Scott and Shackleton Anctartic Expeditions

Translation from the book: LIDERAZGO: el arte de la alineación y el esfuerzo.
Caso expediciones antárticas de Scott y Shackleton by Pablo López Herrera

Scott and Shakelton Antartic Expeditions
Leadership in the art of alignment and effort



To my dear daughter Marie and my son in law Thibault


Introduction

This book is dedicated to commemorate the history of the first explorers of the Antarctic, and to withdraw the lessons for anyone who may be interested in assuming some kind of leadership, whatever its reach may be, and to whom may be interested in that which may allow a man to give a step forward, the following and then the next one.

In the first part you will find a passionate story that will show you that which enthusiasm and intelligence oriented in one direction are capable of.

In the second part, you will find some instruments and help to find the way of making your projects come true, how to encourage a work team or simply to play a better role which you have to perform when being part of a team.

Human enterprises are, may it sound redundant, enterprises made by men. And furthermore, they all start with an idea, with reflections made about them, with the construction of a project, with getting others enthused and motivated in participating, and with a dose of courage and energy needed to go forward in the first place without looking back and being consistent in the effort.

In life, we are like a traveler who is standing on a platform. First we choose where we want it to take us to, and then we share our trip with those that have chosen the same train. And as things last more than people, until the world ends, we will get off at some station and the train will go on.

May that man who finds a transcendental motivation and leave everything on the way to get as close as he can to that place which providence has sent him to.













PART 1

CASE: Scott and Shackelton’s Antarctic Expeditions

¨´I know those who look for the sea at a slow pace of their caravans, and that need the sea. And when they arrive, they are amazed. And their hearts are washed from the slavery of small things. Then they load provisions of immensity and bring back the true happiness that they have found to their homes. And their homes change because somewhere there exists a sunset in the plateaus and, at sea. Because everything opens up to something wider than oneself. Everything becomes a road and a window to something different about oneself¨.

Antoine de Saint –Exupery, Ciudadela


The Antarctic
The Antarctic is an immense, inhospitable and little explored zone of the planet. Quite differently from the rest of the inhabited world, the normal situation for a man that visits it is of extreme physical demand. It has a surface of 14 million square kms that reach 20 million when the ocean freezes, in winter. Seas of difficult navigation surround it. High temperatures of up to –89° have been registered (Vostok, 3.500 m of height, July 21st, 1983).

It has an average height of 2.300 m, mostly covered by 85 % of ice. It is very windy region – with winds of more than 60 kms per hour, mostly on the coasts- and very dry- 50 mm of annual rain. The combination of rain and snow produces a blizzard that shortens vision to only a few meters. Sometimes, this doesn’t allow developing activities in the open air for various days. The wind accelerates the loss of warmth in the body and amplifies the effect and feeling of cold. For example, at – 40° degrees, a 15 km/hr wind can cause the freezing of the skin that is exposed to the open air.

In winter, the sun disappears for 24 hrs, which can make someone who may not be well prepared to have feelings of dejectedness and depression.

The ice at sea is not all the same. There are areas that remain frozen all year and, a layer of ice whose surface augments in winter and, in summer starts melting progressively, to later freeze again the following winter. According to the different temperatures and marine currents, this surface moves and is in some way articulated. In the sea of Weddell, towards the east of the Antarctic Peninsula, farther than the Larsen and Ross ice shelves, the ice pack rotates like an enormous disc in clockwise direction.

The expeditions to the Antarctic
At the beginning of the XIX century all the inspection and reconnaissance journeys of the globe were practically concluded.

One of the regions that was pending was the Antarctic. Since James Cook´s trip in 1772 until 1912, few voyages had been sent to this immense, inhospitable zone of the planet, unlike the rest of the inhabited world: England 9; Russia one, in 1819; United Sates three, as from 1820; France two, as from 1837; Belgium one, in 1897; Sweden, one, in 1901; Scotland, one, in 1902 and Germany two in 1901.

As from the International Congress of Geography, which took place in London in 1895, interest in the area was reinforced, to the point of performing twenty expeditions in the following twenty years, against only twenty done the century before.

What was presented as that of strategic interest for those countries who were interested in the zone was to be the first to reach the South Pole. The commanders of the expeditions that attempted to go for it were exceptional beings, doted by leadership skills, with taste for adventures, considering the reputation that these involved, and willing to face the greatest personal physical sacrifices.

England was the most interested country in the South Pole.In 1902, The Royal Geographical Society sponsored an expedition commanded by captain Robert Falcon Scott.

The Discovery expedition, commanded by Scott, arrived at the Sea of Ross in January,1902. After spending winter on board, together with Edward Wilson – a doctor who was a friend of Scott’s that would die with him on a later expedition- and Ernest Shakelton.

They went through difficulties, particularly in the handling of sledges and the dogs. They returned without achieving their objectives, affected by hunger, the cold, frostbite and weakening of the sight caused by the reflection of the snow. Shakelton, who was suffering from frostbite, was sent back to England. The rest of the expedition stayed back to spend all winter in Antarctica.

During this journey, animosity arose between Scott and Shakelton, which would separate their fates from then on. Scott was a typical officer of the Royal Army. He was used to hierarchies, rules and orders, even under the special circumstances which characterized those expeditions, in which the capability of survival of all men was put at trial and in which everyone depended absolutely on eachother.

Scott did not give up his structured way of managing his men even at difficult times, in which mayor flexibility could be a key element to achieve an invaluable distention. Shakel ton, on the contrary, showed he could handle this aspect as no one else could.

In August, 1907, Shakelton could command his own expedition on board of the Nimrod. He arrived at the Sea of Ross in January, 1908; with 10 Manchuria horses and nine dogs. After spending winter on Ross Island, a party with Douglas Mawson reaches the Magnetic South Pole. Shakelton accompanied by Frank Wild, Eric Marshall (doctor) and Lieutenant Jameson Adams depart on October 19, 1908 for Cape Royds to try to reach the South Pole, managing to get to 160 kms from it.

At a certain point of the expedition, the state of the group and provisions were enough for them to reach the pole and to stay there for ever or to return without having achieved his aim. Shakelton preferred to return, showing how important survival and the responsibility for the survival of the men under his command were to him, setting aside the achievement of his goals which could be attained at any other moment. Perhaps his two nicknames under which he was known were the BOSS, as he was called by those he was in charge of and, the CAUTIOUS, for the priority he gave to survival of a man when the risk to be run was death against an eventual achievement.

What was noticeable in this expedition of the Nimrod was how he gave up his ration of food to an exhausted Frank Wild, who was much hungrier than himself. These types of gestures, symbolized by sacrifice of the leader, personal and non solicited, were not unusual in him. And this generated a feedback, absolute loyalty and fidelity in return. With regards to this fact, Wild stated that Shakelton forced him to eat his only biscuit, and that he would have given him another if he had had it. He believed it difficult for someone in the world to realize the generosity and empathy that this gesture involved, and he manifested that in God’s sake he would never forget it, considering that not even millions of pounds would have been enough to pay for a biscuit under those circumstances.

The Nimrod had an order to depart if the explorers didn´t arrive on a determined date, but it cast off a day before that date when it didn´t see them arrive. Bearing this in mind and wanting to arrive on time, Shakelton and Wild go ahead and leave Evans behind, who being ill, advanced at a slower pace. At forced march, they walk thirty six hours only to find the ship had set sail. Shakelton does not lose hope and lights a great fire hoping to be seen from the Nimrod, which is what finally occurs. When the ship reached shore, Shakelton returned for Adams. Later, once on board, he leads the ship out of a ice pack and only then does he rest. There is no evidence that Shakelton may have reproached the captain of the Nimrod for the fact of having cast off a day before what had been arranged and settled.

The Royal Geographical Society was still interested in the goal of reaching the South Pole, and sponsored another expedition led by Scott, who had renovated his energy considering Shakelton´s results.

Scott arrived at Ross Island on January, 1911. He took ponies and dogs with a support team that he left at Beardmore Glacier with four colleagues: Oates, Bowes, Wilson and Evans, with whom he started off the assault of the last 240kms to the South Pole. He got there on January 17th, 1912 only to find that Ronald Amudsen had got there on December 14th, 1911. Only one month before….For what is worse, on their way back they hit an exceptional streak of storms which delays them in reaching the depots where they had food and fuel in order not to carry all the weight on their expedition. Evans died, a day after having fallen into a crack. The freezing of Oates´feet slowed down the speed of the team until one night he left the tent saying, Ï´m only going out for a while¨´,and walked out to his death. Later a strong blizzard doesn´t allow the remaining three to do the 18kms that were left to reach the following depot and they die with dignity, one after the other.

The serenity and courage to face death are shown in the letters Scott wrote while he was dieing. In his last messages he said he didn´t regret having done the voyage, which showed that the English could stand up to adversity, help one another and face death with the fortitude which had always characterized them.

Amdusen´s expedition, who already knew the polar winter as he had participated in the expedition of the Belgic in 1897, was introduced as a CUÑA between the English ones. In fact, Amudsen´s original aim was the North Pole, but as it had been reached in 1909 he then aims for the south embarked on the Fram. His experience with the dogs, his obsession with speed and minimum weight and the choice of new and a more direct route- even though it was dangerous and had never been travelled before- made him duplicate the average speed which Scott kept at. In this way he gained prestige for being the first man to reach the South Pole, on December 14th, 1911. His team remained there for three days, making measurements. On their way back they ate some of the dogs that they had taken, reposting at the multiple depots they had previously left prepared to return to.

Shakelton´s personality
Shakelton is an independent spirit who didn´t put up with the strict limits imposed at Dulwich College, in London- He therefore leaves it and joins the Merchant Navy. He navigated for a few years, performing all kinds of possible and imaginable tasks done on board and being promoted to the rank of captain. He was trusted ships with which he made various voyages around the world. When he faced the expedition to Antarctica, he had already become an accostumed sailor and an explorer of the Antarctic zone with experience in this type of adventures. His idea about this kind of adventures made him state that they were the soul of existence because they offered the necessary frame for true harmony amongst men.

Shakelton had a particular personality. He was an incurable optimist. He was often proud of quoting Robert Browning in Prospice,¨For the brave, what is the worst, unexpectedly, becomes the best.´. He forced himself to believe that it was no use to project oneself into the future when considering any difficult circumstances in which one may be involved, as perhaps the worst may have already occurred. He had the personality of an innate leader. Very probably this attribute- apart from the differences in the type of education he had received- was what made him oppose Scott. Even though they didn´t agree on certain issues, no kind of resent coming from Shakelton has ever been mentioned. His early return from the Nimrod, which was not intentional, was very convenient. As from Scott´s heroic death fulfilling his duty, admiration and popular worship started up in England which made him become an untouchable icon. Now, if Shakelton had expressed his resentment towards Scott on his return from the expedition, this would have definitively resulted against him.

After his journey on the Nimrod, he arrived at conclusions about the characteristics that the members of an expedition to the Antarctic should have. These men should firstly be qualified for this kind of job. Moreover, they should have the skills to face the difficult polar environment, be able to live harmoniously during long isolated periods from the outside world and posess a marked individuality. That is to say, it was not easy to choose the adequate crew, no matter how many volunteers did actually turn up.

He related with people in a particular way. Macklin comments on this matter, that he approached a member of the crew when he was alone, starting up a conversation and speaking to him in an intimate way. He asked him how things were doing, what did he think about how things were getting along and what part of his job did he like most. In that way he managed to speak a little bit about of everything, generating trust and opening channels of communication with everyone, within a frame which was free from pressures and influence of others. This type of approach was appreciated and was a very effective way of communicating with a varied group. He encouraged comradeship, which he appreciated as one of the best things which existed.

He took on full responsibility and didn´t measure his effort. Orde-Lees noticed on one opportunity that he had not lied down in three days and that he had not undressed in ten days, only resting three hours each time but always remaining alert.

He is a man of faith. He marries a woman of a higher class . He tried a political career but with no success.

Having gained a reputation with the trip on the Discovery and fame on the Nimrod, Shakelton dedicates the following two years to give conferences, to write a book and to turn the Nimrod into a museum with a paid visit to pay for the debts contracted to go on the last expedition.

In March, 1912, Scott dies during his last expedition.

The Transantarctic Expedition - The Project
In 1913, Shakelton plans his great personal expedition, having Scott and Amudsen conquered the South Pole . He wants to do something which hasn´t yet been achieved.

The project consists of arriving to the Antarctic by the Sea of Weddell, disembarking on the land of Coats in the Vahsel Bay and getting to the South Pole. As from there, the purpose is to carry on across the Antarctic to be later picked up by the Sea of Ross in Cape Evans.

There, another ship—which will be prepared before with his crew with the depots of necessary food and fuel to get from the pole to the Sea of Ross- will be waiting for them to take them back to civilization.

These expeditions normally produced discoveries and scientific advances. Shakelton´s project included investigations on the constitution of water, soil and climate. In order to achieve this , he was taking a biologist, a physicist and a meteorologist that would research the places through which they would pass, taking samples and doing tests which would allow them to know the animal and plant life, the geological conformation and the climate of the region.

The integration of the members of the expedition was made according to the tasks each one would have to perform, there were sailors, officers and marines in charge of the ship´s handling, scientists responsible for the investigations and technicians like the photographer, the carpenter and the draftsman. A group of explorers that would go with Shakelton on the polar journey would be selected from the crew. The basic function of each one of them was registered on the list of members and a certain order of hierarchy within the whole crew was established

What may be important to consider is what Shakelton´s interests in doing this project were: Service in the cause of his country, an adventurous spirit, his personal search of fullfilment, his desire for reputation, economic ambition, and his inability to remain trapped in a more ordinary lifestyle. Perhaps a combination of all these items encouraged him to head for these inhospitable and difficult territories.

Search For Financial Support And Fund Recollection
The expedition departed with a double challenge of succeeding in the technical professional aspects and later, after achieving the results, recovering the investment made in the first place. The cost of the expedition would be of around 30.000 Sterling Pounds, which would mean various millions of dollars nowadays. The financing would be multiple: non refundable or non interested contributions, the anticipated sale of news and images such as diaries of voyage, interviews, photographs and films. The task of recollection of funds was exhausting and in many cases, unfruitful.

Shakelton made a great effort and dedicated time to this task, without which there wouldn´t have been an expedition. His main financial sponsors were sir James Key Caird, with 24.000 Sterling Pounds, Janet Stancomb-Wills and Dudley Docker. The government contributed with 10.000 pounds. The Royal Geographic Society also contributed and some private schools. At the beginning of the summer of 1914 the main job had been finished. He had to delegate the command of the ship during its first stretch from London to Buenos Aires in order to collect the last contributions. He caught up with it later.

Crew Recruitment
Shakelton publishes the following add ¨´Men are required for risky trip. Low salary, piercing cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success. Ernest Shakelton¨.

´Shakelton valued optimism in a man, enthusiasm and particularly being able to socialize. He didn´t follow any particular method to recruit. The interviews were short. But he knew what he was looking for and he could see this in the applicants.

On one opportunity, for the expedition of the Nimrod, he sent three letters on a Friday afternoon, making an appointment for Saturday. One of the applicants replied that he would only travel the four hours that he needed to get to London if he was sure to get the post. Another was not in the city, and requires that his interview were put off until Monday. When he was about to leave the office on Saturday night, a hurried man arrived, soaked by the rain and looking a complete mess, announcing that he had only arrived then because he was in Cornwall, where he had had the letter redirected to, and that he could only reach London by making various connections. Shakelton justified his recruitment by saying that if someone reacted in such way to get a job, he was the man for the post. In his experience, and as it finally turned out, his opinion was more than justified. This man was Marston, that was later recruited for the Endurance.

On one opportunity, on another expedition, a man who had been introduced to him socially turned up applying for one of the posts. He was wearing a very fine suit and a panama hat and Shakelton asked him if he had ever worked. He tried to dissuade him from trying to get the post. As he didn´t manage to do so by talking, he asked him to try him out for one day. Shakelton made him carry provisions, peel potatoes, clean the kitchen, all of which was performed without a single complaint or observation from the applicant. Shakelton took him on.

In this way, he recruited twenty seven men for the Endurance, 28 in all.

The ship
Shakelton bought the Polaris, a schooner with a wooden hull with a thickness of up to 80 cm, three masts and three hundred tons and he rebaptizes it under the name of Endurance. Shakelton´s motto in his family was ´fortitude vincimus´(By endurance we conquer)

Shakelton acquired the best available supplies and material for the trip without even doubting it. Orde- Lees would later say that Shakelton paid great attention to the protection and health of the members of the crew of the expedition, taking care of the diet and food, the equipment and scientific instruments. They had to be modern and in perfect conditions. He tried that the ice could be the only inconvenient factor.

The other ship: Aurora expedition
The Aurora arrived at Cape Evans in January,1915 and they disembarked to spend winter in the ice. After going through all kinds of inconveniences, they made the depots for Shakelton´s trip by land. They lost two men and could get back to New Zeland.

Departure from England: August 1914
After such a hard preparation, the Endurance was ready to depart. When about to leave, the First World War broke out. Shakelton offered his ship and equipment for the war to the British Admiralship. In reply, by telegram, he was simply ordered to proceed, followed by a longer one sent by Churchill with his best wishes for the royal expedition.

The ship departed under the commandment of Worsley on August 1st, 1914 heading for Buenos Aires. It arrived on October 9th. Shakelton remained in England, where he still had to make some payments and finally leaves from Liverpool on September 25th heading for Buenos Aires, where he was to board the ship and join his crew, which he found in a state of crisis. Many of them had got seasick, were drinking and were afraid. They were not totally convinced about the expedition they were about to start. Moreover, many fights had arisen, power groups and animosities for the unequal distribution of tasks.

Departure from Buenos Aires - October 26th, 1914
The expedition is completed in Buenos Aires, and under Shakelton´s command the Endurance departs on October 26th, 1914 towards Litviken in South Georgia. While trying to manouver the Endurance, Greenstreet produces damage to the ship. Shakelton helps him to repair it, and never brought up the subject again. Shakelton was in command but did not maintain tense relationships with the crew memebers, thus quickly diluting the unwanted effects which came up when giving orders..

The most urgent issues were related to the atmosphere on board. Shakelton went straight to the point. He solved the human inconveniences and hierarchies distributing tasks evenly, such as deck cleaning, the watches, maintenance of the boilers, metereologic measurements, taking care of the dogs and intergrating the work teams with members of different formation to which he then added the specialized ones. For tasks which did not require any special skill, the teams were made up in an alpahabetical order. In this way he integrated those who had elementary formation with those who had a better education.

A short time after, Orde-Lees wrote how splendid it was to have Sir Ernest on board: each member knew which his position was and everything worked with precision. And even though he had been brought up with a lot of refinement , there was a lot of democratization or he did not like the time and dedication put into tasks of maintenance of the ship, and he found that taking part in the manual tasks removed whatever he might posses in the line of false pride. How also observed that with Shakelton as a boss, there was a man in charge and that what he ordered was done.

Departure to South Georgia. December 5th, 1914
In South Georgia, the whalers that lived there, old sea wolves and navigators of a thousand storms, warn him about the excessive formation of ice in the Antarctic, which had not broken up that year and extended far more to the north than it usually did.

In spite of this, Shakelton finally sets off for South Georgia on December 5th heading for Antarctica.

Winter in the ice: Base Endurance. 1915
Shakelton rapidly gets close to the Antarctic continent, spotting land on January10th, 1915. He tried sailing near the coast, looking for an opening in the ice pack to reach bay Vahsel. On the 15th they were 15 miles away from the bay. On the 16th they face the ice pack. They carried on on motor power. That afternoon a heavy storm arose that lasts all the 17th and calms down on the 18th, in the morning. They carried on a little and in the afternoon they were trapped between two icebergs. They stopped to wait until the wind calmed down. Six days later, the storm stopped, but they remain surrounded by ice. On the 24th, they get trapped by a mass of ice that had been compressed against the coast by the storm .That day Mc Neish writes that, stuck as they were and with no sign of cracks to find a way out, he could see the pressure as a possible danger and that if it did not cease rapidly, it wouldn´t ever allow them to get out.

February 1915
In February they tried to get out various times but after daring attempts, the Endurance remained firmly trapped. Shakelton then decides on Feb 24th, to remain on board of the Endurance and to prepare his people and ship for the winter and the polar nights.

Greenstreet thought that if they had to remain all winter where they were, at least they would have the satisfaction of knowing that they had made the greatest effort to get out of the place.

The pressure of the ice had left them around 60 miles from the Vahsel Bay. However, the disembarking of the equipment for the Transcontinental Expedition with provisions for one year, sledges, dogs, and all the material which was needed for the long march was impossible.

Among the preparations to spend a better winter, they dedicate time to prepare living space, to take care of the dogs and hunt. They build igloos for the dogs on the iceberg, warm clothing is distributed and the cabins were reaccomodated to become more comfortable.

In February, they spend time hunting. Worsley looked out for the seals and Wild hunted. The main problem was that they had to take the seals to the ship quickly and to butcher them while still hot as they froze rapidly.

March 1915
During March the animals in the ice pack decreased. At the beginning of April, they had hunted and stored around 2.000 kgs of meat and the fat would do for three months.

April, 1915
During April some dogs got ill and died, going from 69 to 54. Shakelton assigns Macklin, Wild, McIlroy, Crean, Marston and Hurley to the task of taming the dogs that were very wild and with which physical superiority only worked.

Meanwhile, the ice pack in which they were trapped continued drifting, slowly. First towards the west-northwest and later to the northwest.

May-June, 1915
During May they drift while it gradually darkens, until the feared Antarctic night starts, which had summoned the first expeditions with melancholy, depression, desperateness and, in some cases even madness. The temperature decreased from –18° C to –27° C during the first half of June.

To keep spirits high, Shakelton encouraged the development of games and jokes. There is a moment when all of them shave their heads, including Shakelton. They also organized parodies of trials and threw parties for different reasons, they listened to music from a phonograph and Hurley held conferences with his slides. They played cards read and wrote, played chess and dice in one of the great cabins, called the Ritz, which had a great table in the middle.

In mid June, they organize sledge races with the dogs. And on the 22nd, they celebrated the solstice of winter with a great dressing-up party at which they say poems, sing and have cold dinner. At the end, they toast and sing ´God save the Queen´.

The crew thought of the spring, in the sun and the moment the ice would liberate them in order to approach the Vahsel Bay
.
At the end of June, Worsley detailed the way in which they heard the sounds of the pressure of the ice on the ship, what would become the next worry of the expedition. In the first place they heard a distant and deep roar. This became a long cracking sound which started slowly, in a menacing tone and suddenly stopped. The further the distance at which the sound was produced, the greater the noise.

July 1915
In July the ice makes its first attack on the ship, which remains stuck in an iceberg and it sinks 30 cm. From the 9th to the 14th, the pressure decreases from 753 to 733 mm, it snows and later a storm stirs up with winds of up to 110 km per hour, with which the ship starts to vibrate. The temperature deceases to –38° C.

Shakelton allows the crew to leave the ship only to feed the dogs which they had to do dragging on their knees so that the wind would not carry them away. Butter was added to their menu so that they could stand the cold in a better way.

On July 26th, Greenstreet and Wild, who had gone out just to get some air, see how two icebergs crash and go up into the air as if they were cork. Greestreet states that they have been lucky not to suffer such pressure on the ship, doubting whether it could put up with something like that.

August 1915
The sun finally shines after 79 days and in August, spring starts.

On August 1st the iceberg breaks and the ship is set free. They board the ship in eight minutes. When they do so it shakes violently, impulsed by the ice that shook it from underneath. Shakelton orders to light the boilers and they make terrible efforts to get out of their trap. The pressure destroyed the hull lining of the beerberú wood. The ice pressures again and immobilizes the ship another time. However, for the time being they seem to be safe.

On August 4th Shakelton, optimistic after the test, comments that the ship can stand any pressure. He also boasts off telling the story of the mouse, that after having drunk a barrel of beer threatens by saying: ´Where is the cat?´ The sun reappears again three hours a day. They play hockey on ice.

On August 15th, Worsley writes about the morale that reigned amongst the crew, and comments on the rivalry between the conductors of the dog teams.

On August 26th, Mc Neish states how important the sun is which would mean having more light as time went by and the hope that temperatures would rise, but at the same time he prays that the iceberg doesn´t crack until they can make way to the water. He also points out that if it was set free at that moment the ship would be squashed.

At midnight of August 29th, a second attack of the ice was produced. A fine crack opens in the prow. On the 30th, another tremor is produced. The crack widens up to nearly 1,5 cm. On the 31st at night, the ship began to groan and to move, without anyone being able to do anything to avoid it.
.
Worsley comments that after midnight there were a series of strong and violent groans and bangs that provoked creaks and shudders, from the stern to the prow. Most of them dressed up any way and went out to the deck. Personally, he was fed up with these false alarms against which he could do nothing, so when he heard the loudest creak, he listened carefully to make sure that none of the sounds that had been produced indicated that ice had got into the hold and then carried on sleeping.

On the next afternoon the pressure of the ice ceased. The Endurance had survived the attack.

September 1915
On September 1st they had already been five months without hunting and eating fresh meat. On the 10th, plankton increases in Clark´s net. Together with it, the higher temperature –17°C and with 10 hour days of light, spring signs appear.

At the end of September, Wordie spots and attracts an Emperor penguin and they kill it. On the following day they also kill a seal.

On the 30th a third attack of the ice is produced, which only lasted an hour but that was terrible. The deck remained bent from then on and most of the things fell off the shelves. But the ship was still intact.

Worsley points out the ship´s unconceivable resistance: it looked as if the iceberg was going to go right through it and all the crew was ready for it. But to their relief, just when the ship seemed it could no longer put up with anything else, the enormous iceberg surrendered in front of the small ship and broke down. In this way the pressure weakened. He testifies that the ship´s behaviour against the ice was magnificient, pointing out that it was the best little ship ever built.

October 1915
On the first days of October the ice showed signs of opening up definitively. The temperature started to increase to –12° C. On October 14th, the ship floated for the first time in 9 months. The winter cabins were dismanteled and the Ritz goes back to being the grocery room.

On the 16th, Shakelton orders to light the boilers which had broken and which the engineers had to repair. An opening of water is produced in the ice pack. All the sails are hoisted for the ship to pass through the open crack, but the ship does not move.

On the 18th, the passage which had opened, disappeared. That afternoon, the fourth ice attack is produced. The icebergs enclose the ship. All that was on deck flew off it: wood, ropes, lines, dogs, sledges and men. The ship remains heeled over at 30 degrees.

The 19th and the 20th were days without ice pressure. It decreases to 735 mm, the lowest since the tempest of July.

On the 21st and 22nd, the temperature decreases –12° C to –25° C and the wind rotates 180° degrees to the NE. McNiesh writes that on the night of the 22nd everything was very calm but it seemed as if there were going to be some pressure.

On the 24th the fifth ice attack is produced. The pressure is colosal. An important fissure opens up in the prow. The water entered abundantly. But the pipes of the bilge pump were frozen. Worsley takes Hudson and Greenstreet to the furnace room and they repair it there working in total darkness for nearly an hour. They work for 24 hs. pumping and repairing the ship, trying to break the ice that came in from outside.

At dawn of October 25th, Shakelton ordered a rest of one hour. Green distributed food. Then, they continued repairing equipment, sledges and two of the boats to take them down to land, working on the pumps and the repair of the ship. They worked in shifts, that turned out to be like agony because of the effort. When it was their turn to rest, as soon as they relaxed and managed to get some sleep, they found they had to get back to work.

Lansing said that at the last minute of the afternoon some Emperor penguins appeared which picked up their heads and pronounced some spectral shrieks that were like a funeral chant. No one, not even the veterans who knew the Antarctic, had heard the voice of the penguins, with the exception of the ordinary cawing. He pointed out that the sailors stopped their work and that the old Tom Mc Leod turned to Macklin saying ¨´Have you heard that? None of us will return home´ And Macklin observed Shakelton who bit his lip.

After infructuosly pumping all night, the pressure increased and flooded the ship. At 5 o´clock in the morning of the 26th, they realized that all additional effort was in vain.

Wild, under Shakelton´s orders, goes round the ship to check if anyone is left and he finds How and Bakewell in the poop deck who were trying to sleep more than their night watch allowed them to and he said´The ship is sinking, boys, I think the time to abandon it has come´.

Worsley describes his feelings of losing the ship by saying that they had lost their home in this universe of ice and that they had been chucked out to the wild and inhospitable ice, which could well become their tomb.

Shakelton orders to abandon the ship and leaves the Endurance with the Bible in hand which the Queen Mother, Alexander of England, had given the expedition in which she had written ´That the Lord may help you in fulfilling your responsibilities and that he may guide your through all the dangers both by on land and at sea. That you may contemplate all the works of the Lord and his marvels in the depths.´

In his private diary, Shakelton writes down his feeling saying how difficult it was to put down what he felt. For him, as a marine, his ship was more than just a floating house. It was an end of life of something on which he had deposited ambitions, hopes and wishes. ´Now breaking and weeping, with its planks coming to bits and its enormous wounds wide open, it gives in, bit by bit and at the end of its career, its animated life.

At the place they were at, the ice shelf of the peninsula of Palmer was 180 miles in west-south west direction and the land was at 200 miles. But there did not exist any possibility of being rescued. They could only march along the ice in North west direction towards the Paulet Island, that was 350 miles away. There they could find provisions which had been left behind twelve years before by a ship that had gone to rescue the expedition of the Antarctic(1903), for which curiously, Shakelton had made the purchase of their provisions.

On the icebergs
The men were on land. Some of them had put up tents. Others just put boards in the snow to protect themselves from the ice. Others extended turpulines on the ground. And others just lay down on the snow to sleep, and they did so embracing themselves to their closest colleague to avoid becoming frozen. They were full of spirit, never minding the situation, as now they had the solid purpose which they all knew about: to go towards the Paulet Island.

Shakelton did not sleep, he walked around the iceberg to control the pressure that shook the camp from time to time, .which they had put up 200 mtrs from the ship. Close to 1 am, a crack opened up between the tents and started to widen. Shakelton ran from tent to tent and woke the men up. Then the waited for sunset.

On October 27th they put up the tents and slept in the open air for the first time on their journey –14°C. Shakelton says that when the tents were put up, he gathered them all and affirmed that he established a new objective of marching in a team in direction to Paulet, thanking them for their trust and the high spirit that they had shown under the previous testing circumstances and telling them that he did not doubt that if they carried on doing their best and trusted him, finally they would, together, find a way out.

Wild would remember the speech as one of Shakelton´s typical allocutions to transmit strength to the team and that only he could give. In simple and short phrases, he said that they should not get alarmed for the loss of the ship. And he assures them that with a hard effort, with orderly work and loyal cooperation they would able to find a way to land. Wild remembers that his words had immediate effect on picking up spirits, making the explorers feel inclined to see things a positive way.

James pointed out that Shakelton said that he thought of doing around 5000 miles a day and that working together they could make it. An even if the need seemed obvious, they were happy that the anxiety with regards to the rescue of the ship had been left behind, and the job that they had before them would be to the size of the effort to be made. James trusted Shakelton. He thought that they were in a swamp and that the Boss was the man that could get them out of there since the challenge was as large as his leadership. Escaping from the ice seemed to him something that was evident.

Hussey also remembered the speech as one of Shakelton´s characteristic ones which being simple, touching, optimistic and highly effective, drew them out of their melancholy, rose their spirits and they all went to eat.

The sleeping bags, made of reindeer skin, were not enough for all of them. Shakelton ordered that they should be drawn for, staying out of it himself, with the excuse that he had already decided to use the woolen one.

On October 28th they loaded the sledges. Shakelton gathers and establishes the equipment and weight that each one of them could take. The heavier the weight, the more difficulty to move. It was indispensable then, to lighten the weight too be carried. To such an extent, that an expedition had paid high costs for expecting to advance along the ice with luggage excess. To set the example, he got hold of his gold cigarette box and coins which he had of the same material and he throws them on to the snow. Then he kept a page of the Bible with a dedication that the Queen had given him and he leaves it in the snow. Finally, he turned around in order for the others to follow his example and leaves whatever is disposable behind.

On the 29th Shakelton writes in his diary, ´I beg to God that I may take all the party safely back to civilization.´

Shakelton orders to kill the puppies and a dog that still had not been caught on to the harness. Crean kills the puppies and then McNieshes´ beloved cat, without batting an eyelid. Macklin had to kill another dog that was playing and running. Crean missed the first shot. He kills it with the second.

On October 30th the expedition starts off with the sledges and two boats a two pm. The heat –9°C softened the ice and made it difficult to slide the sledges. At five they were 1,5 kms from the ship, having done perhaps double the distance, and the teams with the dogs, more than 145 kms. They camp and sleep. They had managed to do 1.200 mtrs with terrible effort.

On the following day they start off at 1. At 4 they had done 1.200 mts. As soon as Shakel ton together with Worsley verify that it was impossible to carry on, he decides to look for a thick and flat iceberg and they camp. As they entered the tents they brought in a great quantity of snow. Macklin felt pitty for Worsley who was at the entrance of one of the tents and got soaked with the snow that they all brought in.

That same day, Worsley wrote that it was marvelous to see the swiftness with which one can adapt oneself to such a state of barabarism. Shakelton registered also that most of them considered that situation as if it were like a party.

This new Camp is later called Ocean Camp.

November 1915
On Novemebr 1st, Shakelton calls everyone to announce the direction that he had taken that day: they would stay there until the own movement of the ice got them close to land.

During the first week they begin to organize themselves and become used to the new change of life and their new status: the one of shipwrecked. Macklin writes on November 4th that on such an agreeable day it was difficult to imagine that they should find themselves in such a tremendously precarious situation.

The space was very reduced, which made every day living and sharing difficult. It was important to keep morale high and to avoid groups of discontent, which could put at risk the spirit of fight. The distribution of the crew in the tents was of fundamental importance. Shakelton personally takes care of assigning the explorers to their tents. .

Shakelton sends Wild with equipment to look for provisions to the Endurance. On November 5th nearly all of them return to the ship and rescue some elements: wood, sails, lines, the wheel house, Hurley´s negatives. McNeish breaks the deck and boxes of food, nuts, flour, rice, barley, lentils, vegetables and marmalade float out. Around 3.500 kgs.

Hurley discovers a seal that approaches on a piece of wood. He dazes it, and then he kills it with a pickaxe. To celebrate, Green cooks seal curry.

On the 6th work was suspended because of a storm. In those days they built a tower of observation.

Food was of great importance to Shakelton, regarding the optimism that he possessed and that he so much appreciated in the others.. At some moment he wrote, when referring to a hot meal which was distributed in a difficult situation: ´The wave of warmth and welfare produced by food and drink made us all become optimistic.

Shakelton describes the method he uses to be fair in the distribution of food, which got to each tent divided in equal quantities. While a member closes his eyes and calls out to each one of them in an unorderly way, another without looking at him, points at a ration and asks the consignee to give it to him.

On November 12th, the wind rotated to the north and the temperature rises to –2°C. Nearly everyone takes off their shirts and wash themselves with snow. During the day, the heat in the tents was high.

Shakelton calls a meeting with his committee and they arrive at a conclusion of the food they have until January and that they could hunt, for which they infer that January,1916 would be the key moment.

On November 13th Shakelton announces his plan: As the drifting was taking them to the NW, towards an island that was close to the coast (SnowHill) , he thought that once the ice pack allowed them to launch the boats they could go in that direction and later go by land to Wilhemina Bay, which was a 240 ks away, to then wait for the whalers that stopped there in January.

On November 15th, Shake ton establishes an emergency plan, in case they had to abandon the camp. Some of them would prepare sledges , others boats, if they had to get out by water and others had to put together equipments and provisions. Everyone had a concrete task.

During the day there was a routine of work that was very precise. Night watches, lighting a small oven that Hurley had made, getting up and washing, breakfast and then each one of them had jobs to do: McNiesh, reinforce the boats, Hurley, make a bilge pump, some of them hunted and others got the dogs to exercise.

After the meal something was read out loud or cards were played, or they simply had a talk. At half past eight at night, lights were put out (there were16 hs of real light per day). And at 10 they had to go to sleep, except for the one who had to do the night watch.

On November 21st the Endurance finally sank and they remain alone on the ice. Shakelton, moved, at night writes down ´I can´t write about it.´

On November 22nd, Worsley verifies that they were being pushed by a current from the south, but that the ice towards the north was not opening up because the winds that proceeded from there were too cold, thus confirming that there would be a lot of ice.

When November ended, the preparations for the trip to the west were finished. The boats were ready and were christened, as well as the camp as Camp Ocean, at which they had stayed in November.

December1915
They only had to wait for the ice to open up. But the ice did not want to open up. And the ice pack continued drifting towards the north. On December 1st they have drifted 60 miles. Macklin writes that although it was not what they expected, they were moving, bit by bit, towards the north. And that was hopeful.

On December 7th, McNiesh thought that although they had been delayed a bit, this would give the ice that was between them and the land the opportunity to disappear and to them the opportunity to reach land.

In those days Shakelton comes down in bed with ciatica. He stayed in his tent for various days.

While waiting for the ice to open up, the time passed by. All of them being ready and with no special occupations. Then, the men started to manifest their disappointment.

In the tents the tense atmosphere increased.

McNiesh registers that they used more ordinary language, imagining that they were in Ratcliff Highway ( a dangerous neighbourhood in the areas of the docks of London of the XIX century) or in some other filthy place. He says that having been a peer of all kinds of men, in steam boats as well as in sailing ones, he had never seen anything like this , , , regarding the language being used. And he also gives his opinion with regards to the behaviour of his chiefs; and what is worse is that it is put up with.´

Lansing points out that Shakelton was worried, fearing the demoralization of his men more than the cold, ice and the sea.

The situation was simple, 28 men in the ice pack, without radio, without help and separated from land by the stormiest seas of the planet.

On December 19th, Shakelton wrote: Í am thinking of getting out towards the west.

´Greenstreet, after long discussions in his tent, thought that even though Shakelton was right in stating that they weren´t moving as much as they had to, that decision should be taken only as a last resource because it meant traveling light and taking only two boats at most leaving behind a lot of provisions. He thought with the ice being softer than when they had left the boat, the trip would be terrible. He hoped Shakelton would convince himself about this.

Macklin thought that they should go towards the west as much as it were possible.

As they knew there was land 200 miles towards the west, the edge of the ice pack should be somewhere 150-180 miles is that direction. If they continued at the same pace of drifting, only by the end of March would they be at the latitude of the Paulet Island, and even then they couldn´t be sure of being able to get out of the ice.

Worsley believed that they should remain where they were, unless they drifted towards the west. He thought that the advantage of waiting was that the movement of the ice pack would save them part of the trip without having to make enormous efforts that they would have to make to take the three boats, and that meanwhile they could make way through the ice pack.

On December 20th, 1915, more than a year after the departure from South Georgia, Shakel ton presents a plan. He announces that he would go with Wild, Hurley and Crean´s equipment to check out the territory that extended towards the west.

March towards the West. 1916
On December 23rd an inspection group goes ahead in the morning and comes back at three o´clock in the afternoon announcing that they would leave after Christmas. As they would have to leave an important amount of food behind they could eat as much as they wanted at Christmas and on the following day. Greenstreet pointed out that they ate like pigs.

Finally they leave Camp Ocean and they head towards the west with two boats and sledges, looking for a route that would get them close to the land. When they had advanced some hours, Shakelton gives Worsley a bottle to go back and to deposit it in the stern of the Stancomb Wills, the boat which had been left behind. In it there was a note that told about the sinking of the Endurance, its last position and that the members of the Antarctic Expedition were heading for the east with the hope of finding land. The note ends: Everyone is all right,. December 23rd 1915. Ernest Shakelton.

´The march along the ice continues. Shakelton goes at the front looking for the best way. Seven sledges follow him pulled by dogs, then a smaller one with a small oven and the food utensils and behind 17 men pulling the boats. Their advance is slow and hard. They get wet with water and sweat. They had no clothes to change into, except for socks and gloves, they have to sleep in them, soaking wet. With unimaginable effort, they only advance a few meters. The ice sometimes seemed solid. But when one of them advanced, they sunk in the water up to their knees and sometimes higher.

Worsley describes a landscape in which all the icebergs that surrounded them were saturated by the sea up to the surface, in such a way that as soon as they cut the surface of the ice some cms, the water filled up the holes.

The boots, designed for ice, would get full of water in this type of territory. The men who pulled the boats advanced 200 or 300 m with one and went back to get the other one which had remained behind on planks which had got frozen and which had to be loosened from the ice. For one week they fight against the ice, managing to advance 800 and 1000 m per day. The efforts were titanic and the results, gaunt. The so called pressure crests formed by the pressure of the ice, appeared like permanent obstacles.

Greenstreet observed that it was as if they couldn´t go on nor could they go back to Camp Ocean because the icebergs along which they marched desintegrated as they went along them.

It had been two days since McNiesh, the veteran carpenter, lawyer of the sea, was openly complaining. At a certain moment he informs Worsley that he is not willing to carry on. Worsley orders him to go back to his position on the sledge and McNiesh doesn´t want to obey. Worsley who was also exhausted and unhappy, looks overwhelmed by the situation and he goes to Shakelton to tell the story. He faced McNiesh reminding him with very strong words what his responsibilities were. McNeish´s idea was that the contracts that he had signed, as well as the pay, were due with the sinking of the Endurance. Therefore, he was not obliged to obey.

Shakelton resolves the annoying and potentially dangerous situation and they carry on.

In fact, he was worried because the discontent could catch on among the rest of the members of the expedition. On December 31st, after verifying that the dealing with ice was impracticable, Shakelton decides to stop and looks for the safest iceberg to camp on. He wrote in his diary that he did not sleep that night. The only thing they could do under those circumstanceswith such a large group and two boats in bad conditions was to retire to a more secure ice pack. Anyway, he is determined not to forget the exceptional attitude of the carpenter, the only one who resisted orders in moments of such high tension and general exhaustion .

The carpenter, at the same time, complains in his diary of having to be on the ice instead of celebrating the Feast of Hogmany, The Scottish Celebration of New Year, but he assumes that ín the world there always have to exist some madmen.

James noted down that it is already their second year in the ice pack and at the same latitude.

Macklin asked what this New Year would bring them, and he questioned himself the validity of the resolutions made the year before, in which they had predicted that by this time they would already have crossed the continent.

Worsley baptizes the new position as ¨the Camp which encompasses their pace¨, as a temporary position.

The situation was unsustainable and desperate.

As Lansing says, the men had started off at Camp Ocean with absolute confidence in themselves which Shakelton encouraged them to have, they had done less that 15 kms of the 300 they had thought they would do, and now they had to remain enclosed in an iceberg. Lansing says that they were not going to get out of there unless the ice pack wanted them to. They felt impotent, they did not have a purpose, not even a minimum goal to head for. They were facing total uncertainty. Their situation had become worse. They had abandoned a considerable amount of provisions and one of the boats. And moreover, the iceberg on which they had camped now was weaker than the one they had camped on at Camp Ocean.

Macklin analyzes the situation, observing that the men were starting to get nervous, as they could not see a possible way out between the icebergs. And the places where there was open water were not navigable for the boats. He worried because if they could not get out soon from where they were now, the situation would become worse in winter. He starts to imagine some of the troubles that the Greely expedition had gone through as happening to themselves, in which 17 men out of 24 had died.

Food was starting to be a problem. There 50 days to go at 900 grs per man per day.

January 1916
In those days, they hunted some seals and while they butcher the ones that they had hunted, Orde-Lees carries on hunting three more seals. Shakelton orders him to leave them in the ice. Greestreet thought that it was completely mad because things had not turned out absolutely the way Shakleton had expected them to. He thought it was better to be well prepared considering the possibility of having to spend winter on the iceberg.

Lansing points out an important feature in Shakelton´s personality for whom ´failure was a reflect of lack of character of the individual. ´In this way , what for anyone would have been a reasonable precaution, for Shakelton it would be to admit the possibility of failure. His indomitable confidence in himself was useful to encourage his men, but it did not allow him to see what was really going on. Also, the simple suggestion of Orde-Lees of taking seals to the camp for Shakelton was an act of disloyalty.

Shakelton felt more tired and exhausted. He longed for a rest, not having to think. On January 9th he writes, ´¨ I am more and more nervous with this expedition.

Greenstreet was worried that the monotony and routine of life was starting to alter his nerves, not having anything to say or to talk about, and with no changes taking place anywhere around. He wrote.

´God, send us open water or we will go mad.

On January 13th a rumour spread that Shakelton was planning to kill the dogs to save provisions. The men argued about this with resignation, surprise and indignation.

On the following day, Shakelton orders to change the position of the camp because the iceberg was melting.

Camp Patience
They would spend five months on the new iceberg, baptized as Camp Patience.

Once was they had finished moving there, Shakelton orders Wild to sacrifice the dogs and McIlry, Marston and Crean´s too but not Greenstreet´s.

He gives one more day to Hurley and Macklin´s to go to Camp Ocean to pick up some provisions. The journey was on January 10th and it lasted 10 days. Macklin describes that the way was so bad that the dogs could not pull the weight of the sled, having to get down and walk beside them. The dogs fell over and had to stop and be beat them to carry on. They had to break various edges of pressure to be able to move on, and finally , they arrived at 4 o´clock in the morning with their exhausted dogs. They could recover more than 200 kgs of vegetables, tapioca, dry meat and marmalade. They all eat well and at half past six in the morning they started off again back to Camp Patience, which they reached in the afternoon. That night Macklin writes. ¨Tomorrow they will sacrifice my dogs.

In those days a becalmed sea is produced, with heat and humidity and the principal theme is now the wind. Until a snow storm started with winds of 80 km per hour and ghusts of up to 110 km per hour.

On January 21st, the sun appears. Worsley with the sextant and James with the theodolite, calculate the position twice. Shakelton calculates that they can´t be a lot further then 170 miles away from Paulet. They had passed the Antarctic Polar Circle. The atmosphere is of happy expectations. He celebrates that everyone had welcomed the news with an applause and they make a celebration with barley cakes. He writes down ´The wind continues. We will still be able to move on another 10 miles. Thanks to God. It is still damp inside the tents, but it doesn´t matter.

While the men waited submissively, Shakelton encouraged bizantine discussions such as of a possible expedition to Alaska. Worsley remembers that they looked at the maps and books on the subject and they got enthused with their next trip, without knowing how they were going to get out of where they were now.

On the 23rd, Worsley sees Camp Ocean from an 18m iceberg which he had climbed to look out for the horizon. The storm had taken them closer. On the 30th, Shakelton orders to go to Camp Ocean to look for provisions. They bring the food and various volumes of the Britannic encyclopedia.

February 1916
On February 1st they recover the third boat which increases their possibilities of embarking the twenty eight men. Worsley takes a breath, relieved. He thought that with only two boats and twenty eight men on board it would have been practically impossible to do a trip which would last a certain amount of time. .

The diet begins to become unbalanced. They start to have digestive problems. Worsley thought that their stomachs were rebelling against an excessive diet on meat, although he believed that they would soon become used to it. ´Many of us suffer, to say it mildly, of flatulence that could nearly be called screeching guts.

The cold made our eyes cry and the tears would form sockets when they froze on the tip of our nose, which when they broke they formed a chronic ulcer.

The ice was more compact then ever. The wind was now the main theme of discussions. On February 8th, James noted down that he observed where the wind came from with fixation through the panels of the tents. He wished for a place where the wind direction would not be of any concern to them. He also pointed out the some of them suffered from anemonia (Madness of the wind).

On February 9th they verify a decrease in food. Shakelton points out the lack of seals, and thinks that they should reduce the intake of fat. He dreams of setting foot on dry land. They dig into the ice at the place where they had left the waste to recover all possible fat from the bones which had been burried there. McNiesh smokes until he becomes ill, to suppress his hunger.

On February 15th, it is Shakelton´s birthday, but he stops the celebration that they all expected to have in order to not use up the surplus of food.

On the 17th there is very little fat left, the situation tends to be desperate when they see some small Adelie penguins which they hunt. Later there are thousands of them. The birds should be immigrating towards the north, in the same route the expedition was moving. On Februray 20th they hunt 300 penguins at first and so they get to 600, thus leaving behind the serious danger of inanition

On February 24th, Greenstreet points out that the food only consisted of meat: ¨seal steaks, penguin steaks and penguin stew, having already finished the chocolate and only having a bit of tea to go. He thought that soon they would only be drinking powdered milk. As the flour was about to come to an end too, he points out that he only used it with the dry meat of dogs to make wheat cakes. He registers that Island Paulet was 94 miles away, which implied that they had already done 3 quarters of the distance that they had to do when they arrived at the iceberg. He asked himself if they ever would get there.

Macklin also describes the situation in those days, saying that a third part of the year had already gone by and spent on the iceberg, at nature´s mercy and asking himself when they would see their homes again.

On February 29th with the weak excuse that it was a leap year, Shakelton organizes a bachelor´s party with a light meal, to pick up spirits.

March 1916
On March 5th Greenstreet verifies that the ice pack which they had around them looked very like the one they had been in 4 or 5 months ago, and that the open water zones were covered by ice, which wasn´t thick enough to be trodded on nor did it allow the pass of the boats. He thought that the possibility of reaching Paulet Island was one out of ten.

What Geenstreet affirmed was true. The drift would make them go past by Paulet Island towards the north. Shakelton looked for passages to be able to get out.

When the time worsened they had to protect themselves in the tents. Macklin describes the atmosphere that reigned in his, in which eight men lived squashed in like sardines. He points out that Clark stank unbearably throughout the whole day, which when he had to be with him practically drove him crazy. Lees and Worsley argued and talked about trivialties which were not of much importance to them, and the rest could do very little to get away from the whole situation. Morevover, Orde-Lees snored at night in an abominable way. And so did Clark and Blackborow, though less. Macklin says that sometimes, with Clark´s snoring in his ear, his only relief consisted of sitting down to write his diary.

On March 9th they feel a movement of the swell, which indicates that they were not far from the open sea. While all of the cheered up with the news, Shakelton was worried because to get out he needed the formation of open passages. Lansing describes that critical moment in which the movement of the iceberg increased while the ice pack remained closed, they would not be able to escape from there, because the movement of the sea would destroy the ice into a thousand pieces on which they were thus not allowing them to camp nor navigate.

On March 10th the movement disappeared. Shakelton orders to train in getting out the boats of the sledges and to load them with provisions in case of emergency.

They were all at expense of the drift of the iceberg and the position at which they were. On the 13th, the human atmosphere was dense and the moods were agitated. The men were in a bad mood. Macklin wrote that he was totally obsessed with the idea of getting out from there, after spending four months on the iceberg. He thought that it was a hopeless time for all of them, having nothing to do, only kill time as well as they could. He thought that even at his home, with theatres and fun, four months would be boring. He believed that no one could imagine up to what point the same ice, day after day, immaculately white and imperturbalble could be much worse. They said that they went our to look for food, not because they would find any, but to find moments of evasion.

On March 14th James thinks that Island Paulet should probably be south of the position they were at.

On the 16th. they use the last rations of flour. The provisions finish and thoughts arise about Shakelton´s attitude: when refusing to accumulate all hunt possible. Macklin thought that the boss had been a bit careless by not bringing as much food as possible while it could be done, and that it was worth while noting that Orde-Lees had approached Shakelton some days before recriminating him for not having taken all the food from Camp Ocean, because there existed the possibility of having to spend the winter on the iceberg.

Hunger made them have stomach cramp. The weather worsened. At night the temperature reached -23°C .Some of them joked about cannibalism. On the 22nd, Shakelton tells Macklin that on the following day he should kill the dogs, so that the men could eat the food that was alloted to them.

On March 23rd the day starts with fog. They see land. They were the Isles of Dager, 57 miles west from the iceberg. Hurley writes:´ if the ice opens up, we could be on land in one day¨. But the ice did not open up, At night Shakelton writes. ´God may want that we soon stand of firm land.´.

´Lansing describes the situation. Among them and the open sea and the enormous waves of Cape Horn and the feared straight of Drake- the most turbulent ocean on the earth, there only two lonely posts to advance on to, as centinels of the Antarctic continent : the Clarence Islands and Elephant, around 120 miles towards the north. Further on there was nothing else.

In those days some of them suggested to Shakelton considering the possibility of going back to Camp Ocean where some food had been left over. Shakelton discards this idea, as he considered the trip to be dangerous. Worsley describes how Shakelton has to face the crew with a cautious but disagreeable reply. He observes that the Boss does not reply immediately and he sees that by his expression that he did not want to disappoint them. Finally, he says that they could not run the risk of going through the ice that was opening and closing up dangerously under the influence of the currents and waves, and that the boats could be squashed, or they might have to separate and that many things could happen. Shakelton assures them that if they remain as they were for another 100 miles, then they would be able to get out to open water and reach the closest whale station.

On the 26th there is fat left for one week. They reduce the rations. The atmosphere in the group is one of nervousness. A fight arises because of animosity between them, and when one of them is arguing milk is spilt on the snow and silence is produced, and one by one, the rest who were there give away a bit of the ration that was allotted to them.

April 1916
At a moment a couple of seals appear. They hunt them. Orde-Lees faints out of hunger during the hunt. Shakelton sends for Macklin to kill the dogs and skin them. They eat them. On April 3rd they kill a leopard seal. They increase the rations and their complaints diminish. The atmosphere improves, to such an extent that at a certain point they even come up with long discussion between Worsley and Rickenon about the cleaning of the milking farms in New Zeland as compared to the ones in Great Britain.

As they get closer to the open sea, the iceberg becoming smaller and smaller, due to the pressure of the surge and the crash into the icebergs. Three cracks are produced in the ice they are on.

Suddenly they start to drift towards the west, now with the risk of passing between the two islands through Loper Channel. If they passed by, their destiny would be open sea….McNiesh complains saying that it would be very hard that after drifting towards those straights, they were pushed into to the sea. James estimates that the aim would be the Clarence Islands and Elephant.

On April 5th, Worsley confirms the position. They were heading for open sea, towards the west. The iceberg on which they were was reducing., from nearly 2 original kms of diameter to 180 m.

At this point, the Clarence Islands and Elephant were no longer the aim. They then think of King George Island. And they fear to be drifted towards the straight of Drake. Greenstreet writes: ´God may not allow that we get there, because I doubt we will survive.

On April 6th they see an island. It was Clarence Island. Now they are going towards the north. Clarence Island seems to be the aim. Macklin writes, ´We are in God´s hands.

On April 7th they see Clarence Island and Elephant again. Now the drift is towards the east, with an uncertain course. The north west swell causes a movement of the ice which is each time greater. Orde-Lees gets seasick. The iceberg cracks for the fourth time, just below the boat. The men get out of the tents an get it when it is getting away. The ice opened up and then closed up. The currents and winds drifted them from the east and then to the west. They spend an agitated night.

The boats.
In order to get out of the ice, they counted on three boats of the Endurance, baptized in honor of the sponsors of the expedition: Sir James Key Caird, Miss Janet Stancomb-Wills and Dudley Docker.

The James Caird was a double prow constructed under the directions of Worsley. It was bigger (22,5 by 6 feet), it was faster and the most appropiate to navigate. The other two were smaller. The Dudley Docker was a litlle more navigable (22 by 6 feet) and the Stancomb Wills was heavy for its size, did not navigate well and decidedly was not a boat to sail that kind of dangerous seas.

McNiesh, the carpenter, with the help of a saw, a hammer, a chisel , an adze and pieces of wood rescued from the Endurance had dedicated himself to prepare them. He lifted the bow planks to avoid the entrance of water and reinforced the prow. He filled in the empty spaces with oakum using Marston oil paint to seal them.

The space left for the crew would be of a minimum considering the cargo that they would have to embark. In fact, Shakelton had from the beginning discarded using the Stancomb Wills, but he reconsidered the decision when he calculated everything they had to take, nearly 7 tons of weight, which would have been an absolute risk to put in two boats a part from 28 men.

Shakelton had to assign the crew to each boat, with the mastery that characterized him of combining experience, talent and temperament so the units would be efficient, while respecting the rank and the position of each one them. Eight men would go on the Wills, eleven on the Caird and nine on the Docker. Each boat would have to be complete and be self sufficient, because the sea could separate them although there were serious risks of having to tow the Stancomb Wills. The functions to be fulfilled were corresponded with the needs that each boat could navigate and find its direction in the sea., be conducted with aptness and dispose of an equipment which was as complete as possible in case it remained on its own and isolated from the fleet.

Shakelton would also try to complement the different specializations and strengths of the crew and decrease the possibility of conflicts, of probable deadly conclusions in case any rows were produced on the boats.

When abandoning the iceberg, the boats would be the place where the 28 men would spend the next- they did not know how many- days. Would they have to find another iceberg to camp on again? Would they reach land safely? Would the three boats get there? And if they did not? Which would their fate be, the three islands that were closer? Clarence, Elephant or King George?

On April 8th the ice opens up again at breakfast time and then it closed again.. Then the iceberg cracket again. At 10.30 am Shakelton orders to prepare the boats. The greatest risk was to fall into the water through an opening and that the ice then closed up on the boats., shutting them in a mortal trap. On the other hand, if they did not go ahead, the iceberg could break under them. The decision and the timing of the operation was of vital importance. Finally, at 12.40 Shakelton orders to put down the boats in the water and abandons Camp Patience where they had spent various months.

Towards firm land
Bit by bit they grow used to the new situation, and they row to the NW. They were near the straight of Bransfield, that being 200 miles long and 60 wide separates the Antarctic Peninsula of the South Shetland Islands and connects the waters of the Sea of Weddell with the passage of Drake. The Bransfield Straight is not friendly for navigation. The conditions were of a rough sea. The wind in one direction and the current in the opposite one, with waves between one and three m high. The sky is clear from time to time, and there frequently are tempests. No way is it a sea to go through in open boats.

When night comes, they can get on to an iceberg after 6 attempts of reaching it in the middle of an wave movement. They dine and at eight they go to sleep with the exception of those who were on night watch.

At 11 pm Shakelton gets up and goes out of his tent, restless and he verifies the course of the iceberg, which was going towards open sea. Suddenly the iceberg cracked below the tent No.4. In the uproar, Holness fell into the water. Shakelton rescues him with great effort and personal risk. After that they all pass on from the smallest iceberg to the biggest one except for Shake ton, who had stayed back until the end, helping the others pass.

They have to launch the Wills to look for him and to pass on to the biggest iceberg. After the fright, they spend the first night awake. Holness remains in movement until his clothes get dry, accompanied by his colleagues who took turns to do it. Not only did Holness not thank Shakelton but he complains about having lost his tobacco.

On the following day there is fog and mist. At 8, Shakelton orders to put the boats in the water. At mid morning, they go out into open sea and they can put up the sails.

The wind and the water of the waves fell onto the boats. The men got seasick. The water comes into the boats. Shakelton orders to distribute an abundant ration. In the afternoon the wind increases and the water in the boats too, but Shakelton maintains NW course. But he soon understood the risk they ran by allowing so much water into the boats and he turns to the south and then to the west looking for protection in the ice pack.

That night, they try to sleep with the boats moored to an iceberg to avoid repeating the experience of the night before. The wind and the snow oblige them to put the boats onto the iceberg at 1,5 m high which was done a by hand. They have no problems with the Wills but with the Docker and the Caird they fall into the water. Stevenson falls into the water when the jutted end on which he was standing breaks off. Finally, at half past three they finish the task. They eat and sleep, wet and frozen, after 36 hours without sleep. Hurley writes: Ï pray to God for the iceberg to keep whole during the night.

´During the night, the wind increases till it becomes a tempest. And the iceberg is attacked by the ices of the weakest ice pack which surrounds them. The sight was impressive and at the same time terrifying, because the iceberg on which they were, broke, there was no where to throw the boats to. They could only wait. Macklin recites some of Tennyson´s poems Í´ve never seen, nor will I see, here and in another place until I die, not even if I live three lives of the mortal men, a miracle so great.

Shakelton climbs to a higher iceberg and checks the ice awaiting an opening. At one moment he orders to lower the boats and then decided not to.

At midday the iceberg becomes smaller and smaller. When only 2 hours of light are left, around 2pm an opening is produced and they launch boats from a 1,5 m high. They advance a little and the ice pack opens up. As the sea was open towards the south west, Shakelton modifies the course and decides to go towards King George Island thinking of going later on from island to island until they reached Island Deception that was a port of call of the whalers.

The course is now south west.. Shakelton decides not to go down to an iceberg any more. And they eat hot food prepared by Green on an iceberg on board. They row all night ,in turns. It snows. On the following day the sun comes out. They have breakfast on an iceberg and they sail towards the southwest protected by the ice pack. Worsley takes his position at 10.30 and at 12 he verifies that they were 124 miles to the east of the King George Island and 61 miles to the southwest of Clarence Island. They were further from land than when they had abandoned Camp Patience.

Shakelton changes course for the third time. Now they were heading towards the south to Bay Hope, 130 miles from the extreme of the Antarctic Peninsula.

In the afternoon a strong wind stirs up and Shakelton orders to look for an icebrg to moor to, protected by from the wind. They moor again to one of them and they can heat a little milk. Then they are attacked by some ice blocks. They fight against the ice and the wind which had changed direction and they find themselves obliged to free the mooring lines..
They move away from the ice and it begins to snow. The temperature decreases and it must have been –20°C. The water on their clothes freezes. They stay up all night. Lansing says that Shakelton ´… had serious doubts that some of the men would survive that night.

At the same time that the Shakelton commanded the expedition, he takes care of his men´s state. At one moment Hurley looses his mittens. Orde-Lees observes the boss´ reaction, who takes his own off immediately and in spite of being in a more exposed position he insists on Hurley accepting them, threatening that he would throw them overboard if one of his subordinates did not have gloves. As a consequence, Orde-Lees tells Shakelton had a very severely frozen finger.

In the morning, after talking to Worsley, now with the wind of the south east, for the fourth time he decides to go on to Elephant Island, 100 miles to the north east. Not before removing some weight of the Wills so as not to be so loaded. Lansing tells that they ´begged to God the wind kept blowing until the got there´. Shakelton orders to eat whatever they wished. They drink hot milk and carry on.

Worsley analyzes the atmosphere that reigned at those moments, in which two of the groups were close to death. He observed that it was as if Shakelton had his finger on each man´s pulse. If he realized that any of them was too dithery and frozen, he ordered that a bit of hot milk be given to everybody, so that the one in danger didn´t in fact know that the milk was for him. . He feared that the affected one would become nervous. Then, everybody participated of the good moment and the man that was colder took greater advantage of it.

The Caird crashes against an iceberg and a hole is made in it, luckily on top of the water line. At midday they go out into the open sea. The sea swell advanced over the boats. The waves went up and down till they lost sight of the ice. They had to choose between the frozen water from the front or the wind from behind: they went for the latter. Due to the strong wind, they had to reduce the size of the sails.

When night fell, Shakelton orders that the Docker to throw the storm anchor, which they do with three rows and a turpuline. And then they tie up the Caird to the prow and the Wills to the prow of the Caird.

The night was terrible. Water came into the boats. The temperature was of – 22° C. The men moved their feet inside their boots so their fingers would not freeze. Marston sang. The men swore in every possible tone. In the Wills, the water reached their knees. The water froze and the men had to take the ice out every half hour. What was worse, they had not loaded ice while they were in a hurry and they did not have water to drink.

On the following day they spot the Clarence Islands and Elephant at prow. They are 30 miles away.

At seven they start off, after a ration of nuts and biscuits that some of them couldn´t swallow due to their thirst. They hoist the sails and row. With the hope of arriving to the southeast end of the island before night falls. When they get closer, Shakelton orders that each boat sail on its own. They cut the lines and try to get closer to the coast and they spend all night trying to keep close to the island. They loose sight of the Docker. In the morning they have to fight against the 160 kms/hr winds which fill their boats with water. Finally after eight days of nightmare, they disembark on the Island Elephant at the end of the Antarctic Peninsula, exhausted, thirsty, dying of cold. After huge efforts they set foot on land for the first time after 497 days.


ISLAND ELEPAHNT: UNCERTAIN POST
On April 15th they disembark on Island Elephant. The first and only thing they can do is eat and rest. Green lights a fire while his colleagues hunt four seals. After that they ate until they were sick and lay down immediately. They sleep from 3pm till the next morning.

Lansing describes that moment, in which in spite of the ferocity of the climate on the island, they all felt relief produced after having lived so many months in permanent insecurity.

James comments that they lie down and sleep as if they had never done so: A deep sleep, of death, without dreams, not noticing the dampness of our coats, lullabied by the cawing of the penguins.

Hurley also expresses the delight that it was to wake up from his sleep and to listen to the chant of the penguins mixed with the music of the sea, to fall asleep once again and wake up later and to feel that everything is real. Finally they were on land!

Meanwhile, Shakelton analyses the situation and goes round the place. He sees marks that indicate that the high tides completely cover the beach they had camped on. The conclusion is simple: they have to leave. He sends Wild to look for another beach to move to, which he finds after sailing all day accompanied by five men.

On the following day, they all set for sea again –rowing-, keeping close to the coast. On the way a strong and sudden storm stirs up, but it ends as quickly as it had started. But the temperature decreased to –15° C. Greenstreet, who had no gloves, starts to get sympthoms of freezing on his hands. He continues rowing, in spite of getting frozen and the water of the blisters hurt his bear hands. Macklin also looses a glove and carries on rowing. After five hours of fight with the elements they all can finally disembark on a rocky jutted end, which had no protection from the wind. It blew with so much violence that it tore a tent and another one flew away. Macklin describes the place where they disembarked at as the most inhospitable that one could ever imagine. He points out that the violence of the ghusts of wind was so big that they couldn´t walk against it, and that they didn´t have a refuge or even the smallest garment.

They sleep in the open air and under the snow. The gale lasted two days, in which they only got out of the sleeping bags to hunt seventy seven penguins. After resting, they transform the Docker into a very uncomfortable house, which had a floor of melted snow and penguin manure.

At the same time, Shakelton talks to Worsley, who tells him about the day on which Shakelton faces the fact that he would not be able to feed his men during the winter. He remembers that that day Shakelton asked him to go to the promontory, which was his habitual place and trusted him his increasing anxiety, stating that he was not going to let his men die of hunger, and that they would have to do a journey by boat to look for help, never minding how risky it could be.

On April 20th, Shakelton gathers his men and tells them about his conclusions: they could stay there until someone came or reinforce one of the boats to try to get to the south of the continent, to Cape Horn towards the northeast or to the Falkland Islands, which were 500/550 miles away from where they were at the moment. Another alternative is South Georgia, around 800 miles away. Finally, he decides to reinforce the James Caird and chooses five men to accompany him on the trip to look for help.

McNiesh works preparing the boat with Marston and MclLeod., in spite of the wind that lasts three days and that at times reaches 190 km/hr. It was so strong that it made their gloves fly away and it even managed to move the stones from their place. Greenstreet and Backewell dedicate themselves to ballast the James Caird, preparing it to sail in a better way in the strong waves which awaited it during the trip.

On April 21st, 1916, Shakelton takes some decisions which he writes down in Hurley´s diary: ´To whom may be concerned, in case of not surviving the boat trip… I give the instructions to Frank Hurley to remain in charge and the responsibility of the exploitation of all the films and photographic reproductions of all the films and negatives will become property of Frank Hurley after their due exploitation and the revenues collected will pay for my executions, according to the contract signed at the beginning of this expedition. The exploitation expires 18 months after the date of the first public exhibition. I leave my large binoculars to Frank Hurley. E.H.Shakelton. Witness: John Vincent.

Shakelton spent the last night before leaving with Wild giving him detailed instructions about all the possible issues, which even included the distribution of envelopes of tobacco. He leaves a letter with the instructions: ¨Dear Sir, in case I don´t survive this trip…you will do whatever is convenient to save the group. As from that moment the boat leaves the island ,you will remain in charge and all the crew will be under your orders. When you return to England you will get in contact with the Committee. I want you, Lees and Hurley to write the book. Take care of my interests. In another letter you will find the terms on which to give conferences in Great Britain and on the continent, Hurley, in the United States. I trust you, as always and I beg to God that you keep to your work and your life. I wish you to transmit my love to my people, as well as I have tried and been able to do so. Your sincerily, E.H.Shakelton. Frank Wild. April 23rd, 1916, Elephant Island.

The trip on the James Caird
On April 24th, 1916 they get up with the light and prepare the James Caird. McNiesh and Vincent fall into the water because of the waves when they put the boat in the water and transship the supplies with the Wills.

They set off at 2.30 pm heading north to the stormiest sea on earth, to pursue their salvation and of all whom had stayed behind in the middle of the ocean. From Land, Orde-Lees describes their departure. What drew his attention was the surprising speed at which such a small boat went at, which disappeared behind each wave. They observed them until they lost sight of them.

On the Boat McNiesh noted down: We said goodbye to our colleagues. We set sail at 8.30 to look for help in South Georgia, 870 miles away. At two o´clock in the afternoon we reached an opening of ice which we have been able to get through in nearly one hour. When we got to open sea we were soaked, but happy to have managed to do so. ´At the same Worsely registered ¨Departure on the James Caird at 12.30. We have sailed 8 miles towards NNE and then one mile towards the E and W. The wind, at 4 in the afternoon, is approximately of 50 km/hs.

As in the boat and the successive camps, Shakelton establishes a routine of watches, dividing the six men in groups of two, which would rotate every 4 hours taking turns to steer the boat, the others remaining on the deck. One team was formed by Worsley, McCarthy and Vincent. Shakelton would form the other with Crean and McNiesh.

They have to haul down the sails and go through the ice shelf which separated them from the sea. The space to manouver was reduced. When they have more water, they hoist the sails again. While they are close to the ice, Shakelton and Worsley remain in charge of the first night watch all night.

At seven they wake up all the others and take turns, which would rotate as from that moment on every four hours.

During the first two days they keep heading north, impulsed by a strong and stable wind form the southwest. Life on board was difficult and damp. The water hit the steersman and whoever helped him with the sails. Every wave that they went through was also a spurt of freezing water inside, where none of the crew –without waterproof clothes- could get away from it. They have to bail quite often. Sleeping was like doing it in washing machine. The place below deck didn´t allow them to get up.

On April 26th, 1916 they pass the parallel 60. There, the winds are generally continuous and with strength of a tempest. The waves – of around 15 m high- advanced at around 30 knots- and every 90 seconds it was their turn to go through a new crest.

The job of every shift was divided for each one into some time at the steer, time to bail, time to accommodate the stones that ballasted the boat and they moved along all the time due to the strong movement.

On April 27th, the wind rotates to the north and Shakelton tries to maintain the course. They spend the day bashing around.

On the 28th the weather improves. They take off their boots and verify that their feet are in a bad state, because they were permanently wet and without exercise. The boat not only had 22,5 feet in lenght and 6 in width, but the only openings that it had were less than 3 m2 each. Shakelton and Vincent start to suffer from ciatica pain and rheumatism.

At night it got clouded over and on the following day they advanced with cloudy weather, which opened up every now and then and allowed them to fix their position. They had already done a third of the total distance.

A storm started to rise that was at its apogee by the following day. With –18° and a wind of 60 knots, the waves that pass over the boat oblige them to bail constantly. At midday they have to break the ice that had formed on the sails and the oars. At a certain point they have to haul down the sails and use the storm anchor. The boat starts to lack stability under the weight of the ice, which obliges them to go out to break the ice which there was on deck and on the four oars, and to permanently accommodate the ballast, that as they moved along unstabled the boat even more then when they were shaken.

Shakelton and Worsley had argued over the amount of ballast to be put in the James Caird. Worsley, which had directed the construction of the boat, sustained that it should be lighter. The boss would later accept his mistake telling the captain that he was right and that he had made a mistake with the ballast, and that if he had listened to him, the trip would have been shorter and the boat´s movements wouldn´t have been so rigid and nervous.

That night, the boat gets covered by a layer of ice on the outside and it sinks around 10 cms. The water stops going in. To melt the ice from the inside, they light a small oven. They spend all night breaking the ice and bailing. On the following day they fight all day against the ice, which allows them to carry on sailing and to be able to spend the following night loading more ice and weather the tempest.

May 1916
On May 2nd, 1916 there already had been three days of storm, which doesn´t allow them to take a position, and in consequence know where they are. A wave breaks on top of them and snatches a storm anchor from them, obliging them to hoist the jib – they have to unfreeze it by hammering it- and position themselves in favour of the wind. Then, after that they can hoist the sails and start the trip again heading for the northeast, after 44 hours of heavy sea. Worsley registers having thrown two sacks of wet reindeer, with a viscose aspect, bad smell and each weighing around 18kgs overboard. He would also describe MaCarthy (Macty) as the most indomitable optimist that he had ever known, who when taking over at the steer, with the frozen boat and the waves coming in in torrents down his neck, informed him, exhausted and with a smile of happiness that it was a great day, making him feel bad because he was a little irritated.

On May 3rd the wind finally calms down. The sun comes out and Worsley verifies that they have already done half the distance and notes down, ´Moderate sea, seaswell from the south , blue sky, clouds passing by. Good weather. Splendid. We have managed to turn part of the wet clothes into damp. 347 miles until Heith Harbour.

On the following two days they continue advancing accompanied by a mild wind from the southeast. At sunrise On May 5th, it becomes braced and that during the day it changes to the northeast and that at night there was a new storm.

At midnight, a gigantic wave breaks on top of them and when the water reaches their knees, they are obliged to bail with the greatest possible energy during two hours to save their lives.

At dawn of May 6th, while heading northeast, a northeast wind of 80 km/hr encounters them. But their successive achievements and their hope of reaching land which they knew was close, gathered their strength.

But the storm kept extreme tension in the boat, which increases when verifying that the water that they had to drink was contaminated with sea water and was half the amount they thought they had. Times were shortening. The storm diminished during the night and during the day the tried to verify where they were. Worsley notes down: ´Very unfavourable conditions to observe. Fog, with the boat jumping like a flea. ´The lack of water obliges Shake ton to ration it to half a glass per day per crew member.

They navigate with extreme concentration, fearing to crash against the coast during a dark night, and at midday of the following day, they see land for some moments. They were 3 miles from the coast and around 16 miles from where the wanted to reach. When they get closer to the coast they come across strong waves which push them to some cliffs which were not signaled on the maps.

At three o´clock, Shakelton orders to turn round towards open sea in order to spend the night there, with less risk than being close to the coast. Worsley notes down: ´Strong
swell to the west. Very heavy sea. We retired during the night, wind stiring up. ´During the night the wind increases, it rains, snows and …hails. They spend all the night jumping about under a storm that becomes a tempest.

On May 9th, 1916 it dawns with a wind of 100 kms/hr and waves of 12 m which push them towards the land. The visibility becomes null. At midday the speed of the wind increases to 130 kms/hr. They can´t drink or eat. At two o´clock in the afternoon it opens up a bit and they discover that they are being pushed to the reef. As they couldn´t sail against the wind, they can only hoist the sails and go towards the southeast.

The waves bashed against the height of the mast and the water came in torrents, obliging them to bail until they are exhausted. In the afternoon they find themselves trapped between the coast, the cliffs and the open sea, from where the tempest hit them. Concentrated on elemental survival, they forget about hunger and thirst. They pass over the cliffs without really knowing how they manage and can go towards the coast of South Georgia. They sail all night and on the following morning they can go towards the bay of King Haakon. At five o´clock in the afternoon on May 10th, 1916, they finally find a way through the cliffs and reach the coast and they disembark after 4 attempts, in a cove, six miles from the bay. They throw themselves violently on a close glacier to drink fresh water.

Voyage of South Georgia
On May 10th, 1916 the James Caird disembarks on the west coast of South Georgia, 522 days after having set to sea from the east coast of the same island. The waves make the boat crash against the rocks and the steer is lost with the beating. Exhausted, they unload the provisions. They are at the end of their strength. They find it impossible to take the boat down to the beach. After 6 attempts, Shakelton decides that they have to rest and eat before they could do anything else. They moor it to the rocks with a line and leave it there, taking turns to look after it. They get into a cave, light a fire, cook and eat.

At eight Shakelton distributes the night watches, doing the first one himself. At two o´clock in the morning of May 11th the line breaks away. Crean, who was on guard, gets into the water and gets hold of it. They moor it again and they have to spend the night next to the boat, preventing a new break of the line, as they had no strength to take the boat to land.

The situation was the following: they have reached the west coast of South Georgia, and the whale stations are on the opposite coast, about 40 kms away. After such an hazardous trip, they disembark in the south of an island with mountains and glaciers, without a map with the topography of the island and not being able to embark to go round it by sea and reach the whale station, which was where they had left from more then one and a half year before.

Shakelton estimates that to cross the island they would have to do so on foot, without carrying weight –they would have to leave the sleeping bags- and without stops, sleeping with no protection meant freezing. They could no longer go back to the boat in those conditions, and with the danger that the strong winds and currents would take them more to the west and prevent them from getting back, which would mean getting lost in the ocean. During the morning, he makes the announcement: to get help they would have to cross the island on foot. A group of three would do it.

They prepare the cave before, dismantel the deck of the James Caird and pull it over to land. Then they hunt some albatross, they cook them, dine and sleep 12 hours running.

McNiesh writes: ´We haven´t been too comfortable in the last five weeks. We have eaten 5 young albatrosses and one adult, with nearly a liter of sauce which surpasses nearly any chicken broth that I have ever tried. I have been thinking what our colleagues of Elephant Island would say if they had a meal like this one.

On the 12th they were better. Shakelton goes round the place with Worsley and they discover that they can´t get out of it by land. They should go to King Haakon bay sailing, using an oar as a steer, even though the one they had lost later turned up floating, which they took as a good sign.

They spend two days recovering strength and feeding. On the 14th it rains. They set off on the 15th at dawn and disembark again after midday. They put the boat down and turn it around so that it would do as a refuge. They call it Camp Peggoty, as Lansing tells, ´In memory of the poor but honored family of David Copperfield of Dickens.

On the 16th it rains and they remain under the boat. On the 17th they explore around. Bad weather continues on the 18th.

They would take food for three days. McNiesh uses some nails that he had put away to reinforce his boots for the ice. Shakelton´s ones were in very bad state, as he had given his to someone who had his in a worse state. His rule, cited by Worsley, was that if there existed privations, ´they should have to be felt by himself before anyone else had to.

´The night starts to clear up, and Shakelton writes the instructions for the ones who will stay behind: ´Sir, I am about to start the trip to Husvik, on the east coast of the island, to look for help for our group. I am leaving the group that has formed to Vincent., McCarthy and you. You must stay here until help arrives. You have enough food, and you can combine birds and fish, according to your expertness. You are keeping a rifle with two anions, fifty cartridges and other provisions. You have the necessary equipment as well to last out for an indefinite period in case we don´t come back. In that case, what would be best would be to wait for the winter to pass to try to reach the east coast. The route that I am going to take towards Huswik is the magnetic east. I hope to be back with help in a matter of a few days. Yours sincerily, E.H.Shakelton. May 18th, 1916. South Georgia.

On May 19th, 1916 they set off on foot at 3.10 am. They go up with loose snow up to 750 m. Fog appears at five. They tie themselves up for mayor security. The sun comes out as the day started and the fog opens up. The border the lake towards the north, and after a while they see that they are going towards a coast without access to the whale stations. They have to go back, and after 2 hours of walk go back to the starting point and go towards the east, in direction to a series of crests. They choose a pass way between the first and the second and climb the mountain again. At nine they have breakfast and start to walk again to the slope, getting there at 11, to find that there was no way through where they expected there to be. They go back and round the mountain and look for a new access. At two o´clock they eat again and go up a frozen slope, making steps with a hoe that sometimes was used as a pickaxe to escalate. Fatigued, they reach the second summit, to discover that they couldn´t get across either. What was worse, fogs appears. They had to descend imperiously, looking for a pass by the third peak, which they get to at 4 o´clock in the afternoon.

They have already been 12 hs marching, when they find themselves closed in between a slope where they would not be able to stay and a slope by which they would not have time to get down at a normal speed without avoiding being caught by nightfall half way down the frozen slope. In order to get down faster, Shakleton proposes to slide down the slope, where there could be rocks which they could crash into or cracks in which they could fall into. The colleagues doubt because of the risk and hesitate, but they end up admitting that it was the only possibility that they had to get out of there. They stand one behind each other, form a kind of human sledge tied up by a rope, and they throw themselves down a 600 mtrs slope, reaching the end without anything happening to them, and with the happiness of not having got trapped by the fog and the ice. Worsley describes the moment.: Ít seemed as if we jumped into space. For a moment my hair stood on end. Immediately I was enjoying it. It was very exciting. We were flinged towards the bottom of a steep slope of a mountain at a mile per hour. I screamed out of excitement and I realized that Shakelton and Crean were shouting too. To hell with the rocks! When we got to the bottom, the boss pointed out: Ít isn’t good to do this sort of things very often.

They eat and start to walk again climbing up a new slope. The full moon lit up their way. At half past twelve pm they reached 120 m of height and they can go towards the northeast. At one o´clock in the morning they eat again and carry on immediately. After a while they realized that the road they had taken was not leading them the way they intended to go and they have to go back once again.

At five o´clock in the morning of the 20th they had already done 25 hours, and they go towards some new series of crests through which they see a possible way through. Exhausted, they rested together to give each other warmth. Worsley and Crean fall asleep immediately. Shakelton knows that if they fall asleep they will freeze to death. Shakelton afterwards wrote ´One can become so tired in the snow, particularly feeling hunger, that sleep seems like the best life has to offer. And falling asleep there means dieing , dieing painlessly, which is Keats ideal. But he is a leader, a comrade of the others that are on the slope, they have to continue. That was the thought that made us sail through hurricanes and which made us climb and go down mountains.

Five minutes later he wakes them up telling them that they have already slept for half an hour and they had to carry on. Their legs were already stiff by the effort they had made, but he had to go on.

At six they go through a crest and finally recognize the hills situated to the west of Stromness in the distance. At six thirty they think they hear a a whistle. They go down to 750 mtrs and breakfast while they observe the chronometer waiting for the seven o´clock whistle which they already knew, which finally blows. They give each other their hands in silence.

It was the first sound that they heard coming from civilization in seventeen months. Then they carry on advancing through the snow until they reach a frozen precipice, by which they start descending in stretches of 15 m, which was the length of the rope they had with them. They take 3 hours to get down. Then they have to climb up again until a summit of 900 m, which they got to at 1.30 pm and 33 hours of trekking and from where they finally see the whale station below.

Lansing tells that: ´… for a while they remained in silence. There was not much to say, at least, nothing that they needed to say. They carry on walking and at 3 they come across a 7 m fall by which they have to descend, as there was no other way out. They do so sliding down the rope which they leave tied up to the top, getting soaked.

When they are about to reach the station, Worsley looks for some needles to mend his trousers which had broken, so as to be more presentable. At 4 o´clock in the afternoon of May 20th, 1916, they finally enter Stromness, after more than 36 hours of practically solid march.

At night, Worsley embarks to save the ones who had stayed behind at Peggoty Camp and Shakelton starts to prepare the rescue for the ones who had remained on Elephant Island. After a few unsuccessful attempts on August 30th, 1916 Shakelton arrives with an old Chilean tow boat, the Yelcho, and rescues the rest of the crew.

Later Shake ton would write: ´When I look back upon those days, I have no doubt that providence was guiding us. Not only through the camps of ice, but also through the sea, white because of the storms, which separated Island Elephant from our point of disembarkment in South Georgia. I know that through the long and exhausting march through the mountains and glaciers with no name in South Georgia, I often thought we were four and not three. I didn´t say anything to my colleagues at that moment, but later Worsley told me: ´Boss, I had a strange feeling that during that walk there was another person with us. ´Crean confessed he had had the same feeling.

Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell, in Shakelton´s Way, quote that Worsley´s widow, who remembered one of the conferences her husband had given before dieing in 1943, in which he mentions four people crossing South Georgia. When someone points out his mistake, he replies ´Whatever you may think of me, it is something I cannot get out of my head.

Members of the Imperial Tranantarctic Expedition of Sir Ernest Shake ton
Frank Wild, second in the expedition, lieutenant
Frank Worsley, Captain
Lionel Greenstreet, First Officer
Hubert T.Hudson, Navigator
Thomas Crean, Second officer on board
Alfred Cheetham, third officer, responsible for sailors
Louis Rickenson, first officer engineer
A.J.Kerr, second officer engineer
Dr. Alexander Hmacklin, doctor
Dr. James A.McIlroy, doctor
James M.Wordie. geologist
Leonard D.A.Hussey, metereologist
Reginald W.James, physisct
Robert S.Clark, Biologist
James Francis Hurley, official photographer
George E.Marston, artist painter
Thomas Orde-Lees, expert on motors, supply keeper
Harry McNiesh, carpenter
Charles J.Green, cook
Walter How, sailor
William Bakewell, sailor
Timothy McCarthy, sailor
Thomas McLeod, sailor
John Vincent, sailor
Ernest Holness, stoker
William Stevenson, stker
Perce Blackborow, waiter, stowaway