Shackleton’s Heroics......
I have always considered Ernest Shackleton
to be a total Hero and one of the greatest leaders of men I have ever come
across. He was also an explorer of great magnitude and a credit to his Irish
birth.
Like most fellow Irishmen, I cannot stand the cold
whilst he went through total hell in the Antarctic’s freezing
weather in the early 1900’s. His ship in the expedition I shall deal mainly
with, was the ‘Endurance’ and it was aptly named, as what
Shackleton and his men went through must surely be one of the greatest feats of
endurance ever known to man..........................
Ernest Henry Shackleton was
born on 15 February 1874 in Ballitore, County Kildare and was educated
in England in Dulwich College. He was not a good student but had
ambitions from an early age to be an explorer. His parents did and tried
everything to discourage him from this pursuit. He left school in 1890 and
joined the Merchant Navy. He was also commissioned as a lieutenant in
the Royal Naval Reserve. He had a brother Francis who is one
of the ‘dark characters’ in an event concerning the theft of
the Irish Crown Jewels.................
In December 1901, it is claimed, but no record can
in fact be found, that Ernest answered an advertisement in the Times of
London, which is supposed to have said, "Men wanted for
hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of winter. Constant
danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success".
This became known as the ‘Discovery
Expedition’, (after the ship used), under the command of Robert
Falcon Scott. Captain Scott was to die in March 1912 in a subsequent failed
attempt to reach the South Pole.
The Discovery expedition began in early 1902 and
upon arriving and landing at Antarctica, Scott, Shackleton and Dr. Edward
Wilson began to trek south towards the unconquered South Pole. They were
soon in difficulties due to their inexperience with such an environment. They
used dogs, but none of them had any experience with dogs. They had insufficient
food, which brought them close to starvation. Scott was a very strong and
single-minded individual who did not make allowances for others shortcomings. He
expected them to be able to deal with all situations as he did............
On December 31, 1902, they reached the furthest
point south any man had ever reached – 463 nautical miles from the Pole.
On their return to the ship, Shackleton developed scurvy and
Wilson had intermittent snow blindness. Shackleton and Scott
returned to England where they fully recovered. It was felt that Scott disliked
Shackleton due to his popularity with the other members of the expedition and
that this was the reason for ordering him home. However, subsequent
correspondence would seem to disprove this.
Shackleton organised another expedition to the
South Pole, which was named the 'Nimrod Expedition'. This took
place between 1907 and 1909 and is noted for several major achievements.
However, because of his previous problems with dogs, this time he took ponies.
These proved equally unsuccessful. However, they reached 97 nautical miles
from the Pole and were crowned the ‘Furthest South
Expedition’. Again, they suffered from shortage of rations and were
fortunate that their return to the ship was blessed with good weather unlike
that which was to cause the death of Scott three years later.
They returned to England where they were treated as
heroes with Shackleton being knighted..........................
After the death of Scott on his unsuccessful
attempt to reach the South Pole and it having been reached by another explorer,
a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, Shackleton began to organise a further
expedition. This was to be known as ‘The Endurance Expedition’ again
after the ship, and would take place between 1914 and 1916. The aim was to
cross Antarctica from South of the Atlantic to South of the Pacific via the
South Pole...................
However, on arrival there in January 1915, the ice
pack closed in on the Endurance and they remained ice-bound
for ten months. On 27 October 1915 the ship was broken up by the ice. The 28
crewmembers managed to load three small boats with supplies and drag them
across the ice to Elephant Island where they set up camp in a
cave. Whilst awaiting rescue which did not come and which was not in fact
expected, Shackleton and five other men decided to sail one of the boats to South
Georgia in the Falkland Islands where it was known there was a whaling
station.
On Easter Monday, April 24th after
making sure that all was safe and secure at the camp on Elephant Island,
Shackleton and his five man crew set sail. He knew that in May the area was
infamous for being the most wind-swept area of water in the world and the
journey would be about 800 miles.
The story of the sea journey is legendary and far
too complex for a short story such as this, but suffice is to say that after 14
days of the most appalling seas, cold and wet, the land at South Georgia was
sighted. However, there was no suitable landing area and they were obliged to
continue and land at the ‘wrong’ end of the island. This meant
that they would have to trek across glaciers, mountains and other such terrain.
They eventually made it to the whaling station,
where they were treated like heroes. After several attempts to return to
Elephant Island with problematic ships they enlisted the help of the Chilean
Navy.
A navy seagoing tug, the Yelcho,
returned with Shackleton to Elephant Island where the full crew was rescued on
30 August 1916. Whilst in New Zealand recovering from his ordeal,
Shackleton received news in December, that his supply ship was stranded in
Antarctica. He returned with the Yelcho and all were saved and
taken to New Zealand.
Upon his return to England in May 1917, it was
diagnosed that Shackleton had a serious heart condition but this did not deter
him from volunteering for the army to fight in the First World War.
His condition deteriorated over the next few years,
but he again set out in 1921 on another expedition to the Antarctic. However,
on 5 January 1922 he died on board his ship the Quest from
another heart attack. He was buried in South Georgia on the Falkland Islands......
In recent years there has been a revival of
interest in Shackleton and he has become an icon of successful leadership for
some modern business writers with several books extolling his leadership style.
The main hut used by Shackleton and his men still
stands. It is regularly cleaned and repaired. It is
more or less as it was left by the expedition. The interior can
be viewed on Google maps. In about 2002, more serious
repairs had to be made to the floor and in doing so several cases of whisky
were recovered under the floor in the ice. They were carefully
removed and after they were defrosted it was discovered that the whisky was
still drinkable. I was disappointed to discover that it was in
fact Scotch whisky and not Irish. It was in fact Mackinlay’s
Malt, 47.3% proof. As a result of the analysis efforts to recreate
the whisky began.
One fly in the ointment as far as I am concerned
about Shackleton is the fact that although married in 1904 and having two sons,
he continued to have affairs throughout his married life. One was with an
American born actress Rosa Lynd, which began in 1910 and continued
intermittently until his death.
------------Mike----------
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