Ernest Shackleton: Endurance, Part II

"There are two points in the adventures of the diver / one when a beggar he prepares to plunge / one when a prince he rises with his pearl" —Robert Browning, Paracelsus, as quoted by Shackleton on January 5, 1922 in his diary the night before he passed away from heart failure on the Quest, his final voyage back to Antarctica

Artist George Marston sketched and painted multiple scenes throughout the journey. The breaking up of the Weddell Sea ice floes is depicted here as an oil painting. At one point, his oil paints were used to seal gaps in the boat that would sail for … — Artist George Marston sketched and painted multiple scenes throughout the journey. The breaking up of the Weddell Sea ice floes is depicted here as an oil painting. At one point, his oil paints were used to seal gaps in the boat that would sail for help towards South Georgia. Art UK

To Prepare Against the Gales

"Alone, alone, all all alone, alone on a wide wide sea" —Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, as quoted by Shackleton on November 13, 1908 on his first trip to Antarctica aboard the Nimrod

With all of the challenges the men faced, the crew understood how necessary it was to consider what was in their sphere of control. Anticipating upcoming obstacles and preparing for the best options was an essential aspect of their survival.

As they drifted further north, the men grew increasingly aware of the thinning ice. The men could feel the waves below them and at any moment the swell could break apart their refuge. The thinning ice could also, however, release them from the jigsaw-like maze of ice and allow them to attempt to sail towards land. In South, Shackleton quotes from his diary:

"The swell is more marked today, and I feel sure we are at the verge of the floe-ice. One strong gale followed by a calm would scatter the pack, I think, and then we could push through. I have been thinking much of our prospects....The island is the last outpost of the south and our final chance of a landing-place."

After a crack appeared in the ice below them, Shackleton ordered that the boats be prepared to launch. He described the moments in the water:

For an hour we pulled hard to windward of the berg which lay in the open water. The swell was crashing on its perpendicular sides and throwing spray to a height of 60 feet.

After finding a floe of ice to set up camp later that same night, Shackleton watched for cracks in the ice as the men slept. He began to notice one of the tents stretching apart. A man cried out that two men had gone under the water. As the crack widened, he noticed a man in a sleeping bag and heaved him out of the water onto the floe. The crack closed only to pull apart and widen once more. This time the boats, the tent, and some men were slowly separating from the larger group. Quickly, the team pushed the boat across the crack and climbed over. Shackleton was left alone before he could cross:

The night had swallowed the others, and the rapid movement of the ice forced me to let go the painter. For a moment I felt that my piece of rocking floe was the loneliest place in the world.

Fortunately, though, Shackleton was part of a team of quick-minded men. His second-in-command, Frank Wild, prepared the boat to be launched to recollect their drifting leader.

There were other dangers of which the men needed to be mindful. In Captain Frank Worsley's thrilling account, Shackleton's Boat Journey, he paints images of tumultuous swells—"great rolling hills of jostling ice sweeping past us in half-mile long waves"—that could crash ice floes against their boats. He writes of killer whales that could flip the boats:

Apart from ice and stormy weather, our deadliest foes at the edge of the ice were killer whales. These brutes grow to length of over twenty-five feet and have a mouth with a four-foot stretch and teeth 'according'.

Finally the day came when they would set sail free from the ice that slowed their passage. Their goal was to reach Elephant Island; if they missed the island, they would die in open sea.

To reach Elephant Island, the men would need to row their three lifeboats 100 miles across rough swells and bitter temperatures. The pressure to navigate the crew safely to land weighed heavily on Captain Worsley during the seven days while they were at sea. The men battled frostbite, hunger, and sleep on this incredible journey. They arrived safely at Elephant Island.

To Land and Set Sail Again

That the smallest leads to the greatest, / And your worth may now be seen / As the pulsing heart of the ocean / Goes by your island green. —Ernest Shackleton, "Fanning Isle," a favorite poem of Shackleton's wife, thought to be written by Shackleton in 1903

Shackleton and five of his crew board the James Caird with the goal of sailing 800 miles to South Georgia, an island inhabited by whalers. — *Shackleton and five of his crew board the* James Caird *with the goal of sailing 800 miles to South Georgia, an island inhabited by whalers.*

Though the men were now safely on land after nearly one year of floating at sea, Elephant Island was anything but hospitable. Furthermore, there was no reason to think that any passing whalers would find the stranded men. It was clear that the crew would need to devise a plan that would help them reach home.

With the prospect of traveling 800 miles across rough seas, the men knew they needed to do whatever was possible to ensure a safe voyage. Carpenters Henry McNish and Timothy McCarthy raised the sides of the boat, the James Caird, so that even with the weight of the men and a month's supply of food, the boat could remain sufficiently above water. George Marston's oil paints were used to fill in the gaps between the added planks, and a canvas tarp was added as a cover to prevent water from entering the boat and to provide relief for those sleeping below. Worsley recounts:

The only way they could do it was by holding the frozen canvas in the blubber fire till it thawed, often burning their fingers, while the oily smoke got in their eyes and noses, half-blinding and choking them. Then they sewed, often getting frostbitten and having to use great care that the difficult sewing with cold, brittle sail needles did not break all of our now scanty supply.

Once at sea, the most challenging feat was navigating accurately amidst the rough waves and cloudy sky which blocked the sun's position as a navigating reference. Worsley recounts that "once, perhaps twice, a week the sun smiled a sudden wintry flicker, through stormtorn clouds." On these occasions, he would take his measurements:

I took observations of the sun for position, but the boat pitched, rolled, and jerked so heavily that I could take them only by kneeling on the after-thwart, with Macarty and Vincent clinging to me on either side, to prevent me pitching overboard, sextant and all.

He would then go below the canvas cover to read from his Nautical Almanac and complete his calculations.

The crests and pitfalls of their journey may resonate metaphorically for those who've faced their own challenges of working. Worsley's account paints a vivid picture:

So we held our way; in those valleys and on those ridges alternately. First, half-becalmed--a hill of water ahead, another astern--the following hill lifts us, and the boat slides with increasing speed down the eversteepening slope, till with a sudden upward swoop, the sea boiling white around and over us, we are on the summit with a commanding view of a panorama of dark grey and indigo blue rollers, topped and broken with white horses. The crest passing leaves the boat apparently stationary, gravity now holding her back till the next hollow reaches us, and so on ad nauseam.

Other details that tend to get lost in the magnitude of an incredible feat reveal the tedium of daily toil:

The reindeer bags were now so miserable to get into that when we had finished our watch and it was time to turn in, we had serious doubts as to whether it was worth while....It was like getting between frozen rawhide--which it was. You kicked your feet violently together for two minutes to warm them and the bag, then slid in to the waist. Again you kicked your feet and knocked your knees together and then like a little hero made a sudden brave plunge right inside.

Throughout the journey, they lost bits and pieces of their precious materials: part of the canvas blew off; they lost the anchor. Shackleton writes of the voyage:

We fought the seas and the winds, and at the same time had a daily struggle to keep ourselves alive. At time we were in dire peril. Generally we were encouraged by the knowledge that we were progressing towards the desired land, but there were days and nights when we lay hove to, drifting across the storm-whitened seas, and watching the uprearing masses of water, flung to and fro by Nature in the pride of her strength.

After seventeen days at sea, the men landed on the west coast of South Georgia. To reach the whaling station, they would need to hike across the island to the east coast. Shackleton, Worsley, and Thomas Crean prepared to make the journey while the three others would stay behind and wait for the men to return in a whaling ship. The men, so close to refuge, still had to push through the final leg. "High peaks, impassable cliffs, steep snow-slopes, and sharply descending glaciers could be seen in all directions," Shackleton wrote. No man had yet traveled through the interior of the island; for Shackleton and his crew, there was no other option.

The Final Stretch

After 36 hours of non-stop marching, the men arrived at Stromness Bay, the whaling station. The journey had not been without perils and disappointments. They had climbed down a waterfall, avoided sliding off a precipice, and had even made a wrong turn that required them to retrace their steps. Finally, upon hearing the steam whistle calling the whalers to work, the men knew they were close to their destination. Upon arriving, the men were welcomed heartily. After a good scrub and a warm meal, a whaling ship was prepared to rescue the three men on the other side of the island. All that would be left to declare the expedition a success would be to bring the rest of the men home to safety. But icy waters made it difficult, and it took four additional months to rescue the men back at Elephant Island.

Shackleton worked tirelessly to mobilize different ships offered by nearby governments that could steer through the ice pack After multiple attempts with various ships, Shackleton was able to penetrate the floes on the Chilean Yelcho. On August 30, men on Elephant Island noticed the ship approaching and cried out with joy. They had been on the lookout for such a ship as early as two weeks after Shackleton's departure. The wait was grueling, for they did not know whether they were waiting in vain. Nonetheless, all men had survived.

Shackleton and his crew had entered into Antarctic territory only to face tremendous perils that required all of their skill and tenacity. After two years of isolation, they emerged from the Antarctic into no less desolate circumstances: World War I had been raging for nearly two years and would continue for another two. Of the 28 men on the expedition, three were killed in action.

Additional Resources

For information on the first leg of the men's journey, be sure to read Part I of Ernest Shackleton: Endurance. Complement this article with Frank Worsley's riveting account of the voyage as he begins with the journey to Elephant Island. Published in 1933 as an unofficial account of the expedition, it reads as an adventure tale.

Christopher Ralling's Shackleton provides a well-crafted selection of excerpts from Shackleton's Antarctic writings (including his trip on the Scott Expedition in 1901, his first trip as leader on the Nimrod in 1907, his Endurance trip in 1914, as well as his final trip to Antarctica in 1921 on the Quest). Also included are poems Shackleton wrote on other voyages (all poems quoted here come from Shackleton's writings as quoted from Ralling's text).

Modern-day explorers continue to venture into the dangerous icy terrain. One such expedition is documented by adventurers Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere through photographs, video, and a blog as they retrace the steps of the Robert Scott Expedition. Also interesting is their documentation of training and expeditions in preparation for the final trek. ESPN's new podcast series presents "On the Ice," a story of an all-women team who trek to the North Pole in the Arctic as they face similar challenges of drifting ice floes and breaking ice.