Sir Ernest Shackleton & The Endurance
A documentary on YouTube giving an overview of the voyage.
Other films are available.
Source: File:
Mrs. Chippy on the shoulder of Perce Blackborow.jpg. [online] An original image
is available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Chippy> [Accessed:
27 March 2016]
Source: File:
Dogs next to the Endurance as it finally sank.jpg. [online] An original image
is available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition>
[Accessed: 27 March 2016]
i
With months of no
news, came news
From a
Trans-Antarctic Expedition,
And the leader
Ernest Shackleton -
Within the first
days of war, explorers
Had sailed to
lower regions of earth.
Following on from
tradition of previous
Crews,
Shackleton's Expedition headed
For the Weddell
Sea of the Southern
Ocean, from
Buenos Ayres in October
1914, to reach
island of South Georgia.
There, at the half
way stage of the lonely
Sandwich Islands
rested the Endurance,
Until departure
December 1914 - after
Which the
explorers became shrouded
By a silent 15
months, till March 1916.
On route a
discovery was made onboard
Of a stowaway - a
keen young Welsh sailor
Perce Blackborow
- helped aboard to hide
In a tank locker by two able seamen, who
Believed the
crew would be shorthanded.
Blackborow unable
to stand from three days
Confinement sat,
as Shackleton raged at him
Before the crew -
his promise to eat stowaways
If starvation hit
them - his reply, Shackleton had
More meat on him; so he became cook's help.
Messages and
telegram had expectations
Of the
expeditions return to the Argentine
Port, for first
news over the Weddell Sea.
Amid words were
extracts of Shackleton's
Diary, accounting
the stay in South Georgia.
Though isolated
in the sea the island
Was home to 2000,
with ample electricity
At each station -
as well as stock of hens
And pigsties - to
share lands with cattle,
A bull, goats,
sheep, ducks and a monkey.
Although a British
overseas territory, they
Found most
population was Norwegian -
Except for 20
British with another stray
National - when whalers
told of poor winter
Conditions, they
held up in Weddell Sea.
Though Whalers stated
pack ice remained
Unbroken, they
left Georgia 5 December
1915 - their hope
was to reach 77.30
South latitude - but
as ice lay north 57.26,
Endurance was forced
to negotiate the ice.
The sailing
frustrations led to enforced
24-hour halt - to stop again 3 days later -
Only by 22
December 1915 a break came;
Sailing over 14
days steadily southwards
Into the Weddell
Sea, until the new year.
Rumours had it
Shackleton had advertised
In a London
Newspaper; 'men wanted
For hazardous
journey low wages, bitter
Cold, long hours
of complete darkness,
Safe return
doubtful' - the promise ended.
To gain honour
and recognition in event
Of success, brought over 5000 applicants -
Among them
were three sporting girls
Happy to wear
male attire - at years end
The journey had
lived up to leaders words.
ii
Across the
Weddell's Sea eastern shore,
They came close
to 100 feet ice walls
Of Coats Land - deciding
against a glacier
Landing, they
moved onto Caird Coast,
Named in honour
of Shackleton's Patron.
Vahsel Bay being
their destination,
They reached eastern
limit of Luitpold
Land - yet the
Endurance was forced
14 miles
southerly - again halted by
Pack ice, failing
all to free a passage.
Still in a vice
like grip 21 February 1915,
They drifted with
the ice until 24th - decision
Was clear the
Endurance would have to
Hold for the winter - the
dogs were housed
In ice kennels, with winter quarters aboard.
Shackleton
thought like the Deutchland
In 1912, they
would break free without any
Issue; to attempt
an Antarctic spring landing
At Vahsel Bay -
in depth of winter the drift
Increased, as ice
about the ship rattled.
A worry was amid
the ice, Endurance might
Crack like an egg - May, June, July sank
Into depths of
winter months - after time
Of daily
activities the ice began to break
By Augusts’ start, ice danced about them.
Ice forced
beneath the keel then prompted
A heavy list to
port - when the danger past
Came a few weeks
respite, until a major
Squeeze returned
- between the ice floe's
Pressure, came
point of no return on the hull.
Ships timbers
started to shatter, described
Like gunfire and
fireworks shooting splinters -
When icy water then poured into Endurance,
27 October 1915, came
decision to abandon
In conditions of
−15 °F moving boats to ice.
Yet the Endurance
held still on for weeks,
To allow salvage
of supplies - in necessity
To abandon
transcontinental plans, needs
Became for shoes
made from scavenged
Wood of the
Endurance in a plan to march.
Both Frank Hurley
and George Marston
Had been in charge of
recording progress
Of the expedition - salvaged from the loss
Of their boat,
Hurley only kept 150 plates;
To smash 550 plates of excess weight.
iii
To get to safety
various options were quickly
Considered; Paulet Island where a likely food
Considered; Paulet Island where a likely food
Supply was stored
from Swedish Antarctic
Rescue of 1902 - then there was Snow Hill
Island, once used for winter quarters base.
Alternatively was
Roberton Island; from one
Of these Shackleton
then believed they could
Cross Graham Land
over to Wilhelmina Bay
And whaling
outposts; the Endurance
Frank Worsley, worked out walking distances.
Such distances
over 300 miles Worsley believed
Too dangerous and
should wait until ice carried
Them out to open
waters, then use the boats -
But Shackleton
quashed the Captain's decision,
So that they
began to march 30 October 1915.
Under difficult
situations Shackleton gave
Cruel orders, to
destroy the weakest among
The team - these
being sled dogs, the surgeon's
Pet puppy and the
carpenter's cat Mrs Chippy -
McNish was never
able to forgive Shackleton.
About the sea ice,
conditions fell across ridges
And hummocks - and progress over three days
Was only two
miles - then waiting for the ice
To break, they
made ocean camp with relays
To the Endurance, until she sank 21 November.
Ice began to
shift them seven miles a day, with
5 December moving
too far to make Snow Hill
Island, while
Paulet Island was 250 miles -
To reduce
lifeboat distance Shackleton gave
Order for another
march 21 December 1915.
Slight rises in
temperatures led to softer
Snow - in
struggle to pull the boats McNish
Rebelled and
refused to help; quoting loss
Of ship's
articles to hold him - but Shackleton
Finally brought
the angry carpenter to heel.
Another seven
miles made over two days
Enforced another
halt - so they settled
To put up tents
in Patience Camp, for three
Months - with
food low a return to Ocean
Camp and regained
abandoned supplies.
January 1916 and
Shackleton, stating
The dog teams
excessive needs, led them
To be destroyed -
while crew’s food needs
For regular seal
meat - with two lifeboats,
A party was sent back to recover the third.
With events
taking a dire turn since
Loss of Endurance,
destruction of extra
Mouths to feed
and painfully slow march
Across ice and
snow, news had only just
Got home of the
team about to start out.
iV
Shackleton’s
extracts praised the team
That would cross
the sub zero continent
Crean, Hurley,
Marston, Macklin and Wild.
Fit splendid men
described as able to look
After the dog
team on which they would rely.
Nearly twenty
months passed in parallel
To war on the
other side of the world -
The Endurance had
carried a wireless
Plant - but
likely very little news reached
The expedition,
of any fighting fronts.
By March 1916 the truth was the team
were down to the last two teams of dogs,
That were now in danger - the floating
were down to the last two teams of dogs,
That were now in danger - the floating
Camp took erratic
course teasingly close
To Paulet
Island; yet to reach safety.
To follow on from
previous days news,
Came further
information of matters
Closer to the truth,
as part of the trans
Antarctic
expedition had included SY
Aurora, in purpose to set supply depots.
These were to
furnish Shackleton's
Team for the last
part of their march -
Well built the
40-year-old whaler boat
Hit problems,
from the Australian
Edge, to be adrift
in Antarctic Ocean.
Reflecting same difficulties Endurance
Had experienced,
the Aurora exposed
To severe winter
weather ashore -
On the ice a
party of ten men were
Stranded, as
Aurora broke from anchor.
The event had
taken place May 1915,
With first
officer Stenhouse in charge
Of the ship,
leaving Captain Mackintosh
Ashore – Aurora was
to gain damage
In loss of
anchors and destroyed rudder.
Adrift, the
Aurora shifted through a frozen
Graveyard; ice
blocks standing on end -
Such dangers
passed to abandon ship,
But came again in
July, as caught between
Pincer ice floes,
for a final crushing blow.
Shift of ice led
Aurora to a safer place
Although the
rudder was smashed beyond
Repair – Aurora
staying firm, an August
Drift carried
them into the southern ocean -
As work began to
create a jury rudder.
The makeshift
construction was placed
Over the side,
like a giant rudder - while
Sea swells could
almost be felt - when
A storm destroyed the radio ariel, to halt
A storm destroyed the radio ariel, to halt
Attempts to
contact any nearby islands.
V
Days into weeks
and months passed
On, with little to
do but sustain morale,
With ice games, as Stenhouse tried
To boost crew's morale - by January
To boost crew's morale - by January
1916, the sun began
to crack the ice.
Concerns all
along had been for those
Stranded at Cape
Evans, with limited
Supplies and
further effects of loss
Of assistance to
the Shackleton team -
It seemed they
might remain trapped.
With the melt
timbers opened to let
In water daily - with
pumps working
The Aurora finally
received release;
After came need
to use the engines,
Despite low coal
in stops and starts.
With start of
March the edge of ice
Was seen and on
the 14th day, after
312 days adrift,
they met the open
Sea - working to
repair the wireless,
Gave their transmission
of position.
Only by use of 80
foot rigged ariel,
Did Hookes
message reach Bluff
Station, New
Zealand and Tasmania -
To tell of Aurora's
position with freak
Weather then
allowing signals to carry.
News began to
spread of dire serious
Events around
Shackleton's expedition -
To even believe
that the continent had
Been crossed; whose party might see
Another year - facts remained unclear.
Another year - facts remained unclear.
Reuters further
cablegrams told of Aurora
Adrift, but
close within reach of Australia -
To believe the expedition had returned.
Reality was Shackleton's team were still
Reality was Shackleton's team were still
Drifting between
possible safety of islands.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Sir
Ernest Sheckleton - News Of The Expedition - Extracts from the Diary. The Daily
Telegraph, [online] 24 March 1916.
P.7. Col.2. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12200321/Daily-Telegraph-March-24-1916.html
[Accessed: 24 March 2016].
Anon.,1916. Serious
News Of Shackleton's Party - Explorers Stranded. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 25 March 1916.
P.7. Col.2. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12202441/Daily-Telegraph-March-25-1916.html
[Accessed: 25 March 2016].
Source: File: Imperial Trans-Antarctic
Expedition. Online. Available
at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition>
Accessed 24 March 2016
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 24 March 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1HomeFront
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