Shackleton's South with James Cracknell

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-17) conceived by the man himself is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. 

Norwegian Roald Amundsen may have been the first to conquer the South Pole in 1911 but for Shackleton the ‘great main objective’ in Antartica was still up for grabs; the sea to sea journey across the continent.

Shackleton at one point had been further south than any man in history when on the 1907 Nimrod Expedition he got to within 112miles of the South Pole before turning back.  When telling his wife (Emily) why he turned back, he simply said “A live donkey is better than a dead lion, isn’t it?”

It was this ability to make an unemotional, difficult decision when under immense pressure that served him so well with the situations he faced on the Trans-Antarctic Expedition.  For those of you who don’t know what happened I won’t ruin it or take anything away from Thursday’s phenomenal film on Discovery Channel.  I will lay out some of the details, but the chances are you won’t believe what the men on that expedition endured and how Shackleton led them through it.

Funnily enough it isn’t my presence isn’t what makes the programme phenomenal, for a start I’m not fit to lace Shackleton’s boots, but it is the footage and stills that Frank Hurley the expedition’s filmmaker/photographer collected nearly a century ago which really make it.  His dedication and commitment under extreme circumstances, which we can’t begin to imagine, mirrored the resilience of the other men. 

The expedition was split into two groups the Weddell Sea Party and the Ross Sea Party. The latter would lay food drops at agreed lat/long positions, which Shackleton his five men, 69 dogs, two motor sledges and equipment would leave the rest of the Weddell Sea gang aiming to cross Antarctica to the Ross Sea, a mere 1,800miles. 

The Endurance left England in August 1914 just has the First World War had broken out.  Shackleton offered his men and ship to George V but was told the country would need good news in the times of national hardship.  Little did he know the hardship that was in store for Shackleton and his men.

 Below is a brief timeline of the expedition so in true Match of the Day style you might want to skip a few lines to keep some suspense. 

• August 1914 Endurance departs Southampton
• November 1914 Arrives South Georgia
• December 1914 Departs South Georgia for Antarctica
• February 14^th 1915 Endurance beset in the Antarctic ice
• February 24^th Shackleton realized Endurance would be trapped in ice over winter an ships routine abandoned
• October 27^th 1915 Shackleton ordered for ship to be abandoned before it was crushed in ice
• October 1915 - April 1916 Camping on the ice floes dragging supplies and lifeboats
• April 9^th 1916 Took to the life boats with  ice melting and headed for Elephant Island
• April 15^th 1916 Arrived Elephant Island
• April 24^th 1916 Shackleton and 5 men set off in the James Caird to South Georgia 800 miles away across the fearsome Southern Ocean
• May 7^th 1916 Landed on South Georgia
• May 18^th 1916 started on the first crossing over South Georgia to reach the whaling station where they’d left from
• May 21^st Arrived at the Stromness Whaling station
• August 30^th 1916 Rest of the party on Elephant Island rescued

The resilience of the party and decisions that Shackleton made knowing that at some point they’d have to make a break for land meant that they survived.  It would have been easy to have tucked into the sledging rations but surviving for days at sea on penguin and seal meat would not have worked in the same way it was possible to on the ice. 

I’ve often wondered how I’d have coped as part of that expedition, not very well is the answer and being able to row it would have meant me ending up in the James Caird for that epic journey. It may have been nice to look back on but beyond description at the time.

The film Hurley shot is beautiful and the story couldn’t be made up.  I’ll be tweeting on @DiscoveryUK during the programme so fire away with any questions.

Enjoy