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Shackleton on South Georgia Island
One of the greatest Feats of Strength (both mental and physical) were accomplished by Ernest Shackleton and his crew during the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917). Unlike the complete disappearance of the 1854 Franklin Expedition and the death of Robert Scott’s party in the British Antarctic Expedition (1910 – 1913), which lost the dash to the South Pole by 34 days to the Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen, Shackleton’s 1914 Expedition has been recognized “as an epic feat of endurance.” After a brief description of the 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the ultimate triumph of South Georgia Island will become evident.
Still using wooden sailing ships to traverse the floating ice, Shackleton carefully planned the expedition based on his previous successful 1907 Expedition, where he came within 112 miles of the South Pole. The ambitious 1914 plan was to traverse Antarctica from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea, where the previous South Pole expeditions started. The Weddell Sea was not as well known, and Shackleton would try to land the Endurance near Vahsel Bay. The other ship Aurora would make landfall at McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea. The Aurora team would follow in the footsteps of Scott, and lay supply depots across the Ross Ice Shelf all the way to the Beardmore Glacier. These depots would be used by the Shackleton and his team after passing the Pole, coming from the other direction.
After a month-long halt at the South Georgia whaling station, Endurance departed for the Antarctic near midsummer on December 5th. Two days later Shackleton was troubled with pack ice at 57.5° South. Things did not get much better, and the Endurance was stuck in the pack ice in May at 75° South still drifting northwards.
By September 30, the ship was being squeezed by the ice, and by October 27, Shackleton was forced to abandon ship. The crew stayed on the ice next to the ship until November and tried to pull the lifeboats and supplies across the ice, but gave up after 7.5 miles. They waited on the ice until the summer/fall heat broke up the ice on April 9th. By April 15, 1915, they were on Elephant Island.
Shackleton realized that they would need to travel to the nearest inhabited place, which was the whaling station back on South Georgia Island, some 800 miles distant and across the most stormy stretch of ocean in the world. They expected to encounter waves 50 feet high in a 22-foot long boat. Their navigation was by a sextant and a chronometer of unknown accuracy. Shackleton chose himself, Worsley (Navigator), Crean, McNeish, McCarthy, and Vincent on their most seaworthy lifeboat James Caird and made about 60-70 miles per day through the rough sea conditions. The sea made everything wet, and the four sleeping bags made of reindeer hide shed hairs in the dampness, clogging the pump used to empty the sea water that spilled over into the boat. They saw South Georgia after only fourteen days, about one half of the expected journey time.
Landing on South Georgia would be difficult, as shallow rocks stretched along the coast, with many outcroppings descending steeply into the sea. Despite being almost out of fresh water, they had to wait until the next morning before attempting to land. The morning brought a shift in the wind and a terrible storm arose, and when light broke, they were out of sight of land. They made their way back to South Georgia just after noon, and there seemed to be no hope, but later though in the evening, the wind began to die down. By the morning of the 10th of May, there was very little wind and they were able to look for a landing place. Reefs and breaking waves dogged their every attempt. They found a likely bay to land, but were blown out to sea again by a change in the wind. In the approaching darkness the James Caird was finally able to land at King Haakon Bay.
After a few days of rest, the difficult task of crossing South Georgia Island lay ahead. As shown in the NASA photograph below, the island is mostly snow covered and very rugged. Their goal was the Stromness whaling station on the lower right edge below, about 22 air miles from King Haakon Bay, but well over 30 miles to dodge various obstacles and wrong turns Shackleton would make without an accurate map.
On May 15th Shackleton, Crean, and Worsley crossed glaciers, icy slopes and snow fields. At dusk, they looked back and saw the fog coming in. With no tent or sleeping bags, they had to descend to a lower altitude, so they slid down a snowy slope losing about 1000 feet of altitude. They had a hot meal and continued walking, with a full moon lighting their way. They climbed again and ate another hot meal to renew their energy. At 5 a.m. they sat down exhausted and wrapped their arms around each other to keep warm. Worsley and Crean fell asleep, but Shackleton thought they may never wake again. After 5 minutes he told them they had been asleep for half an hour, and once again they set off.
At the last major ridge between them and Stromness, they found a gap and went through. At 7.00 A.M. they heard a whistle calling the whalers to work. They came across a gradient of steep ice, cut steps into it, and then slid down a slippery slope. They still had some distance to go before they reached the whaling station, as there were many ridges between them and their goal. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon of May 20th, they walked into Stromness and went to the manager’s station. Grown men wept in disbelief at the survival of these three men who left South Georgia on the Endurance some 532 days earlier.
Shackleton went back to rescue his stranded men on Elephant Island. After pleading with the Chilean government for a ship, on August 30, the men on Elephant Island saw the Yelcho approach their meager camp. Shackleton watched the men emerge like ants from their overturned lifeboats, and after counting the heads, realized that all were still alive. In Chile, they were greeted by huge crowds, amazed at seeing the men of the greatest survival story of all time. It’s no wonder that Shackleton’s leadership is still being discussed today.
In 2013 PBS had a great three-part documentary of the James Caird voyage using a replica lifeboat and original materials, including the South Georgia crossing, but the following (non-PBS) clip sums up the struggle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDnGENgiF9k
Even with great equipment and mountaineering experience, modern explorers take about 3 days vs. the ~36 hours of the Shackleton group to traverse South Georgia. Will such a feat of strength ever be surpassed?
Published in Group Writing
The fact that everyone came back alive from that voyage was nothing short of a miracle. It’s truly an amazing story of determination and survival.
The fun part: The expedition started a few days after Britain declared war on Germany in World War I. Shackleton almost cancelled the expedition, but was assured the war would be over by Christmas, and carried on. When they finally got to the Falkland Islands the war had been raging for nearly 18 months (including a significant naval battle off the Falklands).
Their return was literally a nine-day-wonder, soon crowded off the front page by war news. There were none of the usual ceremonies, receptions, and honors to mark the men’s return because there was a war on. Most of the men enlisted, and two died while serving the king; others were wounded. Many won awards for gallantry.
He received permission to proceed from the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.
Great post! Shackleton is such an inspiring figure. How he led those men in crossing South Georgia at the end of their sea voyage is an astonishing feat. I’ve always enjoyed this quote from Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s 1922 book about the explorers of the Antarctic, The Worst Journey in The World:
This action is very telling.
Speaking of telling, by now I probably don’t have to tell you that this is an entry in our Group Writing Series under March’s theme of Feats of Strength. Nor do I need to tell you that we still have a few openings available on our schedule and sign-up sheet including tomorrow and next Tuesday. But if you happen to have a tale of strength to share, and you haven’t signed up yet, why not mosey on over. Moving will keep you warm after reading this.
And was encouraged to go by the king.
So very interesting. Thanks for the story, and the maps.
Truly one of the great accounts of stoicism: I’ve often thought of the cold and deprivation they endured, and marveled at man’s resilience.
The book Endurance is an excellent account.
Terrific topic. and a nice summary. Thanks!
Great story but one question burns in my brain. Why? (I know, I know, because it’s there.)
For the ceremonies, receptions, and honors that follow successful completion of such an expedition. The ones they did not have because of WWI.
One of the first things Shackleton asked when he reached Stromness was what had been the result of the war. He was surprised to hear that it hadn’t ended yet.
I guess we’re all different. Honestly, that desolate wasteland holds no interest for me. I can’t imagine risking my life to be the first one there. It’s not even that I’m not adventurous. I’m deeply envious that people like James Cameron have the money to travel to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. I’d go in a heartbeat if I could spare the millions. Even though it’s a good way to die. I just don’t get the appeal of a lifeless icescape.
Geez, what a story. Crazy Brits! They do some hardcore impressive stuff.
Yet there are people, including one of the three modern mountaineering explorers in the embedded video above, who copied the original 1914 Trans-Antarctic route even though satellites have totally mapped the area. They must live for the adventure.
If you read Shackleton’s biography, he went to Antarctica 3 times and on the fourth 1921 Shackleton–Rowett Expedition he died of a heart attack in South Georgia before he got to Antarctica.
At the time, we knew so little about the South Pole. I think in addition to adventure, Shackelton and his ilk have a desire to discover.
I’d be surprised if Shackelton and his teams were in it for the ceremonies. But rather that those ceremonies celebrated the joy and value of discovery. I’d expect the endurance and risk for his treks demanded much more strength and mettle than the vanity of a parade.
Is it possible, to list, in hindsight, the overall contributions of those southern explorations, the same way we can list the highly valued contributions from decades of space exploration? Or the contributions from the quest and discovery of the New World?
As to motives…
I no longer have the book Endurance but, if I recall correctly, it began with a description of the advertisement Shackleton ran to recruit members for his expedition. (I could be misremembering, but I think that’s right. Perhaps someone here has a copy of the book.)
For most of the crew, I suspect it was money first, bragging rights second. For Shackleton, something more basic: it was just the kind of thing manly men did back then.