In what was supposed to be the first solo circumnavigation of Antarctica, Lewis had very narrowly missed disaster due to two capsizings and other storms since his departure from Sydney. These did major damage to his boat and severely taxed him physically. Lewis spent over a month at Palmer repairing Ice Bird (with lots of help). A new mast was constructed from scrap dunnage, the dead engine was repaired, and lots of painting, caulking and metalwork was begun. He originally planned to continue his voyage the same summer, but a pressing contract from National Geographic (to write more about Polynesian navigation, one of his previous projects) caused him to get Ice Bird pulled up on the pier for the winter, after which he boarded the Lindblad Explorer for South America.

The reprieve (with travel funded by the magazine) gave Lewis a chance to acquire replacement sails, self-steering gear, and other equipment and supplies. He returned to Palmer aboard the BAS vessel John Biscoe in early November 1973, where the Ice Bird refit was completed. A bit more than a month later, on 12 December, David Lewis departed. The above photo may not be his final departure, since more than one man is aboard. He headed initially for the Argentine Islands base (his originally planned Peninsula destination the previous year), but ice conditions turned him around and he headed up the LeMaire Channel. He stopped at several other bases and made it safely out of Antarctic waters but was capsized and dismasted again at 45°S. This ended his hopes of circumnavigation, so he ended the venture at Cape Town on 20 March 1974.

David Lewis returned to Antarctica several more times--he set up some small-yacht tourist ventures to the Ross Sea with financing from Dick Smith. In 1983 he took the 65' steel-hulled yacht Dick Smith Explorer and wintered it in Prydz Bay (near Davis) in 1983 (this story is told in his book ). After this venture he slowly retired and wrote his memoirs, but continued sailing until his death in Australia in October 2002 at the age of 85.

The 1973 voyate information and photo came from the book Ice Bird, © 1975 by David Lewis.