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| Ernest Shackleton |
In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton decided to once again try to reach the South Pole. The Pole had already been conquered three years earlier in 1911, by Norwegian man Roald Admunsen. Shackleton's goal this time was not to simply reach the pole, but to cross the Antarctic continent. The title of the mission:
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition!
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| Endurance Trapped |
The 27 strong crew left Plymouth in August 1914, heading for Buenos Aires. From there, they headed to Grytvicken whaling station in South Georgia. Finally Endurance departed South Georgia in December 1914 after a month-long delay.
From there, the mission ran into difficulties. Engulfed in pack ice on the Weddell Sea, Endurance was forced to halt several times and change course. Finally on the 14th February 1915 Endurance became wedged in the pack ice.
The crew were ordered to use pick axes and saws to try and free the ship, but to no avail. Eventually they gave up and decided to make the ship into a 'winter base' hoping that the ice would eventually break up, and free the ship. Sadly this also meant that the ship now drifted with the pack ice, further North and away from their goal.
Shackleton tried to keep those spirits up during those long, dark months, and encouraged exercise such as moonlit walks. Celebrations for Empire day and mid-winters day were observed.
Finally on the 27th of October, and now punctured in several places and listing severely, the order was given to abandon the ship. All of the supplies, and three of the lifeboats were all transferred onto the ice, and over the next few days most of the supplies were salvaged from the dying Endurance.
On the 21st November 1915 the crew watched with horror as Endurance slipped under the ice.
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| Endurance Sinking |
With the loss of their ship, Shackleton decided their next mission was to return home. But with no ship and no means of contacting the outside world, this would not be an easy task. Shackleton decided to aim for Snow Hill Island, or Paulet Island to be seen and picked up by a ship. This proved to be an impossable task, hauling supplies in the three lifeboats over the ice. The largest of the oats weighed two tons when fully loaded, the crew managed to travel just seven and a half miles in seven days.
The crew set up camp on an ice floe, though as the ice began to break-up, on the 8th April 1916, they were forced into the three lifeboats.
A hellish open boat journey of seven days now followed, many of the crew became ill and suffered from frostbite. John Vincent was actually regarded as one of the crew who fared best on the journey to the island, being regarded as the strongest man on the crew.
On the 14th April they landed on Elephant Island, but conditions were not brilliant, the crew had to move camps to avoid the high tide, and the island was simply an exposed rocky beach, providing little shelter.
After a few days rest, and noticing the deterioration condition of his crew, Shackleton decided his next course of action, to take a small crew, in the largest, strongest boat and get help from South Georgia, 800 nautical miles away.
The boat, named the James Caird was chosen and the crew were, Shackleton himself, Captain Frank Worsley, Officer Tom Crean, Carpenter Harry McNish, Able-Seaman Timothy McCarthy, and Bosun John Vincent.
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| Launching the James Caird |
The James Caird was launched on the 24th April 1916. The journey took a miserable 16 days, the sea they were crossing was, and still is, one of the roughest in the world. Supplies and morale was low, and the water turned brackish, giving the crew a dreadful thirst.
Just as the crew got within sight of South Georgia, a dreadful hurricane started, taking the boat back out to sea.
With waves the tips of waves high enough to be mistaken for clouds, the boat party assumed they had reached the end of their lives, but by some miracle they were finally able to land the boat in King Haakon bay, South Georgia. The wrong side of the island as the whaling station was on the other side, but the crew were on dry land at last.
Discussions were made as to whether to launch the Caird again to reach the other side, but due to the terrible state of Vincent and McNish, Shackleton decided to leave them sheltering under the James Caird, with McCarthy to look after them, while he and Worsley and Crean set off to the other side of the island, over a mountain never before climbed.
It took them 36 hours to reach the Whaling station again, where they had left nearly 2 years before. When they arrived, the manager of the station broke down and wept, at the state of Shackleton, who was unrecognizable.
A boat was immediately deployed to rescue McNish, McCarthy and Vincent from the other side of the island, and after some food, baths and decent sleeping accommodation the condition of the men started to improve. The three of them were sent home at the end of June, landing in Liverpool on the 1st August 1916.
But the other men still stranded on Elephant Island were in for a longer wait. Shackleton started making plans for their rescue as soon as he reached South Georgia, but putting those plans into practice proved almost impossible. Three times the rescue ship was forced to turn back, and each time Shackleton grew more impatient for news of his marooned crew.
Finally, on the 30th of August 1916, the steam tug Yelcho managed to reach the stranded men. The ice cleared just long enough to pick them up.
All 22 men who had been marooned were safe.
Although the mission itself was considered a failure due to the fact Shackleton never reached the South Pole, the story is now considered one of the greatest feats of survival ever.
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There is much more to the story than this, as I will detail later on, but here is some further reading in the mean time....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition
http://tomcreandiscovery.com/?page_id=200
South- Ernest Shackleton
Shackleton's Boat Journey- Frank Worsley
Shackleton-Micheal Smith
South with Endurance-Frank Hurley
