The fifteen day crossing was shear hell. They were in constant peril of swamping. Just keeping water out of the hold required diligent effort. Chipping ice from the deck and rigging was a painful task and frozen hands and feet was always a danger. But their greatest complaint seemed to be reindeer hair from their mildewing sleeping bags, that filled their mouths, noses and even contributed to the penguin hoosh.
Frank Worsley, Captain of the Endurance, was probably the best polar navigator in the world. His only sextant reading of the sun came on May 6, from which he calculated they were eighty miles from South Georgia -- he had found the needle in the haystack. Even after sighting the landfall, a gale forced them to standoff another twenty-four hours before landing on May 9.
Unfortunately they were on the uninhabited side of a rugged alpine island. They calculated it would require another fifteen days to sail around the island to the whaling stations. They recuperated for several days, then Shackleton, Worsley and Crean made the crossing of the harrowing alpine backbone; twenty extreme miles in thirty-six hours. This feat has yet to be duplicated even with the best gear available.
After an erroneous descent into Fortuna Bay, they climbed back to the interfluve. As they contemplated the descent over the frozen waterfalls, they heard the steam whistle from the Stromness Station. They realized they were safe.
of South Georgia, Winter 1916
Worsley and Crean Heard the Stromness Steam Whistle
Shackleton, Worsley and Crean Ended Their Long Journey
The departure of the Caird must have been a despairing moment for the twenty-two men left behind on Elephant Island. That moment would turn into weeks, then months. The penguin and seal hoosh had probably become noisome and they had no way of knowing if the Caird ever reached South Georgia.
For four months Shackleton tried to get a ship far enough into the ice pack to effect a rescue. Finally on August 30, 1916, Shackleton, Worsley and Crean stood on the deck of the steel-clad, steam-driven Chilean Ship, Yelcho. Through a lifting fog Worsley first spotted the camp on the rock face of that barren toe-hold. Gradually they accounted for each of the twenty-two crewmen left behind. The rescue was unequivocal--not a soul had been lost.
For forty-four years no human presence disturbed the solitude of the Earth's most inaccessible antipode. Then on October 31, 1956 Gus Shinn, USN, landed the first airplane at the pole. Others followed including a survey party to establish an American research station as part of the IGY (International Geophysical Year).
In 1956-1958 Sir Vivian Fuchs, leader of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition would make the first continental crossing, following closely the plan devised by Shackleton. Edmund Hillary, who along with Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, led the depot placing component of the Fuchs's Expedition. This group established a new route from Mc Murdo Sound to the Pole. Theirs was only the third overland expedition to ever reach the Pole. This was accomplished using Massey-Ferguson farm tractors converted to tracks instead of wheels.
While at South Georgia in 1999, I heard that Hillary had paid previous Antarctic explorers the following tribute: "For speed and efficiency of Polar travel give me Amundsen, For scientific discovery give me Scott. But, when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."
When trying to verify the source, I learned that it was attributed to Sir Raymond Priestly in 1956. Priestly was also from New Zealand. He was a geologist who accompanied the Shackleton, Nimrod Expedition of 1907--1909 and the Scott, Terra Nova Expedition of 1910--1913. With a little more digging I learned that Priestly was really paraphrasing and simplifying a statement by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in the book, Worst Journey in the World, 1922, Vol. I, p. viii. Cherry-Garrard like Priestly was a member of the Scott Terra Nova Expedition--so what's a bit of plagiarism among team mates?
But Priestly added more about Shackleton: "Incomparable in adversity, he was the miracle worker who would save your life against all the odds and long after your number was up. The greatest leader that ever came on God's earth, bar none."
In 1959 Sir Raymond Priestly received the Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal for service to Antarctic Exploration, just one year after Sir Edmund Hillary received his for Antarctic and Himalayan exploration.
Norway and Reassembled on South Georgia
On 15 November 1999 we put in at Grytviken on Cumberland Bay, South Georgia, for a week of glorious Antarctic wildlife and alpine vistas. While we were taking on fresh water, Ian Shaw organized the crew members for a memorial tribute at the grave site of Sir Ernest Shackleton, quite possibly the greatest of Antarctic explorers.
Water at Grytviken
Service at the Grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton
Cumberland Bay, South Georgia
to This Remote Island within the Antarctic Convergence
for Great Britain and Gave it the Name South Georgia
Probably 100 Thousand Birds
Alverta Among the LBJs (Little Brown Jobs)
An Immature King Chick Probably Out Weighs an Adult
We Brought Bamboo Poles from Madeira to
Ward off Dangerous Fur Seals
Immature Birds with Turkey-Size Bodies Weigh More than an
Adult. Little Wonder It has Difficulty with the Maiden Flight.
A week later, while at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands we had the pleasure of meeting the Honorable Alexandra Shackleton, Sir Ernest's only granddaughter. She and her father founded the James Caird Society which is devoted to the collection and preservation of the history of Antarctic Exploration.
James Caird Society, displays the gold medal
awarded to her grandfather by the Royal
Geographical Society in 1909 for the Nimrod
Expedition in which he led a party of four to a new
"farthest south," 88° 23´.
Logo of the James Caird Society
The James Caird Departs Elephant Island in an
Attempt to Reach South Georgia and Effect
a Rescue of the Remaining Crew of the Endurance
Cumberland Bay, South Georgia
Little wonder Shackleton once said: "If God ever took a vacation he would go to South Georgia."
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