury. The 90 students are from the classes of 2013, 2014 and 2015; all were selected in a lottery last spring. The group left for its three-week voyage on Dec. 29 and has been at sea on the ship Silver Sea Explorer.Reports began to appear on Facebook over the weekend that the ship hit weather so extreme that it blew out a window on the ship and forced a change in plans. A report on the school’s website said “high waves and strong winds in the Southern Ocean buffeted the ship on Saturday, Jan. 12; a large wave broke onto the ship and shattered a window in the bridge. No one from Hotchkiss was involved or hurt; crew members were treated for lacerations from broken glass. “The decision was made to return to Ushaia, Argentina, for expeditions to Tierra del Fuego and not continue to the Antarctic Peninsula,” according to the report on the school’s website.In an email from the ship to The Lakeville Journal, McKenzie reported that, “We are all well. Right now we are making good progress back to Ushaia. Seas are flatter and all is under control. It has been an extraordinary experience.”The school has several blogs from the trip on its website. The first post from a school official about the storm came from Virden, who reported that “at around 5 p.m. a large wave smashed into the ship, sending a surge of water into the bridge, smashing one of the big windows, injuring four members of the crew and taking out the electronic suite on the bridge. “A few scary rolls later, and we were again on the move, as the crew tried to assess damage and to clean up the water that surged through the bridge and into the ship.”Student Ben MacShane blogged about what the gusts felt like on the ship.“Imagine being on the highway, well above the speed limit and standing on the roof of your car; not easy,” he wrote. “A hurricane force wind is 72mph, so yes the Hotchkiss Antarctica Expedition was in a hurricane at times this morning. The waves were small, however; being in a protected cove provided some blocking of wind and didn’t give the waves time to build before they reached us. “The wind was so fierce that it literally picked up water out of the ocean and continually threw it in a fine mist. Sometimes that mist would increase in intensity and frothing foam made the water more white then blue! This gave the entire landscape a white filter.”Showing admirable sang- froid, MacShane ended his post saying, “The storm was exhilarating, the sounds and sights of hurricane force gusts on a ship are not often experienced.”Everyone is safeMcKenzie sent an email to members of the school community noting that, “As is often the case in such circumstances, there can be a tendency to exaggerate conditions. “Although I do not wish to downplay the seriousness of what happened, let me say quite clearly that the ship is totally sound, that everyone on board is safe, and that there have been no injuries to any in the Hotchkiss group. There is absolutely no reason for alarm nor for undue concern.”He did confirm that a large wave hit the ship and that “The water was of such power that it broke one of the window panels on the bridge of the ship. The force of that water in the confines of the bridge, combined with shattered glass, injured the captain and three other crew members. They have all been treated by the ship’s doctor and are in good spirits. Their injuries are mainly lacerations from the broken glass.… “We have now made a turning and are on our way back to Ushuaia. This will take us about four days. We are traveling against wind, waves and current, and so it will take us longer to get back than on our journey setting out. We have just under 1,000 nautical miles to go and we are making good time. The ship is well under way, the stabilizers are working again, and we are all fine.“Obviously, we are all disappointed that we will not be completing the second half of our journey as planned. Nobody is more disappointed than Mr. Mars himself. However, we did have an extraordinary time on South Georgia Island, and we are all enraptured by what we saw and did there.…“At this stage, we plan to return on the flights that were booked months ago. If that remains the case, we shall enjoy a long weekend in Ushaia. There is a great deal to do and to see on the tip of Tierra del Fuego.”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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