Our guest speakers informing us along this portion of the cruise have been fantastic. We have learned so much. They leave us after the Falklands and then we will pick up new speakers who will share about Brazil and the culture of the country.
From 1898 to 1923 was considered the heroic age of exploration of the arctic; 25 years. Sixteen expeditions took place over this time and were very primitive. There was no communication once you left your port. You had to be prepared for everything the best you could.
Although there were many one of the most legendary legendary was Shackleton. He was born in Ireland and then as a young boy moved to England where his father was a doctor.
He was one of 10 children and was a restless student. It was noted that he was a voracious reader and later became a merchant navy officer as he enrolled at 16. He loved exploration and was
appointed as third officer on the Discovery Ship 1901-1903. He established a hut in Ross Island but then became unwell and had to return to England.
Shackleton was easy to get in and along with people but Scott the captain was not like that. He sent Shackleton home due to his illness.
He then led his own expedition with funds he raised in 1907-1908 on the Nimrod and built another shack. He didn’t make it the full way but made a good decision to return to pursue further.
Shackleton was a true explorer and his goal was to cross on foot after getting to Anatartica landing on the Weddell Sea area. The Weddell Sea is full of ice for months . There isn’t much leeway to get in or out. 14,000 British pounds it cost him to lead his own expedition.
Antarctica means the opposite of arctic. Shackleton had to find funding and an experienced and willing crew. He knew they had to be able to all get along, take orders and have great strength. The ship he had built was called The Endurance and it could cut through 4 ft of ice!
He put out flyers looking for his crew all over town.
He had 5000 responses to his ad! He hired 25 sailors who he determined to be amenable and skilled. He also had a professional photographer that traveled with the crew and documented the trip through photos.
They carried 69 Canadian sledding dogs for help with transportation once they got to solid ice. They left from Buenos Aires in 1914. They met up with Whalers along the route that told them there was very bad ice and tithe channels were clogged with ice. But because Shackleton had a
difficult time getting financing he knew he couldn’t turn back because he couldn’t repeat it. WWI had broken out but the king of England said no, you go. This is more important for England to discover new lands and possibly new treasures and minerals.
But 6 weeks out the ship got stuck and drifted NW moving further from land. Because they were sailing it was much more challenging to guide the ship in always the correct direction. They had to entertain and adapt for 7 months while they were stuck. They ate seals and penguins raw and cooked. The blubber helped them tor ward off scurvy but had to be eaten raw and Shackleton knew this. They also had to feed the dogs as well so they used the whale meat and penguins.
But soon the iron plates in the engine started buckling from cold and they knew the ship would founder and sink in a short time. There was no way to chop the ship out of the ice or save her. So they began to take things off the ship and save what they could. Eventually she sunk and when she was found 100 years or more later she was
found at 10,000 ft exactly where she sunk.
They took the life boats off and put them on sleds and tried to pull them with all their provisions. After awhile they found open water but it was a mix of ice in the open water. Shackleton picked Elephant Island to try and reach. They experienced high winds and high waves up to 22 ft in the open life boats. Landed in a poor location in May 1916 after being on ice for over 500 days.
A sad part of the story was that they killed a number of dogs for food because they were starving. It was very difficult for them men because the dogs were their friends and companions. It was a job no one wanted and one I can’t even imagine. Finally they had to eat the rest of the dogs.
The men were very weak. Ice floes could have crushed their boats as they towed and the waves and winds could have overturned their boats. It was one of the worst weeks of their whole expedition! The huddled together to stay warm and fight off the elements. They never changed their clothes for the majority of their entire journey. Orca whales were threatening them too and one flip of the boat and they could have been eaten, drowned or frozen.
The trip they would take would be approximately 800 miles in a 22 ft boat to get help. They endured 80 mph winds and high waves.
As the slowly made their way they had to chip away ice from the outside every day. Finally they made it to the Island of South Georgia not where he wanted to be.
Shackleton had made it to the wrong side of the island! He knew he couldn’t take all the men to the other side because they were too weak so he took a small crew leaving the rest with whatever they could spare. They would go to get help. They ending walking over a mountain range to a whaling station by foot to get help. When he got there he was unrecognizable and no one could believe he had survived all this time!!! It was a journey of almost 1 1/2 years.
He got some Chilean whalers to take him back to Elephant Island to rescue the remaining men who cried when they saw him. All 22 men who he left on Elephant Island had survived. It took four attempts by boat to finally reach them.
And all the men he took originally also survived. Unbelievable! Shackleton and his crew returned to England where he wrote a book. He died at age 47 of a heart attack and was buried in South Georgia.
Since 1915 the ship has not been seen but an anonymous benefactor launched an expedition to search for the ship in 2019 by Dr John Shears.
It became a research and wreck search where they used AWVs under water vehicles.
Then a 2nd expedition took place with new technology where they tethered vehicles. A More clear search of where the wreck was undertaken and the primary objective of this expedition was the wreck. They used What’s App to communicate through the expedition. It absolutely thrilled them to see something that hadn’t been seen in over 100 years. Lidar was used and they gathered lots and lots of data which can’t be shared at this point because National Geographic owns all the rights to it and a book is being written.
Fascinating!!!!
His advertisement
Wanting to be the first to cross Antarctica
His ship the Endurance.
The crew trying to keep the ice away from the ship and secure a water way
An original photo taken by the photographer on board as she is stuck. All the photos are from the photographer which in itself is totally amazing.
The dogs… the crew beginning to realize things had to come off to save them from going down with the ship
Camped on the frozen ground for months.
And she sank November 21 1915
Putting the life boats on sleds trying to pull them. Futile….
Then teaching Elephant Island in April 1916 using the boat for shelter.
Shackleton and a few others now must walk to the other side of the island in terrible weather for help.
South Georgia Bay May 1916 a whaling station
Help finally comes.
New expeditions then in 2019 and new technology
Endurance 2022
New ROV subs
Here is the location of the original Endurance and you can see her berth almost in perfect shape . It took ten years to plan for this expedition.
Pretty excited new age explorers !!!!!
Four nautical miles south of Worley’s coordinates they see her
We travel , initially, to lose ourselves. We travel, next, to find ourselves. By Pico Iyer
1 comment:
Wow! Very fascinating. I have seen a documentary on Shackleton. I can’t even imagine….and what an ad in the paper, surprised by so many responses.
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