Shackleton & Endurance
Sir Ernest Shackleton, called Boss by his crew, started planning his third Antarctic expedition as he finished his second. Amundsen and Scott reached the South Pole in 1911 & 1912, but Shackleton was not dismayed. Instead of planning to reach the South Pole, he decided to traverse Antarctica. He advertised for crew members, and he chose 26 from the thousands of applicants. It took years to plan and to raise funds. The Endurance was ready to leave England in August 1914 - as WW I began. The First Lord of the Admiralty – a nickel if you know who it was - directed Shackleton to proceed.
The Endurance sailed to South Georgia Island to finish preparations. In December 1914, the crew of 28 - one man stowed away to join the team - headed toward Antarctica. Only a week out of South Georgia, the Endurance found massive ice floes and pack ice conditions. The Endurance was one of the strongest wooden ships ever built, but it wasn’t designed to handle the pressure of pack ice. For a month, the Endurance plodded through the ice floes. In January, ice surrounded, seized the ship, and never let go. The ice pack rotated in the direction Shackleton wanted to go, so he didn’t worry. The ice held Endurance for nine months. Shackleton and crew began to worry when the pressure increased. It became obvious the ice would not let go of the Endurance. Shackleton started making alternate plans. As the ice crushed the ship, Shackleton stripped it of anything useable. The crew were able to remove food stores, lifeboats, clothing, sleeping bags, and dogs.
On 21 November 1915, they watched as the Endurance went under. An expedition designed to traverse the Antarctic now had a new mission: survival. The good news was the pack rotated clockwise taking the crew closer to safety. The bad news was as the pack rotated northward, the ice began to break up. The crew kept watch for conditions that would allow the small boats to survive in the ice field. Ice bergs larger than city skyscrapers bumped and scraped along their ice floe base. If they launched the life boats too early, ice bergs would crush them. If they waited too long, their ice floe would crack and sink. They played a dangerous waiting game while they continued to drift north. Their target was the closest reachable land. Elephant Island was 150 miles north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was uninhabitable, but it had seals and penguins.
By April 2016, Camp Patience was shrinking and collapsing. They had to abandon their ice floe to reach solid ground. Most of their navigational aids and charts were already lost or destroyed. All they had left was a damaged but workable sextant and a wet chart. Cracks threatened to capture their camp. Shackleton rescued one of the crew the water tried to claim. Worried but determined, Shackleton ordered the men to launch the lifeboats. The journey home had begun. The boats had to navigate ever-changing thawing\freezing channels. Icebergs and killer whales threatened them. The boats fought the conditions trying to reach the open ocean. Few of the men knew what awaited them if they succeeded in breaking out of the icepack, but Shackleton knew. The Bransfield Strait ran between Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands. If Shackleton had understood the conditions, he may have despaired. The figure shows two currents run against each other in the Strait. The lifeboats needed to cross the first current to get to the second current that could help carry them to Elephant Island.
The men were not at their best. They were wet, cold, tired, and undernourished. They should have been ready to surrender, but Shackleton willed them forward. He never lost his certainty that they would survive, and they followed his lead. He explained the plan to cross the Bransfield Strait and reach Elephant Island. Then they would gather themselves and continue to civilization. Shackleton did not explain that lifeboats were not made for such difficult passages. On 9 April 2016, they launched. The wind dragged them further away from their target, but still Shackleton urged his men to fight on. Waves swamped the boats. Sleep was impossible. All suffered from frostbite. The wind shifted and by constant bailing, they stayed afloat. They rode an intermittent wind to the second current and an Elephant Island landing on 15 April 2016. The men were so tired they could barely drag the boats onto the shore. Shackleton looked around and realized they needed to shift camp. If they stayed where they were, they would be pulled back out to sea or crushed by falling rocks. The men didn’t even complain. They followed the leader that had kept them alive thus far. They moved west to a safer camp above the high-water mark.
Land at last. All savored the ability to feel firm ground under their feet. They hunted local game and tried to renew their strength. Shackleton couldn’t get comfortable knowing they still were not safe. They were safer, but still far from home. Nobody knew they were there, and nobody would look there for them. He let the men try to dry out and recover, but he was planning the next leg of the trip. Although there were three options facing him, Shackleton knew only one was possible. Cape Horn on South America and the Falkland Islands look closer on the map, but they were unreachable. The Drake Passage would rip their tiny boats out into the mid-Atlantic if it didn’t sink them first. The only option was the 750–800-mile transit to South Georgia Island. Shackleton chose five men for the trip. He did not choose the five most able men. He surveyed his men. He knew it could be months before the Elephant Island team were rescued even if he were successful. He took the ones he thought might be the most trouble along with a couple of the most able. It took two weeks to get the men and a boat ready for the trip. As difficult as the expedition had been thus far, the real challenge was beginning.
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?Shackleton and his small team faced almost insurmountable challenges. Blizzards, gale force winds, rogue waves, icebergs, and killer whales threatened at times. There would be little sleep, more frostbite, and no hope of rescue. They were on their own, but Shackleton was up for the challenge. He would drag his men across the finish line one by one if necessary. Finding South Georgia Island would be finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Shackleton didn’t let his men despair. They believed in him and his ability to keep them alive. Against incredible odds, the boat found South Georgia Island. It landed on the west side in King Haakon Bay.
Civilization had a foothold on the east side. The only way to survive was to cross the island. It had never been done before, but Shackleton didn’t give his men time to worry about it. They were now only 30 miles away from safety. All they had to do was climb up a few thousand feet of elevation, cross a few iced over glaciers in blizzard conditions, and find a small community of whalers in Stromness. Several intrepid explorers have recreated the trip. They agree that doing it in summer is difficult. Doing it in winter, at night, Shackleton style, is unbelievable.
Shackleton and two men made it to Stromness. He got help to rescue his other three men at King Haakon Bay. One last challenge faced him. Bad weather, and ice pack around Elephant Island made rescue of the remaining 22 men difficult. It took four efforts in different ships and three months before the team was reunited. The men on Elephant Island felt that too much time had elapsed, but they knew if Shackleton were alive, he’d come for them. All 28 men of the expedition survived. Shackleton deserves credit for that miracle. His efforts inspired a famous quote: Sir Raymond Priestley , said: "Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed and efficiency, but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."