About Endurance Expedition

Despite the South Pole having been reached by Amundsen in December 1911, Shackleton still had big plans for his Endurance expedition. His goal to cross the Antarctic from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea was a feat never accomplished before. The strategy was to employ two ships; one to reach the Antarctic through the Weddell Sea and another to reach it through the Ross Sea. The Endurance would sail into the Weddell Sea and drop off six men to travel across the Antarctic continent until they reached the Ross Sea at the opposite end. The Aurora would deploy several men after arriving on the Ross Sea coast. These men would drop off supplies along the second half of the route for the traveling crew that was making its way toward the Ross Sea. The Aurora would remain at the Ross Sea coast until the traveling crew arrived.

The Endurance left the West India Dock for Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 8, 1914. By mid-November, it arrived at a whaling station in South Georgia. Because the ice in Weddell Sea was particularly bad that season, the crew waited in South Georgia for a month, hopeful conditions would improve. The Endurance set sail for the Antarctic on December 5.

Early Trouble

Shackleton's leadership skills were put to the test early on when the Endurance froze within the ice of the Weddell Sea on January 18, 1915. They were only one day away from reaching their selected landing spot, Vahsel Bay, and could even see the land in the distance, but a thick skin of ice that enclosed the sea made it seemingly impossible to reach.

The men continually tried to unleash the ship from the ice's grip, but they never succeeded. On February 24, Shackleton turned the ship into a winter station. At that point, the men could only hope for the springtime, when increased temperatures might thaw the ice. Unfortunately, that was still nine months away.

Crushed

In early August, storms began to pick up outside the Endurance. Ice floes crashed into each other, resulting in a 20-foot high fold of ice. Other floes took hold of the ship, cracking its beams. By October 27, the floes would prove too brutal for the ship to handle. Amid the cracking ice, moaning wooden planks and howling dogs, the men were ordered to abandon ship. They would have to live on the ice, setting up a temporary site called Dump Camp and resorting to the deserted Endurance in order to store any useful supplies.

After a few days camped out, the crew began the daunting walk on the ice toward land; Shackleton hoped to cover five miles a day. It was clear after only a few days that they wouldn't be able to walk further than one mile per day. Their best hope would be to wait until the ice floes broke apart, giving them an opportunity to launch their lifeboats toward land. On November 1, 1915, the crew set up Ocean Camp, breaking there until late December.

On the night of November 21, Shackleton awoke the crew to stunning news; as they watched from a distance, the ice beneath their beloved Endurance broke apart, and the ship sank into the frigid waters. Shackleton, seeing that their main means of travel and stored supplies were officially gone, simply said, èShip and stores have gone, so now we'll go home.

Of course, returning home wouldn't be so easy. Sensing that his crew was becoming anxious at Ocean Camp, Shackleton formed plans for the men to drag the lifeboats, the James Caird, Dudley Docker and the Stancomb Willis, toward Paulet Island, walking at a pace of two miles per day. After only seven miles of strenuous marching, the James Caird and Dudley Docker were worn out. At this rate, it would take the crew about 300 days to actually reach land. The crew had no choice but to set up camp, waiting three long months for the temperatures to increase so that they may finally be able to sail their lifeboats over water. They aptly named their new camping spot, Patience Camp.

Lifeboats Launched

Signs of hope emerged when the ice floes began to crack. On April 9, 1916, it was enough for the crew to jump into the lifeboats and take advantage of the exposed water. Once on the boats, the men began heading west, hoping for a chance to reach land. Elephant Island was 60 miles away, and just to its west was Deception Island. The latter provided them with the best chance of discovery by passing whalers, and it was selected as the designating landing spot. The crew hadn't been on soil since December 5, 1914 - almost a year and a half.

The boats traveled little on the first day. Amid the icy tides, huge chunks of ice would crash into each other, nearly catching the lifeboats in the middle. The crew threw items overboard to ease their load, and the remaining objects on the boat - including the men themselves - were covered under sprays of ice that fell upon them. Wind blasts made it even colder, and it didn't help that they found themselves surrounded by killer whales.

Reaching Elephant Island

On April 12, the men realized that the winds had thrown them off track, and they had been going east instead of west toward Deception Island. The crew turned back around toward their original direction. By that point, Shackleton decided that any landfall was vital for the survival of his crew. Elephant Island, as the closest piece of land, became the new destination. On April 15, the boats staggered onto the shores of Elephant Island. The exhausted, injured and frostbitten men immediately buckled into sleep.

The men found a safe spot on the island to camp out, turning two lifeboats upside down to use as shelter. Despite the relief of finally making it to land, Elephant Island was no paradise. Penguin dung littered the land and blizzards continually swept through. With only five weeks worth of food and the polar winter looming ahead, Shackleton knew that the crew couldn't survive on the island much longer. He decided that he and a few others would need to reach South Georgia, 800 miles away, for assistance. The men fixed up the battered James Caird for the critical journey. Shackleton appointed Frank Wild as leader while he was away, designating him to preside over the remaining crewmembers left on the island. He selected James Worsley, Thomas Crean, Harry McNeish, John Vincent and Timothy McCarthy to come with him on the lifeboat.

The Trip to South Georgia

The James Caird set sail on April 24, 1916. The journey to South Georgia was no better than the trip to Elephant Island. While the first day at sea provided good sailing weather, powerful wind gusts eventually gripped the boat, constantly tossing it over harsh waves. Ice continually froze over the ship and had to be chipped away. The frigid conditions made all tasks especially difficult; the boat's brass pump became so cold that it numbed the hand of whoever was pumping it, and icy waters splashed over men positioned at the wheel. At one point, a crewman became frozen in one spot, and the others had to help him just to get into his sleeping bag. Even then, sleep didn't come easy for the exhausted crew. Their sleeping quarters were extremely small, located in the foremost point of the ship's hull. It was cramped, uncomfortable and the ship's constant movement made sleep nearly impossible.

On May 10, the boat reached South Georgia Island. The men realized that they had arrived in King Haakon Bay, which was on the other side of the island where their destination, Stromness whaling station, stood. Attempting another journey on the boat was out of the question, so the men decided to walk through the island, a feat no one had previously accomplished. There would be mountains, glaciers and frozen waterways to travel across, and it would prove to be yet another exhausting challenge.

Crossing South Georgia

Captain Worsley and Crean joined Shackleton on the journey towards the Stromness whaling station, while McNeish, Vincent and McCarthy stayed on the coast. They weren't healthy enough to attempt the trip. After some much-needed rest, the three men set out on May 19, 1916.

The men climbed a mountain of 2,500 hundred feet above sea level, and they could survey the difficult terrain that lay before them. They descended down the mountain just to climb back up again when they realized traveling would be too difficult at sea level. Every time they overcame some physical obstacle, another one seemed to pop up in its place. This forced the men to go back the way they came, attempting to find new routes to get to their destination. At one point, realizing the dangers of staying up on a high elevation as it got colder, the men were forced to make a sled and flew down a 900-foot incline. Finally, after walking 23 hours, the men thought they had come into reach of Stromness Bay. It turned out that they were wrong; successfully at the bottom of the mountain, the men now saw cliffs obstructing their path. They had no choice but to climb back up the mountain again.

Saved

On May 20, the men finally reached the whaling station. The whalers were quick to help the three battered and fatigued figures that stumbled upon them. Three days later, the men took a whaleboat, the Southern Sky, as a means to rescue the remaining crewmen back on Elephant Island. Ice proved too difficult to move across, so they were forced to return to land. This time, they went to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. Shackleton contacted the King and Admiralty in London for assistance, asking that they send one of Robert F. Scott's old ships. Response was slow, and Shackleton refused to wait around while his crewmen were still stranded at Elephant Island. He asked governments of different South American countries for help, and Chili came to the rescue by providing its naval ship, Yelcho, for assistance. After a five day journey, Shackleton reached Elephant Island.

All the men Shackleton had left behind were alive, thanks in part to their surrogate leader, Frank Wild. While the expedition was officially over for the rest of the crew, Shackleton still had the Ross Sea Party, those who sailed on the Aurora, to rescue.

The Aurora crew also had its heavy share of difficulties and setbacks. Like the Endurance, it had become stuck in the ice during its journey, and eventually made it to New Zealand in March 1916. Shackleton arrived in January 1917 to find that seven of the 10 original crewmen survived. Despite his critique of the leadership skills that marked Capt. Macintosh, Shackleton took responsibility for the deaths of the men in the Ross Sea Party.

Aftermath

Shackleton returned home in May to a faded reception. World War I had changed the way people viewed heroism; surviving the Antarctic was not a celebrated feat as was giving up one's life as a dedicated soldier in the war. Shackleton's interest in polar exploration did not end, however. With eight members of the Endurance onboard, Shackleton embarked on his Quest expedition on September 18, 1921. There were no concrete goals for the trip, save for charting un-navigated lands and conducting oceanic research.

On January 4, 1922, the ship reached South Georgia, a stopping point before heading to Antarctica. Early the next morning, Shackleton died in his cabin from a heart attack. He was 47 years old. Understanding the dedication and passion her husband had for the Arctic region, Emily requested the crewmen bury Shackleton on South Georgia Island.