Antarctic ice survivors

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Ernest Shackleton was already widely recognized as a fearless explorer, reaching record latitude on his Antarctic expedition in 1907-1909, when in 1914 he sailed on the expedition ship Endurance.

Ernest Shackleton, Chief of the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition.

The South Pole had been reached a few years earlier by Roald Amundsen, so Shackleton set himself a more ambitious goal: to land in Antarctica and travel 1,800 miles across the continent through the South Pole. He called his undertaking the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition.

Aided by a ship sailing to the far side of the icy continent to store supplies, Shackleton sailed from Buenos Aires with a specially selected crew of 28 for South Georgia and the Weddell Sea known as the Ice Bag.

Photographer Frank Hurley.

The third mate is adjusting the Endurance's signal flags.

The wake of the Endurance as she crosses the Ice Weddell Sea.

The crew is trying to clear a path through the ice for the Endurance.

Soon, the vessel encountered an unexpectedly high density of ice floes. After more than two months of fighting, the Endurance was hopelessly frozen in ice.

Changes were made to the ambitious plan of the expedition: the new goal was to prepare for the winter among the hummocks. The sled dogs were moved from the ship to the ice, and the ship was turned into a wintering camp. To maintain morale, the crew carried out compulsory skiing trips and staged amateur performances in the premises.

Frank Hurley, the expedition's photographer, entertained himself with walks around the ship, filming dramatic compositions of the blocked ship and ice formations. In a dark room, next to the ship's engine, he expertly processed his glass negatives in almost frozen chemicals, which caused incredible damage to the skin of his fingertips.

Boatswain John Vincent fixing the net on the Endurance.

Endurance, frozen in ice.

The crew moves the dogs onto the ice.

Physicist James Reginald outside his observatory.

Photographer Frank Hurley climbed onto the mast.

Frank Worsley, Captain of the Endurance.

Navigator Hubert Hudson with emperor penguin chicks.

Second Mate Tom Creen with sled dog puppies.

Cock Charles Green skinning a penguin for dinner.

Frank Wilde, Deputy Chief of the Expedition.

Lionel Greenstreet, First Mate.

Evening entertainment at the Ritz aboard the Endurance.

Haircut tournament on board the Endurance.

Ice-covered Endurance rig.

Endurance at dawn.

The crew play games and musical instruments to pass the time.

The crew plays football on ice near the Endurance.

The Endurance at night, illuminated by a lantern.

Saturday night a toast to "loved ones and wives."

Biologist Robert Clarke and geologist James Wordy in their cabin.

The crew is dragging fresh ice for water.

Sled dog Old Bob.

Sled dog Lupoid.

"Ice flowers" formed on the ice near the Endurance.

James Wordy, Alfred Cheatham and Alexander McLean clean the floors of the Ritz aboard the Endurance.

Meanwhile, the ship continued to drift along with the ice floes around it. On October 27, 1915, the ship was compressed to its limit and Shackleton gave the order to leave the Endurance. Due to the sled's limited capacity in volume and weight, he also ordered the killing of four of the weakest sled dogs, the puppies and the carpenter's cat Harry McNish.

Photographer Hurley managed to save his photographic plates from the ship, but he had to leave only 120 of the best of them, and the remaining 400 were broken. He also destroyed his bulky cameras, keeping only the Vest Pocket Kodak and a few rolls of film.

After a brief attempt at the voyage, the crew set up camp on the ice, continuing to retrieve supplies and lifeboats from the Endurance, until finally, on November 21, the ship sank completely. After the failed second campaign, the "Camp of Patience" was founded, in which the team lived for more than 3 months.

Roll of Endurance compressed by moving ice floes.

Frank Wilde, Deputy Chief of the Expedition, contemplates the sunken Endurance.

The team's dogs are looking for a way out on the ground among the ice.

Crew members drag one of the lifeboats across the ice after the loss of the Endurance.

Food stocks were melting before our eyes. The rest of the dogs were eaten, but, nevertheless, 28 people continued to drift. Although the land was visible in the distance, it remained inaccessible due to the accumulation of ice.

On April 8, 1916, the ice floe on which they lived began to split. The team urgently plunged into three lifeboats and began to move through the treacherous labyrinth among the ice in the direction of what they believed to be a whaling outpost.

After about a week, they landed on the rocky cliff of Elephant Island, inhabited only by penguins and seals. It was their first sensation of the earth in 497 days, but the journey did not end there.

The beach on Elephant Island, where the expedition set up their camp.

The closest realistically reachable settlement was the whaling base on South Georgia Island, which was 920 miles away. Having prepared the James Caird lifeboat for the long voyage, on April 24, 1916, Shackleton and five other men set off on the expedition. He knew that if they did not reach their goal in a month, their fate would be a foregone conclusion.

The rest of the crew remained on Elephant Island, building a makeshift shelter from the two remaining boats.

April 24, 1916. The James Caird departs from Elephanta to reach South Georgia.

In 14 days of grueling passage, the crew of the James Caird survived hurricane winds, monstrous waves and grueling freezing spray. The small boat, completely covered in ice, constantly threatened to capsize.

Finally, they reached the southern coast of South Georgia Island. The men were completely exhausted and the boat nearly sank.

One last obstacle remained: the human settlements were on the north side of the island. In one final gust, Shackleton and two other men made a non-stop 36 hour trek, crossing the island's mountainous and uncharted terrain.

The expedition bids farewell to the crew of the James Caird, which sailed to South Georgia Island in search of rescue.