Ernest Shackleton: An Impossible Journey

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton, an Irish explorer, made plans to cross the Antarctic continent from one coast to the other by the way of the South Pole.

His ship was the Endurance, a newly constructed vessel made for tourist cruises in the Arctic.

The newspaper read:

“MEN WANTED: FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS.” SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON.

He left on August 8, with scientists, cooks, and seaman, for the island of South Georgia.  They arrived on November 5.  They packed extra provisions for the long journey through the Weddle Sea and across the Antarctic.  One month later, they left  South Georgia.

They did not make it to the Antarctic coast but instead the ice pack hopelessly trapped the ship.  They tried everything they knew but could not stop  it.  They unloaded all the provisions possible and prepared for a stay on the ice.  The pressure of the ice on the hull was tremendous and the ship sank on November 21, 1915.  Now they were drifting toward the Southwest with the ice and the thaw of spring.

After 281 days, no chance for rescue, and the ice breaking up beneath them, they set out on April 9 1916, in three lifeboats towards land.  They moved from ice flow to ice flow, pitching their tents where they could, and moving on before the ice broke up beneath them.

On April 12, they arrived at Elephant Island and found a suitable place to pitch camp.

Shackleton knew rescue was impossible here so he took one lifeboat and six men and set out on April 24, toward South Georgia.  They managed to cross more than 800 miles of the stormiest sea in the world in a lifeboat, using only a sextant, an unreliable chronometer.  They were almost capsized by what Shackleton said was “the largest wave I have ever seen.”

On May 7, they spotted South Georgia.  They managed to land but now they had to cross a 1500-foot mountain ridge to get the whaling station on the other side. Shackleton and two men left on May 15, for the station.  They arrived on May 20. One of the men boarded a whaler and went back to the other side  to rescue the men left there.

Shackleton borrowed a ship from the whalers, and left on May 23 toward Elephant Island to rescue his men.  Ice forced them back twice. One ship broke down. The fourth borrowed ship arrived on Elephant Island on August 30, to find all alive and well. His men had survived one hundred and five days. 
Due to his incredible leadership, all 28 original men returned to England.

Shackleton went back to South Georgia in 1921 for some geological research.  He died of a heart attack on board his ship.  They buried him there under a headstone of Scottish granite.  It was a fitting tribute to an incredible adventurer.