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The Endurance, under sail c.1915

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (colloquially, "Shackleton\'s Expedition" or the "Endurance Expedition"), of 1914/15, was the fourth British Antarctic expedition of the 20th century, and aimed, but ultimately failed, to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent.It was another 50 years before this feat was accomplished by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1958.

It is best known for the heroic and successful efforts of its leader, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and its men to save themselves from the remote, frozen Antarctic after disaster destroyed their ship thousands of miles from the nearest outpost of civilization. Although wireless radio was available to ships at the time, the expedition\'s distant location made any such contact impossible, and because World War I was raging, no rescue effort ever left Britain in search of the missing crew.

Much of the adventure was captured on film, as 28 men endured 22 months in the Antarctic with temperatures of −37 °C (−35 °F) and scant provisions. Ultimately, in one of the most remarkable maritime crossings ever undertaken, Shackleton led a six-man crew in search of help across 800 nautical miles (1500 km) of the treacherous Southern Ocean with only a 23-foot (7.0 m) whaleboat to support them through the roaring surf: a feat which, by any standard, is truly amazing.By any standard, this is a truly amazing feat of both seamanship and navigation. Sextant readings are difficult to obtain from the relatively stable decks of a modern super-carrier, let alone the pitching decks of a small boat. A few months later Shackleton returned to rescue the entirety of his crew, not a single life having been lost.Although, it is often quoted the fact that all members of the Endurance expedition returned to Britain safely, three members of the expedition\'s support team did perish in the Antarctic during their mission. See Ross Sea Party.

Numerous books have been published about the adventure, movies and documentary films have been made, and it is considered the last important adventure of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and, perhaps, the greater age of European world exploration that began with the Age of Sail.

Background

Ernest Shackleton

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was the first British Antarctic expedition to depart England after Norwegian Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole in December of 1911.

For Britain, Amundsen’s milestone accomplishment had been soured by the disaster befalling the British contingent: the death of all five members of the pole-team including expedition leader, Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott. After three British attempts to reach the bottom of the world over the preceding decade,Expeditions Discovery (1901-1904), Nimrod (1907-1909) and Terra Nova (1910-1913). the Norwegian had beaten Captain Scott by a mere 35 days.

Ernest Shackleton, an Irishman present on Britain\'s first expedition, and leading Britain\'s second, had become quite famous as being, for a time, the man who had reached furthest south, reaching on his second attempt within 115 miles (180 km) of the pole before turning back due to lack of provisions.Worsley quotes Shackleton\'s closest position as 88° 23\'S 162°E, ninety-seven [presumably nautical] miles from the pole, a small fraction of the projected 865 miles (1,392 km) that he would have to endure to reach his goal, as well as the 1,730 miles (2,780 km) required for the round–trip. Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure On returning, it is thought that he consoled his wife saying that it was better for her to be married to “a live donkey” rather than “a dead lion”. Consistent with his personality, his determination continued, and although he was absent during Scott’s fiasco, afterwards Shackleton resolved to undertake a new, albeit similar, quest: to carry the British flag clear across the continent from the Weddell Sea south of the Atlantic, to the Ross Sea south of the Pacific, by way of the pole.

At the time, only one explorer had attempted this same feat. In 1911, a German explorer, Wilhelm Filchner, had taken an expedition to the Weddell Sea, discovering the Luitpold Coast, and at its southernmost extremity, Vahsel Bay at 78°S. However, Filchner was unable to successfully setup his base on the mainland and was forced to return to Europe without having begun the overland portion of the journey.Article on Wilhelm Filchner at South-Pole.com: [1] (accessed 12/31/2006) Shackleton\'s plan called for his own expedition to Filchner\'s Vahsel Bay, where he would embark on his own crossing of the continent, as well as for a supporting party to carry supplies to the Ross Ice Shelf where they would lay depots that would be necessary towards the end of the 2000 mile (3000 km) trans-continental trek.

Antarctica as it was known in 1914.

Both Shackleton\'s team and the Ross Sea Party would encounter difficulties in their journeys. The story of Shackleton\'s trip on the Endurance to the Weddell Sea is by far the better known.

Scientific objectives

In addition to the crossing the continent, Shackleton envisioned that scientific research could be carried out during the expedition:

Observation of Antarctic wildlife in the vicinity of Vahsel Bay.
Geological research in both Graham Land and Enderby Land as well as additional research on Beardmore Glacier aimed at better uncovering the origins of the continent.
Hydrographic observations were to be recorded by both expeditions.

Preparation and financing

Shackleton solicited investment from numerous donors. The largest single contribution came from James Key Caird who contributed £24,000. Other major contributors were the British Government (£10,000), the Royal Geographical Society (£1000), Dame Janet Stancomb-Wills, who was the daughter of a tobacco tycoon, and Dudley Docker of the Birmingham Small Arms Company. Many schools around Britain also contributed money to the expedition, and for each of which, a sled dog on the expedition was named.

Interest in the expedition was enormous: Shackleton received over 5000 applications for participation. In the end, 56 men were chosen to be divided into the two groups, and Shackleton acquired each of the two ships that were required: the Endurance for the Weddell Sea team and the Aurora for the Ross Sea Party.

Shackleton\'s Weddell Sea Expedition

Working to free the ship

The Endurance departed Plymouth on August 8, 1914, stopped briefly in Buenos Aires, and then in Grytviken, South Georgia, before finally leaving civilization on December 5 bound for the Antarctic coast with 28 men aboard. Making swift progress, the expedition first encountered the southern pack ice encircling Antarctica just before the new year, and Shackleton noted that the Endurance was quite capable of navigating through the relatively open pack. By January 10, the expedition had arrived at the 100-foot (30 m) tall ice walls which masked the Antarctic coastal region of Coats Land, found and named by the last British explorer to enter the area, Dr. William S. Bruce in 1904. Two days later, they passed this land at 74°S and moved into new territory just north of the target Luitpold Coast; Shackleton would name this newly discovered section of coastline the Caird Coast after the expedition\'s prominent sponsor, James Key Caird.There are at least three glacial features along the Caird Coast with names attributed to Shackleton: the Stancomb-Wills Promontory, the Dawson-Lambton Glacier, and the McDonald Ice Rumples.

As the trip progressed, the ice conditions worsened, but Shackleton was unfazed. Because of the ice, the rate at which the ship progressed in January became slower and more variable: sometimes the path was blocked by the ice and there was nothing to do but wait, but at other times the trip enjoyed patches of wholly open water. However, Shackleton remained determined to reach Vahsel Bay. Periodically, the ship would become surrounded by water entirely frozen by ice, only for it to open up again as the expedition moved again towards its goal of 78°S, yet Shackleton remained undeterred. Finally, sometime around January 17, the Endurance made its last stretch of headway before the sea ice froze around it. While over the next few weeks, some ice could be seen to open a couple hundred yards away, or the ice around the hull of the ship might soften for a time, for the most part, the ship became frozen in place. Attempts to free the ship only proved futile, and towards the end of February 1915, formal changes were made to winter the ship.Shackleton, Ernest, South: the story of Shackleton\'s 1914-1917 expedition, available at Project Gutenberg., first published in 1919.Frank Worsley, captain of the Endurance, later wrote that after the ship had initially become surrounded by the ice, gales from the northeast swept the pack ice in the area from which they came into solidly around the ship. - Worsley, Endurance.

Endurance, seen here amongst the uneven terrain of the frozen surface of the Weddell Sea. Horizontal pressure in the ice causes it to buckle upon itself forming the pressure ridges, as seen here, which can reach over 10 ft (3 m) high.

Drift of the Endurance

As desperate as this situation might seem today, Shackleton later wrote that, initially, the immobility of the ship was not his primary concern. Although he was aware that the ice around the ship might become a problem, Shackleton also knew that it was relatively common for polar ships to become beset in pack ice only to be released later.One particularly relevant example was that of Wilhelm Filchner\'s ship, the Deutschland, which had become stuck in the same vicinity only three years prior. After Filchner\'s attempts to establish a land base at Vahsel Bay were rebuffed, the Deutschland steamed northward only to be beset in the pack ice about 200 miles (300 km) off the coast of Coats Land. Although this misfortune, put an end to Filchner\'s 1912 efforts to cross the continent, the ship was released six months later in the northern reaches of the Weddell Sea where it drifted freely into the Southern Ocean. After the ordeal, the ship was still seaworthy and eventually returned to Germany. Ref: Article on Wilhelm Filchner at South-Pole.com: [2] (accessed 12/31/2006) Initially, Shackleton\'s only substantial regret had been that he had not stopped the ship earlier near a location suitable to start the land expedition in the next Antarctic spring.Shackleton wrote that he would preferably have remained at "glacier bay", which presumably refers to an area around any of the Dawson-Lambton Glacier, the McDonald Ice Rumples, or the Stancomb-Wills Promontory. South

As it was, it seemed certain that the current would draw the ship along with the ice westward, perhaps northward as well, and as it happened, it was not long before these concerns were realized. While stuck in the ice, the captain of the Endurance, Frank Worsley continued to chart the expedition\'s course (see map below), and while the vessel drifted only a few miles in February, afterwards the pack ice accelerated its drift to the north drawing the Endurance further and further away from the Luitpold Coast. Accordingly, Shackleton quickly retired his ambition of crossing the continent in the next season, although he remained hopeful that he would eventually return.

Sled dogs watch as the Endurance enters its final days before sinking to the bottom of the Weddell Sea

In May, the Antarctic sun set for the last time before winter, and the particular ice floe in which the Endurance had become beset was, at that time, an area of a perhaps a few square miles. Initially, the assumption had been that the ice would break up as the weather became warmer, or at worst, when the ship was delivered to the northern edge of the Weddell Sea. However, as the Antarctic spring approached, and then arrived, it became apparent that getting free of the ice would not be so simple.

As the ice broke up, huge floes moved apart and came together with tremendous force in ways unalterable by the crew. From August, through September and October, the men watched as dangerous cracks opened in the sea ice and then closed again. As early as July, Shackleton informed Captain Worsley that he believed the Endurance would sooner be destroyed than it would escape the ice.Worsley, Frank A., Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure, 1931, W.W. Norton & Company, 1999. Although the Endurance could withstand considerable stress, as could any good polar ship of the time, the ship\'s predicament was dire, and on October 24, what must have seemed inevitable after many close calls, the starboard side of the ship was forced against a large floe. The pressure of the ice on the side of the ship continued to mount until the hull began to bend and splinter; then water from below the ice began to pour into the ship. When the timbers broke they made terrific noises which sailors later described the sounds as being similar to those of "heavy fireworks and the blasting of guns,"This was reported by Shackleton in South as well as by sailor Walter How in a later interview as incorporated into The Endurance (2000). and then the men tried tirelessly to pump out the incoming sea. However, after a few days, on October 27, Shackleton was forced to give the order to abandon ship, and onto the ice, and into freezing temperatures of −15 °F (−25 °C), the crew took themselves, their sled dogs, their supplies, and three lifeboats.The Endurance: Shackleton\'s Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000), documentary film.

Over the next few weeks, the crew would continue to salvage what they could from the ship, most notable perhaps were the photographs and camera that were initially left behind. However, with the ship partially flooded, and the ice continuing to attack the ship, it was clear that it was doomed, and on November 21, 1915, the Endurance finally slipped beneath the ice at 69°00′S, 51°30′W.

Horizontal pressure in the ice causes it to buckle onto itself forming "pressure ridges", as seen here.

Frank Hurley and Ernest Shackleton at camp.

Sledging attempts

Without the supplies on the ship, continuing with the expedition as planned was no longer a possibility, and Shackleton made it known that the focus had shifted to simply returning themselves to England. To this end, he initially planned to march the crew towards Paulet Island, which had been the refuge of a Swedish expedition when their ship sank in the region fifteen years earlier.In 1901, after successfully delivering expedition leader Otto Nordenskiöld to the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, Carl Anton Larsen led their ship, the Antarctic to the peninsula\'s Weddell Sea coast where, like the Endurance, it sank in the pack ice. Larsen and his crew took refuge on Paulet Island, which was about 25 miles (40 km) from where the Antarctic sank. The team was eventually able to rendezvous overland with Nordenskiöld. Ref: this article on Nordenskiöld at South-Pole.com (accessed 1/11/2007). He believed this island to be only 250 nautical miles (450 km) to the west, and this seemed like a very manageable distance given their stock of supplies which had been readied to take a smaller party across the entire continent.

However, after starting the trek, problems quickly arose. The landscape and surface of the sea ice around them made their task difficult; the terrain was not so similar to that on the continent. As the horizontal pressure had increased, the sea ice buckled and rose up upon itself, forming large pressure ridges (see photograph), often 10 ft (3 m) high. There was no even ground over which to drag the lifeboats and equipment. Furthermore, as the weather became warmer and currents drew their position further north, the ice pack started to thin and crack, making sledging both more difficult and more dangerous. Shifting ice increased the risk of the party becoming separated, and uneven terrain made the sledges unstable: if one overturned, the lifeboat on its back might have been irreparably damaged.

Shackleton twice attempted to march the team toward land, but careful progress was far too slow. In one attempt, the team journeyed only 10 miles (18 km) in 7 back-breaking days, and at that rate, it would have required 200 days to close the necessary distance, a duration for which they did not have provisions. Twice disappointed, Shackleton reversed his initial decision, and the crew put up their tents and settled into a camp on the ice.

With so little distance having been travelled, the greatest consequence of the sledging attempts was simply to reduce their stock of supplies. In addition to the greater caloric needs of the team, sledging moved them further away from the original location of the ship where they had unloaded everything they could onto the ice. Unable to pack all of it on the sledges, much had been left behind as Shackleton had attempted to lighten the team\'s burden. Because of the reduced stocks, sealWeddell Seal, Crabeater Seal, and Elephant Seal. and penguin, which simply added variety to their diet before, became staples as Shackleton attempted to save the remaining packaged rations for when they might later be needed. What fuel they had for heat, cooking, as well as simply melting ice to provide potable water, had to be supplemented with seal blubber. Consequently, when the seals and penguins inexplicably disappeared from the landscape, some of the men became worried, and rations of food were appropriately reduced. Eventually, the sled dogs had to be shot.It was common for men on Antarctic expeditions to eventually consume the meat of dogs and horses that were used. This was true for the expeditions of Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton, alike. Beyond simply providing additional sustenance, fresh meat was known to help prevent scurvy. Like citrus fruit, fresh meat contains significant amounts of Vitamin C.

Lifeboat journey to Elephant Island

Inhospitable ocean region around the South Sandwich Islands and its largest island: South Georgia.

On April 9, the men jumped into their boats as their camp was severed in two by the break-up of the floe. Now, with greater mobility, Shackleton could maneuver his crew towards land. Having known for some time that the day would come, Shackleton had weighed his options as to where to go. Seemingly the best destination was Deception Island, perhaps 200 miles (300 km) away to the west, which not only had provisions for shipwrecked mariners, but potentially a small wooden church that could be scavenged by the expedition\'s carpenter to improve the lifeboats.Another benefit of the volcanic Deception Island, which Shackleton does not mention in his book, South, would have been the luxury of geothermally-heated water. Deception Island, is often seen as a highlight of Antarctic cruises as people routinely swim in the warm water of Pendulum Cove, while avoiding some parts where the it is heated to the point that it would scald. The island\'s volcano last erupted in 1969. Other possibilities included Elephant Island and Clarence Island, both of which appeared on the horizon in March. However, despite the benefits of the places he considered, all seemed irrelevant after only a few days in the open lifeboats. Once in the boats, the relative luxuries of seal meat, blubber for both the stove and for breakfast, and even ice to quench their thirst became scarce resources. Some nights the temperature dropped to minus 20 °F (−30 °C), and the men were routinely soaked by the seawater. Many became frostbitten, and morale sank to an all-time low. The lack of shelter provided by the boats wore them down at a rate not seen at the camps, and Shackleton felt that the nearest possible refuge was the only option. After seven days, this brought them to Elephant Island.

Elephant Island seen from the sea, NOAA photo

Voyage of the James Caird

Launching the James Caird from the shore of Elephant Island, April 24th, 1916

Rendition of the James Caird nearing South Georgia

Activities in Antarctica During the 20th Century
International agreements
International Polar Year (1932–33) International Geophysical Year (1957–58) Antarctic Treaty System (1959)
British Commonwealth activities
Scott\'s 1st expedition (1901–04)
Shackleton\'s 1st expedition (1907–09)
Scott\'s 2nd expedition (1910–13)
Mawson\'s 1st expedition (1911–1914)
Shackleton\'s 2nd expedition (1914–17)
Shackleton\'s 3rd expedition (1921–22)
Mawson\'s 2nd expedition (1929–31)
The Graham Land Expedition (1934–37)
Operation Tabarin (1943–45)
Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs-Hillary 1955–58)
French activities
Charcot\'s 1st expedition (1903–05)
Charcot\'s 2nd expedition (1908–10)
German activities
Drygalski\'s expedition (1901–03)
Filchner\'s expedition (1911–12)
The New Swabia Expedition (1938–39)
Norwegian activity
Amundsen\'s expedition (1910–12)
U.S. activities
Byrd\'s first expedition (1928–30)
Operation Highjump (1946–47)
Operation Windmill (1947–48)
Ronne\'s expedition (1947–48)
Operation Deep Freeze (1955–56)

Elephant Island was a terrible place to await rescue. The island was quite inhospitable with its terrain wholly barren, consisting of no more than bare rock, snow, and ice. Despite the relative abundance of seals and penguins on the shores of the island, it was hard for Shackleton\'s team to predict how long the supply would last, especially given their disappearance from their camp on the ice not too long before. The swiftly approaching Antarctic winter was another cause for concern and during the first few days that they were on the island, the weather of the Drake Passage seemed to live up to its terrible reputation. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the island was remote from anywhere that the expedition had planned to go, and was nowhere near any common shipping routes; so the likelihood of seeing a ship, rescue or otherwise, seemed terribly small. Consequently, Shackleton felt that it was essential that he set out immediately upon arrival, and to him, it was obvious that he must head back to South Georgia, even if it meant traversing over 800 miles (1500 km) of open ocean in little more than the lifeboat in which he arrived. The resulting boat journey, the voyage of the James Caird, is one of the most remarkable maritime crossings ever undertaken.

The waters that Shackleton was to sail in his 23-foot (7 m) boat are well reputed to be among the most treacherous seas in the world. Shackleton later wrote that the gales in the area are nearly unceasing,Worsley wrote that it was common to hear phrases among the small crew such as "eight bells" indicating winds and seas of a force-8 gale on the Beaufort Scale. - Shackleton\'s Boat Journey and weather reports today confirm that gale-force winds of 40 to 45 miles per hour (60 to 70 km/h) are present in the Drake passage on an average of 200 days per year causing ocean swells of 20 ft. (7 m).Venanzangeli, Paolo, "Cape Horn the Terrible" at Nautica Online (accessed 1/4/2007) Sailors have often described larger waves occurring in these waters, and some sources report that 60-foot (20 m) waves are not uncommon.Worsley wrote of 40 to 50 ft (13 to 16 m) swells which, crest-to-crest, would have been separated by a half mile (800 m), moving at 25 mph (40 km/h), and breaking waves that could strike at a speed of 50 mph (80 km/h). - Shackleton\'s Boat Journey Meteorologists indicate that this extreme weather is because of the Coriolis effect forces at mid-latitudes, which further south, results in a strong airflow eastward, circling Antarctica. The lack of any land-masses results in an unimpeded airflow around the globe with a correspondingly strong ocean current, and the funnelling effect of Cape Horn, the Antarctic Peninsula, and shallow underwater topography result in a magnification of these conditions in the Drake Passage, as well as immediately to the east in the Scotia Sea. Of course, this merely confirms what sailors have known about the region for centuries, and the difficulty of crossing the Drake Passage is legendary. Sailors often referred to these dangerous latitudes as the "roaring forties," "furious fifties," and "screaming sixties," and in centuries past sailors have often applied the adage that "below 40 degrees, there is no law, but below 50 degrees, there is no god." Shackleton\'s starting position on Elephant Island at the southern boundary of the Drake Passage at 61°S, and his destination at 54°S, placed the crew of the James Caird right in the thick of it. Indeed, Shackleton refused to pack supplies for more than four weeks knowing that if they had not made land by that time, that the boat would certainly have been lost. Clearly, Shackleton and his small crew were routinely battling waves nearly as high as their boat was long whilst hundreds of miles from the nearest island, and occasionally, the waves are likely to have been much larger.

At midnight I was at the tiller and suddenly noticed a line of clear sky between the south and south-west. I called to the other men that the sky was clearing, and then a moment later I realized that what I had seen was not a rift in the clouds but the white crest of an enormous wave. During twenty-six years\' experience of the ocean in all its moods I had not encountered a wave so gigantic. It was a mighty upheaval of the ocean, a thing quite apart from the big white-capped seas that had been our tireless enemies for many days. I shouted, "For God\'s sake, hold on! It\'s got us!" Then came a moment of suspense that seemed drawn out into hours. White surged the foam of the breaking sea around us. We felt our boat lifted and flung forward like a cork in breaking surf. We were in a seething chaos of tortured water; but somehow the boat lived through it, half-full of water, sagging to the dead weight and shuddering under the blow. We baled with the energy of men fighting for life, flinging the water over the sides with every receptacle that came to our hands, and after ten minutes of uncertainty we felt the boat renew her life beneath us.

—Ernest Shackleton, South

In preparation, Shackleton had chosen several sailors to accompany him to South Georgia. These included Tim McCarthy and the experienced officer and decorated explorer Thomas Crean, buit also John Vincent and the expedition\'s carpenter, Harry McNish, who was a source of trouble before—Shackleton obviously did not want him to stay on Elephant Island. McNish immediately set about making improvements to Shackleton\'s open lifeboat, raising its sides, strengthening its keel, and building a makeshift deck of wood and canvas, sealing the work with oil paints and seal blood. The difficult task of navigating the crossing was left to Frank Worsley. Ensuring they were on the correct course was of the utmost importance as missing their target would certainly have doomed the team. Bad weather conditions, stormy and overcast with large sea swells, complicated the task as viewing the horizon relative to the sun or moon was important. Navigational readings were only possible at four times during the 800-mile (1,300 km) journey.

Typical mountainous terrain on South Georgia

After fourteen days, tired and thirsty, the crew was within sight of the island and elated that they had successfully completed the journey. However, to avoid a night-time landing on an unknown and uncharted shoreline, they again moved back out to sea to wait for morning, but by that time a fierce storm had begun with hurricane-force winds.Worsley, Frank A., Shackleton\'s Boat Journey, 1933, W.W. Norton & Company, 1998. Shackleton\'s crew battled the storm for a perilous 9 hours, barely managing to stay afloat and off the rocks until they were finally able to go ashore the next evening. Others were not so lucky: Worsley later wrote that a 500-ton steamer en route from Buenos Aires to South Georgia had foundered in the same storm with all aboard lost. Shackleton\'s team had weathered the storm as well as a treacherous journey in the 23-foot (7.0 m) James Caird.

South Georgia crossing

Unwilling to sail around to the populated northern coast of the island where they risked being blown out to sea by the prevailing winds, Shackleton decided to bring the James Caird ashore in the well-sheltered harbor of King Haakon Bay. Close to their goal, it was then necessary to cross to the northern coast through the island\'s uncharted interior, with its rugged terrain of snow- and glacier-clad mountains that up until that time was considered all but impenetrable. Shackleton\'s obvious need to reach one of the handful of whaling stations on the north shore resulted in the first crossing of South Georgia, and impressively, was undertaken at a speed which has proven difficult for expert mountain climbers to duplicate today.Biography: Ernest Shackleton, television documentary, A&E Television Networks, 2002. Leaving the others in King Haakon Bay, Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean, travelled in 36 hours from that bay to Stromness, approximately 20 miles (32 km) as the crow flies, but for which there is certainly no easy travel route. The three improvised crampons by affixing nails from their boat to the bottom of their boots, and without any tents or proper equipment, pushed through on their important mission to cross the uncharted mountain range. Staggering into Stromness, Shackleton and his team were welcomed into the station manager\'s house, and later given a banquet by a station of impressed whalers awed by the small team\'s daring crossing of the Southern Ocean.

McNish, McCarthy, and Vincent, who had been left in King Haakon Bay, were picked up the next day.

Elephant Island

Captain, March 1917, Cover of the popular English magazine with Ernest Shackleton back from his epic expedition South

When the James Caird departed from Elephant Island towards the end of April, 1916, Shackleton left 22 men behind, with his trusted second, Frank Wild, in command. These men were left to patiently wait for the unknown day when Shackleton would hopefully return, and meanwhile, the elements were against them. Shackleton wrote that in the fortnight that he was on the island before leaving for South Georgia, the winds blew at 70 to 90 miles per hour, and the tents which had held up well on the ice, were "ripped to shreds" by the winds. Despite the fact that they had come over a thousand miles northward since the Endurance had originally been trapped by the ice, temperatures were, for the most part, still bitterly cold. So in order to survive, the remaining men constructed a small hut using the two lifeboats left behind as a roof, and stones from the beach for support. What remained of the tents was fashioned into canvas walls, and snow was piled around the sides to insulate the structure. All considered, the hut held up well through the frequent blizzards, and occasional hurricane-force blasts. However, even breaks in the bad weather were difficult to appreciate, as such often meant that what penguin and seal meat had been gathered and frozen would then thaw and begin to rot, and the hut\'s snow insulation would melt flooding the floor with hundreds of gallons of brackish water. In fact, the crew learned to favor the cold weather.

Shackleton returned to Elephant Island in August, 1916 and found all 22 men left behind had survived.

Rescue

It took four attempts for Shackleton to finally make it back to Elephant Island to save the men left behind. His first attempt left a mere three days after he had first arrived in Stromness. After seeing a vessel, The Southern Sky, idle in the harbor, Shackleton arranged for it to travel to Elephant Island, and the local whalers were quick to provide assistance. Unfortunately, as the vessel drew close to the destination, they saw that the ice pack had grown in the Antarctic winter. The Southern Sky was not built for ice breaking, and Shackleton had no choice but to retreat, this time to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.

When told that no official help from war-weary Britain could be expected for six months, Shackleton continued his efforts in South America: once using a ship provided by the Uruguayan government, the Instituto de Pesca No. 1, and later on a privately chartered vessel, the Emma, thanks to financial assistance from Briton Allan McDonald, for whom Shackleton would later name a glacier.This glacier was later reclassified as an ice rise and renamed the McDonald Ice Rumples. Each of these attempts was thwarted, first again by the pack ice, and then by the increasingly bad winter weather. However, finally, in late August, four months after he had originally left Elephant Island, Shackleton had a break on his fourth attempt, and all the men stranded on Elephant Island were rescued by a Chilean Navy vessel, the Yelcho, captained by Luis Pardo. All 22 men who had remained on Elephant Island had survived.

Ross Sea Party

Main article: Ross Sea Party

Map of the sea routes of Endurance, The James Caird, and Aurora, the overland supply depot route of the Ross Sea Party, and the planned overland route of the Weddell Sea Party led by Ernest Shackleton on his trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–15
Red: voyage of Endurance
Yellow: drift of Endurance in pack ice
Green: sea ice drift after Endurance sinks
Blue: voyage of The James Caird
Turquoise: planned trans-Antarctic route
Orange: voyage of Aurora to Antarctica
Pink: retreat of Aurora
Brown: supply depot route

While Shackleton\'s team was struggling in the Weddell Sea region, the expedition\'s supporting party had proceeded to McMurdo Sound in order to lay food depots for the trans-continental team. Their ship, the Aurora, was blown offshore in a storm, stranding the company, but they set out across the Ross Ice Shelf to lay the supplies regardless. In December 1916, following his rescue of the men on Elephant Island, Shackleton embarked on a subsequent rescue mission to pick up the stranded members of the support party. Tragically, by that time, three men had died while returning to shelter after having successfully laid the supply depots that were rendered unnecessary by Shackleton\'s misfortune in the Weddell Sea.

The famous advertisement

Men Wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.

Although widely attributed to him and thought to have been published in a London newspaper shortly before the expedition, some have challenged that this text was ever written by Shackleton. A certain website recently held up a $100 USD prize for anyone who was able to locate the original advertisement; no winner has been found, and many taking part have posted their views that it seems unlikely that any such ad ever existed. Regardless, the text has entered popular consciousness as associated with Shackleton, such that many resources on the explorer mention the advertisement, even if they must acknowledge its potential lack of authenticity.