Shackleton: The Antarctic Challenge

Today's blog title is also the title of a book by Kim Heacox. This book too was on the recommended reading list for travelers headed to the Antarctic, but I heartily recommend it to any person who enjoys an exciting and fascinating story, regardless of whether or not you ever plan to go anywhere near the white continent. The foreward to the book was written by Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of the great Irish-born explorer. The book is not just a well written account of Sir Ernest Shackleton's adventures in the Antarctic, but is chock full of amazing pictures , many of which were taken on the most famous of his expeditions, the voyage of the ill-fated Endurance.

Shackleton's first expedition to Antarctica was in 1901 as a member of the British merchant navy with the voyage led by British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. In 1907 Shackleton mounted the first of his own expeditions, the first announced attempt to reach the geographic South Pole. He got very close, within a record-breaking 97 miles, but illness and harsh conditions forced a heartbreaking retreat. His efforts gained him a knighthood, but he was determined to achieve another major first--a trek from the Weddell Sea, an extension of the southern Atlantic Ocean, across the entire Antarctic continent to the Ross Sea, an almost opposite arm in the southern Pacific Ocean. That expedition sailed from the island of South Georgia in 1914, and regardling its fate, the entry in my obsolete hardcover encyclopedia simply states, "...the expedition was unsuccessful." But oh, what an amazing story of courage, determination, supreme leadership and sheer guts lies behind those few words.

Although Shackleton's ship, Endurance, was eventually caught in the drafting ice--crushed, slowly ground apart, and ultimately sunk--Shackleton managed to lead his entire crew to safety. And, like the encyclopedia entry, that is a massive understatement. Reaching "safety" initially involved pulling long boats loaded with supplies many miles across the ice, man-hauling the boats, since all the expedition's dogs had died by this time. They eventually reached uninhabited "Elephant Island" on April 15, 1916 the first landfall since sailing from South Georgia on December 5, 1914. A temporary encampment was made for the majority of the crew, many of whom were too ill for further travel. Fearful that some of them could not survive another oncoming winter in the Antarctic, Shackleton and his men outfitted one of the boats, a whaling long boat called the James Caird, and prepared to sail for help back to the island of South Georgia, 800 miles across open ocean. That daunting journey began on April 24, 1916, with Shackleton and five others manning the open boat with its single short mast and sail. Incredibly the tiny boat made landfall on South Georgia on May 10, 1916 after a harrowing 16-day ordeal. They soon realized they had landed on the opposite end of the island from the inhabited whaling station of Stromness. Shackleton decided neither the battered long boat nor the exhausted men could face the 130 mile sail around the island. Therefore, he reloaded the boat and they sailed a short distance to a more sheltered cove, where the boat was turned over to make a temporary shelter for three of the men, one of whom was now too ill to move. Shackelton and two others then began the as-the-crow-flies 20 mile overland hike to the whaling station. Crows, of course, are able to fly over mountains and glaciers; Shackleton's group had to climb them, seeking a pass through to the other side. It took four tries to find the pass, four exhausting climbs up to 5000 feet above sea level and back down, before they finally were able to look down from a ridge to the bustling activity in Stromness Bay. When they stumbled into the station, looking like some sort of frightful ice demons with their long hair, red-rimmed eyes and clothes now disintegrated nearly to rags, several of the sturdy whalers ran from the sight! The following day, Shackleton insisted on accompanying a whaling vessel back to Elephant Island to rescue the 25 castaways from the James Caird. On May 23, only three days after arriving at Stromness, Shackleton set out for Elephant Island to rescue the remaining crew. After multiple frustrations, dreadful winter sailing conditions, and other delays, Shackleton finally reached the island on August 30, 1916, the 137th day for the stranded crew. Miraculously,every man was alive, although one had lost a couple of toes to frostbite.

Although the expedition was technically a failure, Shackleton's amazing feats of leadership and endurance during the two year ordeal were a thrilling distraction for a world torn apart by a bloody war.

To me the words "Shackleton" and "Antarctica" will be forever linked in fascination.