He sat in the makeshift camp on the polar ice as a cold wind heralded the approaching long dark winter. Soon the sun would not be seen for three months.
He and his men had been trapped on the ice for nearly a year. As the winter darkness descended, he could hear the horrible sounds of his ship being crushed by the relentless ice not 100 yards away. His meager oil lamp flickered in the wind as he shivered and stared into the inky blackness, wondering if all was lost.
Ernest Shackleton had found himself, along with his crew, adrift on an ice floe in the notorious Weddell Sea just north of the Antarctic continent.
It was 1915 and his country, England, had been at war for almost a year and there he was trapped in an icy vise thousands of miles away, unable to move forward or return home to help his country fight Germany.
On August 1, 1914, Shackleton’s expedition to cross the unexplored Antarctica from the Weddell Sea via the South Pole to the Ross Sea had received the blessing of Winston Churchill, Lord of the Admiralty. That same night World War I broke out.
Shackleton departed England under the clouds of war on August 8, 1914, aboard the Endurance, captained by Frank Worsley. On January 18, 1915, they had sailed to within 100 miles of their destination when they became stuck in the ice.
After some three months, they were still held fast. By May, the Antarctic winter arrived and brought with it unbelievable blizzards and temperatures as low as 34 degrees below zero. After many attempts to free the ship, Shackleton resigned himself to winterizing the Endurance so they could survive until the sun returned in three months time.
Although the Endurance remained locked in the pack ice, they had somehow drifted more than 1,100 miles. Eventually, Shackleton had no alternative but to abandon ship when it began to buckle under the pressure of the ice. He set up camp on the thickest part of the ice and watched as his ship was crushed, then finally disappeared beneath the ice.
The crew got most of what they needed off the ship, including sledges, three wooden lifeboats and, of course, the dogs. But Shackleton realized they would have to hunt what game they could find if they were going to survive.
Just before the ship broke up, the Boss, as he had become known, found that he had another mouth to feed when they discovered a stowaway. His name was Perce Blackborough, and he had sneaked aboard in Buenos Aires.
To supplement their limited supplies, some men were dispatched on hunting trips for seals and penguins, but those did not always go as planned.
On one hunt, a leopard seal shot out of an ice hole and charged one of the hunters. With lightning speed, it slithered across the ice toward the surprised man, who slipped and fell. Struggling to get traction on the ice, the man was making no headway as the seal’s razor-sharp teeth drew closer and closer.
Luckily, another member of the crew saw what was happening and shot the huge animal just before it sank its teeth in the man. The seal weighed a thousand pounds and became a welcome source of food for several weeks.
Although for the time being they were well nourished, new problems soon beset the explorers when their campsite fell victim to the raging sea. It was so rough that it was breaking up the ice beneath them. Using the lifeboats, the men were forced to hop from one floe to another until the breakup became so hazardous that men and dogs were at risk of being lost.
Shackleton had no alternative but to instruct the entire crew to remain in the lifeboats along with the dogs with as many supplies as possible. When the ice broke into smaller pieces, there was a mad scramble to save themselves and get what they could on their three small boats. As their ice sanctuary disappeared into the Weddell Sea, the flotilla headed into open water and the unknown.
For seven days they rowed and sailed in the worst conditions imaginable. Finally, the nearly frozen men made landfall at the barren and uninhabited Elephant Island. The Boss knew that they would have to ultimately move to a more sustainable location, but for the time being, they would have to make the best of it.
Eventually, Shackleton had to make one of the most important decisions of his life. He would have to attempt to reach a whaling station on South Georgia Island some 800 miles to the north, through the world’s most storm-savaged seas.
The Boss selected the largest of the wooden lifeboats, secured a mast and sail, then chose a crew. He knew that only five men could go with him, the others would have to remain on Elephant Island until a rescue vessel could reach them. That would obviously depend upon his success in reaching South Georgia Island. If he failed, not only would he and the five crewmen perish, so too would all those remaining on Elephant Island.
To accompany him on the journey, Shackleton chose Captain Worsley as navigator along with the second mate, Thomas Crean. Completing the crew were Harry McNeish, the carpenter, and two sailors.
He left his second in command, Frank Wild, in charge of the remaining brave men on Elephant Island along with what he estimated would be sufficient supplies.
When the little craft sailed away into the dark Antarctic waters, Wild and his men must have wondered if they would ever see the Boss and his crew again.
The men left behind knew they would face a harsh existence until help came; of course, they had no idea how long that would be, if it came at all. They turned the two remaining lifeboats on their sides and with the help of sail cloth, fashioned two makeshift shelters. Leftover seal oil would be used as fuel for the lamps, which also served as stoves.
Meanwhile, Shackleton was battling his way to South Georgia Island through the unforgiving Waddell Sea.
This story is from the book Legendary Hunters and Explorers. Finishing the final book in the iconic Legends series, Legendary Hunters and Explorers is the epitome of Sir John Seerey-Lester’s spirit. Filled with over 120 paintings and 45 descriptive chapters, the new 200-page book relives the compelling stories of 25 acclaimed hunters and explorers. Order your copy today!