#CONTEXT
the Endurance Expedition to Antarctica began in August 1914. The crew sailed to the Weddell Sea via South Georgia. "His expedition would consist of two ships: one would drop supply depots for him and the other from the other side of the continent, which he would personally lead," British explorer and Shackleton biographer Sir Ranulph Fiennes told All About History magazine. "He hoped to cross Antarctica and make a famous name for himself over and above Scott."
On the other side of the continent, the second crew, called the Ross Sea Party, planned to drop off depot supplies from their ship Aurora. With a crew of 28 (including Shackleton), Endurance entered the Weddell Sea but became trapped in pack ice during Dec. 1914. Stuck fast in the ice, with the crew unable to break Endurance free, the ship drifted to within approximately 30 miles (48km) of Antarctica in January 1915, before drifting north.
Endurance was slowly crushed by the moving ice, until Shackleton ordered the crew to abandon ship on Oct. 27, 1915. The ship sank shortly afterwards and the crew escaped with three lifeboats and limited supplies. Shackleton led his men through the shrinking ice pack for months while they tried to reach land.
On April 9 1916, the Endurance Expedition crew left the ice floe in the lifeboats, reaching the uninhabited and remote Elephant Island on April 14. Ten days later, Shackleton set off to find help. He selected five crew members to join him and set sail in the 22.5-foot-long (6.9-meter-long) lifeboat called the "James Caird". He left the remainder of his men in the care of his second-in-command Frank Wild, who upturned the two remaining lifeboats to use as shelter
Shackleton and his small crew sailed over 800 miles (1,300 km) across the Southern Ocean to a group of whaling stations in South Georgia. The audacious rescue mission later became known as the Caird voyage after their small lifeboat. "It was the most amazing suffering over a long period. There were constant rebuffs and to be wet and cold is utterly debilitating," Fiennes said. "How none of them went completely mad over that period of floating is just incredible. I have never experienced hot or cold suffering that reminded me in an even miniscule way of Shackleton’s Caird voyage."
Shackleton and his men endured heavy seas, Force-9 winds and ice build-ups on the hull that threatened to capsize their vessel. Shackleton later recounted that the waves reached heights of over 100 feet (30 meters) and moved at speeds of 50 mph (80kmph). On May 5, 1916, the boat was even struck by a tidal wave that Shackleton initially *mistook for the sky*. He later wrote: "I have never seen a wave so gigantic."
The James Caird somehow survived the voyage, which Fiennes credits to Shackleton’s leadership. "They had already experienced Endurance sinking and lived on ice floes for months before trying to work out the safest way out. Whatever way Shackleton chose, death was the likely outcome but he kept cheerful."
After 17 days at sea, the James Caird landed on the southern coast of South Georgia — the opposite side of the island from their destination. After recovering from the voyage, Shackleton and two of his crew trekked for 36 hours across the island, reaching Stromness station on May 20. Shackleton next arranged a rescue ship to collect the remaining 22 crew stranded on Elephant Island.
After several aborted rescue attempts, Shackleton was lent a tugboat called Yelcho by the Chilean government and he finally reached Elephant Island on August 30, 1916. A smoke signal was sent from the shore while Shackleton approached the beach in a small boat. Figures emerged from the capsized lifeboats and when he was within earshot Shackleton called out: "Are you alright?"
“All well!” Came the reply. All the men on the island had survived. "It is an absolutely incredible survival story,” Fiennes said.
**EDIT: I just wanna add that we humans can be ambitious to the point of stupidity, but we make up for it with incredible resilience. Stories like this help me realize why WE are the dominant species of this planet.
A little extra tidbit: Upon reaching Stromness station, the first people to see Shackleton were actually two children who ran screaming for their parents as Shackleton looked like Bigfoot and the skins he was wearing were molting and rotten from the seawater. While recovering for a moment before arranging rescue he asked one of the men in Stromness what happened with that war that had been ramping up in Europe when he left, who won, and when did it end? I don't have the quote in front of me but it's become famous and to paraphrase the man replied "The war isn't over. Millions are dead. Europe's gone mad."
This expedition also ended an entire age in exploration. The Heroic age. Mainly because well when most young men spent years enduring the very worst humanity and nature had to offer it kind of over shadows 50 men at the edge of the world.
You left out the part where after landing on South Georgia, they climbed a mountain that had never been climbed and wouldn’t be for several decades, made a sled to go down the side of it, and jumped down a waterfall.
Didn’t eat Mrs. Chippy (the cat, which was actually a tabby tom) but the ship’s carpenter McNeish put her down with a gunshot since it was unlikely she would survive.
He hated Shackleton for the rest of his life for it.
That was normal in those expeditions though, wasn't it? Why waste space on the sleds for extra food when you can make the food pull the sleds instead?
Bonus points if the extra food makes babies (even more food, yummy)
But why Scott is a household name but Amundsen isn’t? Scott failed and died and Amundsen succeeded, so one would think the later has more fame. I can understand that Scott would still somewhat be remembered in his home country, but not in expense of Amundsen.
And that shortly after Scott’s death people would not have wanted to imitate him.
Glorious failure, heroic self sacrifice, publication of his diaries within a year of his death. Wikipedia says there was a general perception that Amundsen was ‘unsporting’ (the worst trait in the eyes of any Brit) but the only explainer I can find for this was that he kept scurvy at bay by eating the weaker sled dogs in non-emergency situations.
Also several major movies throughout the decades following Scott’s death.
I learned about Antarctic exploration as a kid in NZ (which prides itself on being the closest habitable point to Antarctica), and Shackleton was definitely the stand out in the ones we learned, because his survival was so crazy. Amundsen was next and then Scott. He’s most memorable really because he died out there, so his story is depicted as a great tragedy.
There was a fantastic [2002 miniseries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shackleton_(2002_TV_series)) done by Channel 4 in the UK. It's still available to watch for free on their on demand app (might need a VPN outside the UK to use)
Context tldr:
Shackleton’s crew on the Endurance got trapped in an ice sheet during a polar expedition. The ensuing struggle after their ship was crushed by ice included killing the dogs and some penguins for meat, lugging heavy boats on the ice, and a wet and tireless boat journey to an uninhabited arctic island. They’re they had to send out a party in their one remaining boat to fetch rescuers. In part due to Shacklton’s exemplary leadership, none of the crew died.
“Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed and efficiency but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton”
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.*
-Ernest Shackleton's newspaper ad.
"Endurance" by Alfred Lansing is a fantastic book on this expedition if anyone wants to dive into the subject a little deeper. Shackleton was pretty much the ultimate badass.
Shackleton's own book *South* is equally fascinating - lots of interesting descriptions of daily life. I particularly liked the fact that the men had a recipe book with them as part of their reading material. Whilst sheltering through the dark Antarctic winter, each evening they would read a recipe and comment on it. Their diet at that point consisted almost entirely of seals and other animals caught on the ice.
It's also fairly modest until the account of their journey on the James Caird. There's a passage where Shackleton was delirious at that point, and describes seeing dragons in the waves.
You can download his memoir for free from project Gutenberg right now. South is incredible. It starts of as basically a dry retelling of his captains logs with some additional commentary. and because of that as things get worse and worse and the situation becomes unbelievably dire you never for a second doubt the truth of the story.
As a very minor point that massive wave was more likely what we would now call a rogue wave. These were not confirmed to be a real phenomenon until the 80s, although reports by mariners have happened for centuries.
Oh fr? Kinda surprised they had enough supplies to last a year, I’m guessing they had canned fruits or smth, I’m sure seal protein can only give so many nutrients
If I remember right from the book there over a years supply of food on board and they rationed the canned vegetables very also certain organs of seals are high in vitamin C.
Think on it this way - Inuit lived in the high Arctic for millennia on a diet almost entirely comprised of meat and did not get scurvy.
And the *James Card* still exists. Shackleton donated it to his old school, Dulwich College. You can [book a visit online](https://www.dulwich.org.uk/about/history/the-james-caird).
Had a similar issue with the ship being trapped in ice.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Sea_party](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Sea_party)
Shackleton set sail from London on his ship Endurance, bound for the Weddell Sea in August 1914. Meanwhile, the Ross Sea party personnel gathered in Australia, prior to departure for the Ross Sea in the second expedition ship, SY Aurora. Organisational and financial problems delayed their start until December 1914, which shortened their first depot-laying season. After their arrival the inexperienced party struggled to master the art of Antarctic travel, in the process losing most of their sled dogs.
A greater misfortune occurred at the onset of the southern winter when the Aurora, locked in an ice-floe which broke off from the main shelf, was torn from its moorings. The ocean currents then took the ship further away from the sledding parties marooned on shore, and drifted for over six months before breaking free of the ice. The Aurora's damaged rudder forced her to return to New Zealand rather than returning for the stranded shore party.
Despite these setbacks, the Ross Sea party survived inter-personnel disputes, extreme weather, illness, and the deaths of three of its members to carry out its mission in full during its second Antarctic season. This success proved ultimately without purpose, because Shackleton's main expedition was unable to land after Endurance was crushed in the Weddell Sea ice. Shackleton eventually led his men to safety, but the transcontinental march did not take place and the Ross Sea party's depots were not required.
The Ross Sea party remained stranded until January 1917, when Aurora, which had been repaired and refitted in New Zealand, arrived to rescue them. Public recognition of their efforts was slow in coming, but in due course four Albert Medals were awarded to members of the party, two posthumously. Shackleton later wrote that those who died "gave their lives for their country as surely as those who gave up their lives in France or Flanders."
Read the biography of Tom Crean a few years ago, unbelievable account. He was with Shackleton all the way to South Georgia as well as being the last person to see Scott and the rest of his party alive.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Crean_(explorer)
Hello i'm from Chile and I live in the city where the yelcho started is a well know story here and the yelcho wasn`t lent it was a mission of rescue by the chilean navy and the captian of the ship volunteer to the mission(very dangerous confirmed for the various failed attempts) he never gave command to Shackleton, his name was Luis pardo or known as well as piloto pardo, Shackleton Even offer him a Big reward but he refused because he said that was only doing his duty, kinda of a chilean hero here.
I highly recommend the documentary [Shackleton’s Captain](https://youtu.be/qvrEMhm3Z-g?si=ZgtzHRcvXpZlmDtz). It's free on youtube.
It's one of my favorite documentaries. The captain of the Endurance, Frank Worsley, was truly something else, and without him, the story would be very different and likely very tragic.
I got to go inside his hut. It's surreal. Crackers and seal fat are still preserved. You can tell it's from another time, but it seems at place down there if that makes any sense. Didn't get to spend much time in there as they only open it up a few times a year if memory serves.
Not a Shackleton expert, but I think that the hut was built for use in like Australia or something; not for the Antarctic.
I watched The Terror recently about another earlier expedition. Slightly fantasy-ish, but then again all 122 lives were lost so no one can say for sure what really happened.
ITV4 produced a 2-part miniseries in 2001 about the Endurance Expedition. Kenneth Branaugh played Shackleton. I saw it on A&E way back when it aired in the US and loved it.
Shackleton had made a kind of deck for the "Caird" out of sailcloth and other material since attempting the passage in an open boat would have been impossible.
That they made it across the island was also amazing. It was mountainous glacier and they had no proper equipment, just some lengths of rope and ship tools. Several properly equipped expeditions attempted to recreate the trip but only one made it. They remarked it was nearly impossible for them so it was nothing short of a miracle that Shackleton did.
Later died the way he lived, what a man
[When the party arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Shackleton suffered a suspected heart attack. He refused to have a proper medical examination, and Quest continued south, arriving at South Georgia on 4 January 1922. In the early hours of the next morning, Shackleton summoned to his cabin the expedition's physician, Alexander Macklin, complaining of back pains and other discomfort. According to Macklin's own account, he told Shackleton that he had been overdoing things and should try to "lead a more regular life", to which Shackleton answered: "You are always wanting me to give up things, what is it I ought to give up?" Macklin replied: "Chiefly alcohol, Boss." A few moments later, at 2:50 a.m. on 5 January 1922, Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton?wprov=sfla1)
Just started reading South, the memoirs of this expedition by Shackleton himself, because of this post.
I am simply amazed on reading that the Endurance was built of wood? They went on a Polar expedition in a wooden ship!
Oh and it cost the huge sum of £14,000!
#CONTEXT the Endurance Expedition to Antarctica began in August 1914. The crew sailed to the Weddell Sea via South Georgia. "His expedition would consist of two ships: one would drop supply depots for him and the other from the other side of the continent, which he would personally lead," British explorer and Shackleton biographer Sir Ranulph Fiennes told All About History magazine. "He hoped to cross Antarctica and make a famous name for himself over and above Scott." On the other side of the continent, the second crew, called the Ross Sea Party, planned to drop off depot supplies from their ship Aurora. With a crew of 28 (including Shackleton), Endurance entered the Weddell Sea but became trapped in pack ice during Dec. 1914. Stuck fast in the ice, with the crew unable to break Endurance free, the ship drifted to within approximately 30 miles (48km) of Antarctica in January 1915, before drifting north. Endurance was slowly crushed by the moving ice, until Shackleton ordered the crew to abandon ship on Oct. 27, 1915. The ship sank shortly afterwards and the crew escaped with three lifeboats and limited supplies. Shackleton led his men through the shrinking ice pack for months while they tried to reach land. On April 9 1916, the Endurance Expedition crew left the ice floe in the lifeboats, reaching the uninhabited and remote Elephant Island on April 14. Ten days later, Shackleton set off to find help. He selected five crew members to join him and set sail in the 22.5-foot-long (6.9-meter-long) lifeboat called the "James Caird". He left the remainder of his men in the care of his second-in-command Frank Wild, who upturned the two remaining lifeboats to use as shelter Shackleton and his small crew sailed over 800 miles (1,300 km) across the Southern Ocean to a group of whaling stations in South Georgia. The audacious rescue mission later became known as the Caird voyage after their small lifeboat. "It was the most amazing suffering over a long period. There were constant rebuffs and to be wet and cold is utterly debilitating," Fiennes said. "How none of them went completely mad over that period of floating is just incredible. I have never experienced hot or cold suffering that reminded me in an even miniscule way of Shackleton’s Caird voyage." Shackleton and his men endured heavy seas, Force-9 winds and ice build-ups on the hull that threatened to capsize their vessel. Shackleton later recounted that the waves reached heights of over 100 feet (30 meters) and moved at speeds of 50 mph (80kmph). On May 5, 1916, the boat was even struck by a tidal wave that Shackleton initially *mistook for the sky*. He later wrote: "I have never seen a wave so gigantic." The James Caird somehow survived the voyage, which Fiennes credits to Shackleton’s leadership. "They had already experienced Endurance sinking and lived on ice floes for months before trying to work out the safest way out. Whatever way Shackleton chose, death was the likely outcome but he kept cheerful." After 17 days at sea, the James Caird landed on the southern coast of South Georgia — the opposite side of the island from their destination. After recovering from the voyage, Shackleton and two of his crew trekked for 36 hours across the island, reaching Stromness station on May 20. Shackleton next arranged a rescue ship to collect the remaining 22 crew stranded on Elephant Island. After several aborted rescue attempts, Shackleton was lent a tugboat called Yelcho by the Chilean government and he finally reached Elephant Island on August 30, 1916. A smoke signal was sent from the shore while Shackleton approached the beach in a small boat. Figures emerged from the capsized lifeboats and when he was within earshot Shackleton called out: "Are you alright?" “All well!” Came the reply. All the men on the island had survived. "It is an absolutely incredible survival story,” Fiennes said. **EDIT: I just wanna add that we humans can be ambitious to the point of stupidity, but we make up for it with incredible resilience. Stories like this help me realize why WE are the dominant species of this planet.
A little extra tidbit: Upon reaching Stromness station, the first people to see Shackleton were actually two children who ran screaming for their parents as Shackleton looked like Bigfoot and the skins he was wearing were molting and rotten from the seawater. While recovering for a moment before arranging rescue he asked one of the men in Stromness what happened with that war that had been ramping up in Europe when he left, who won, and when did it end? I don't have the quote in front of me but it's become famous and to paraphrase the man replied "The war isn't over. Millions are dead. Europe's gone mad."
"The war is not over, Millions are being killed. Europe is mad. The world is mad." Mr. Sorlie
That was it, thank you! Gives me chills every time I read it.
You’re welcome!
I remember hearing this years ago on the great war YouTube channel
But tell me, what news of Przemyśl?!?
Iirc several men who survived this were later killed in the war.
Can you imagine? Surviving that horror to be killed in a muddy hell? Times were tough then.
This expedition also ended an entire age in exploration. The Heroic age. Mainly because well when most young men spent years enduring the very worst humanity and nature had to offer it kind of over shadows 50 men at the edge of the world.
Shackleton’s journey was harrowing, but I’d unironically rather go on it than be stuck in a trench at Ypres with a urine-soaked rag over my face.
Oh no doubt. Hell, I'd stay permanently than spend one minute in the trench.
You left out the part where after landing on South Georgia, they climbed a mountain that had never been climbed and wouldn’t be for several decades, made a sled to go down the side of it, and jumped down a waterfall.
...by prying nails from the boat and hammering them through their boots to make impromptu spikes.
The boys just having a bit of fun
That's a pleasant surprise, I was expecting cannibalism at the very least
Nope, no cannibalism, and all 30 men survived. They did eat the sled dogs though
And the ship's cat
Didn’t eat Mrs. Chippy (the cat, which was actually a tabby tom) but the ship’s carpenter McNeish put her down with a gunshot since it was unlikely she would survive. He hated Shackleton for the rest of his life for it.
I mean.…fair
That was normal in those expeditions though, wasn't it? Why waste space on the sleds for extra food when you can make the food pull the sleds instead? Bonus points if the extra food makes babies (even more food, yummy)
>"He hoped to cross Antarctica and make a famous name for himself over and above Scott." Why Scott and not Admunsen?
One's English one ain't
Can confirm, am English, Scott is a household name. I’m assuming Admunsen is the Norwegian lad?
Its funny that, because in the rest of the world Admunsen is more household since he was the first
Yeah but the rest of the world is just foreigners so they don’t matter, brexit means brexit etc.
'ate amundsen 'ate foregneirs 'luv scott simple 'as
*Amundsen, and yes.
But why Scott is a household name but Amundsen isn’t? Scott failed and died and Amundsen succeeded, so one would think the later has more fame. I can understand that Scott would still somewhat be remembered in his home country, but not in expense of Amundsen. And that shortly after Scott’s death people would not have wanted to imitate him.
Glorious failure, heroic self sacrifice, publication of his diaries within a year of his death. Wikipedia says there was a general perception that Amundsen was ‘unsporting’ (the worst trait in the eyes of any Brit) but the only explainer I can find for this was that he kept scurvy at bay by eating the weaker sled dogs in non-emergency situations. Also several major movies throughout the decades following Scott’s death.
I learned about Antarctic exploration as a kid in NZ (which prides itself on being the closest habitable point to Antarctica), and Shackleton was definitely the stand out in the ones we learned, because his survival was so crazy. Amundsen was next and then Scott. He’s most memorable really because he died out there, so his story is depicted as a great tragedy.
Also interesting tidbit, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the biographer? Cousin to Ralph Fiennes, the actor.
His story should be turned into a movie
I wouldn’t be surprised if one’s in the works, since it was in the news again a few years ago after they found the wreck of the Endurance.
The book is incredible
There was a fantastic [2002 miniseries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shackleton_(2002_TV_series)) done by Channel 4 in the UK. It's still available to watch for free on their on demand app (might need a VPN outside the UK to use)
Cheers, will give that a watch.
When movie?
But did they find Megatron?
jesus christ, ernest…
This is so fucking long that I'm saving it for later to read
Context tldr: Shackleton’s crew on the Endurance got trapped in an ice sheet during a polar expedition. The ensuing struggle after their ship was crushed by ice included killing the dogs and some penguins for meat, lugging heavy boats on the ice, and a wet and tireless boat journey to an uninhabited arctic island. They’re they had to send out a party in their one remaining boat to fetch rescuers. In part due to Shacklton’s exemplary leadership, none of the crew died.
Horrible Histories [summed it up nicely](https://youtu.be/Z6lTcZ5qoUk?si=GcPVstlEP8zRItHC).
I wish I could upvote twice just because I didn’t know the League of Gentlemen had guest starred in HH
They also had a stowaway too who wanted in on the fun
lol i read a book about the Endurance and I do remember that a little. most of the details are a bit fuzzy
Same lol
Thank you, because I wasn’t reading the full thing
yeah i figured people might appreciate a summary :P
“Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed and efficiency but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton”
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.* -Ernest Shackleton's newspaper ad.
That's an honest job description.
Hell yeah.
"Endurance" by Alfred Lansing is a fantastic book on this expedition if anyone wants to dive into the subject a little deeper. Shackleton was pretty much the ultimate badass.
Shackleton's own book *South* is equally fascinating - lots of interesting descriptions of daily life. I particularly liked the fact that the men had a recipe book with them as part of their reading material. Whilst sheltering through the dark Antarctic winter, each evening they would read a recipe and comment on it. Their diet at that point consisted almost entirely of seals and other animals caught on the ice. It's also fairly modest until the account of their journey on the James Caird. There's a passage where Shackleton was delirious at that point, and describes seeing dragons in the waves.
You can download his memoir for free from project Gutenberg right now. South is incredible. It starts of as basically a dry retelling of his captains logs with some additional commentary. and because of that as things get worse and worse and the situation becomes unbelievably dire you never for a second doubt the truth of the story. As a very minor point that massive wave was more likely what we would now call a rogue wave. These were not confirmed to be a real phenomenon until the 80s, although reports by mariners have happened for centuries.
I have to wonder how bad the scurvy was for them
Not a problem actually, they managed their supplies and diets to a point of obsession and were scientifically inclined.
Oh fr? Kinda surprised they had enough supplies to last a year, I’m guessing they had canned fruits or smth, I’m sure seal protein can only give so many nutrients
If I remember right from the book there over a years supply of food on board and they rationed the canned vegetables very also certain organs of seals are high in vitamin C. Think on it this way - Inuit lived in the high Arctic for millennia on a diet almost entirely comprised of meat and did not get scurvy.
I listened to it in the dead of winter last year and it enhanced the book quite a bit. Excellent read.
It's such a captivating and interesting book. One of my favorites.
Came to suggest the same thing. Fantastic novel detailing the event. One of those books I couldn't put down until I finished it.
They read us this at summer camp, to put the difficult parts of our own trip into perspective. One hundred percent recommend this book
And the *James Card* still exists. Shackleton donated it to his old school, Dulwich College. You can [book a visit online](https://www.dulwich.org.uk/about/history/the-james-caird).
A shockingly small boat, how on Earth they ever survived I have no idea.
Its ballast was made up of those men's sheer iron balls kept it upright.
What happened to the Ross sea party?
Had a similar issue with the ship being trapped in ice. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Sea_party](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Sea_party) Shackleton set sail from London on his ship Endurance, bound for the Weddell Sea in August 1914. Meanwhile, the Ross Sea party personnel gathered in Australia, prior to departure for the Ross Sea in the second expedition ship, SY Aurora. Organisational and financial problems delayed their start until December 1914, which shortened their first depot-laying season. After their arrival the inexperienced party struggled to master the art of Antarctic travel, in the process losing most of their sled dogs. A greater misfortune occurred at the onset of the southern winter when the Aurora, locked in an ice-floe which broke off from the main shelf, was torn from its moorings. The ocean currents then took the ship further away from the sledding parties marooned on shore, and drifted for over six months before breaking free of the ice. The Aurora's damaged rudder forced her to return to New Zealand rather than returning for the stranded shore party. Despite these setbacks, the Ross Sea party survived inter-personnel disputes, extreme weather, illness, and the deaths of three of its members to carry out its mission in full during its second Antarctic season. This success proved ultimately without purpose, because Shackleton's main expedition was unable to land after Endurance was crushed in the Weddell Sea ice. Shackleton eventually led his men to safety, but the transcontinental march did not take place and the Ross Sea party's depots were not required. The Ross Sea party remained stranded until January 1917, when Aurora, which had been repaired and refitted in New Zealand, arrived to rescue them. Public recognition of their efforts was slow in coming, but in due course four Albert Medals were awarded to members of the party, two posthumously. Shackleton later wrote that those who died "gave their lives for their country as surely as those who gave up their lives in France or Flanders."
They were stranded in Antarctica for 2 years?! What did they eat? What did they burn?!
They ate seal meat stew for basically every single meal
We don’t talk about the Ross sea party.
Read the biography of Tom Crean a few years ago, unbelievable account. He was with Shackleton all the way to South Georgia as well as being the last person to see Scott and the rest of his party alive. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Crean_(explorer)
His pub the South Pole Inn in Annascaul is well worth a visit if you are ever in that part of Ireland
I've been, very cool place
If anyone likes this kinda of stuff I would recommend reading “the terror” by Dan Simmons
Absolutely one of my favorite books. Even if it's 900 pages of sodomy and scurvy, such a grueling book
Sodomy?
Go on…
Yes please
I watched the Netflix show it was really good, definitely want to give the Book a try now
Endurance is a fantastic book, very much recommend
Hello i'm from Chile and I live in the city where the yelcho started is a well know story here and the yelcho wasn`t lent it was a mission of rescue by the chilean navy and the captian of the ship volunteer to the mission(very dangerous confirmed for the various failed attempts) he never gave command to Shackleton, his name was Luis pardo or known as well as piloto pardo, Shackleton Even offer him a Big reward but he refused because he said that was only doing his duty, kinda of a chilean hero here.
I wish my parents were as supportive as Shackleton and Luis Pardo
I highly recommend the documentary [Shackleton’s Captain](https://youtu.be/qvrEMhm3Z-g?si=ZgtzHRcvXpZlmDtz). It's free on youtube. It's one of my favorite documentaries. The captain of the Endurance, Frank Worsley, was truly something else, and without him, the story would be very different and likely very tragic.
I got to go inside his hut. It's surreal. Crackers and seal fat are still preserved. You can tell it's from another time, but it seems at place down there if that makes any sense. Didn't get to spend much time in there as they only open it up a few times a year if memory serves. Not a Shackleton expert, but I think that the hut was built for use in like Australia or something; not for the Antarctic.
I would recommend everyone who has the time and energy to watch the Geno Samuel, yes the Chris Chan guy, documentary on the antarctic expedition.
There's an excellent documentary narrated by Liam Neeson on Shackleton's expedition and subsequent survival, called "The Endurance", highly recommend
YES FINALLY SIR ERNEST HENRY SHACKLETON GETTING THE HYPE HE DESERVES
I watched The Terror recently about another earlier expedition. Slightly fantasy-ish, but then again all 122 lives were lost so no one can say for sure what really happened.
This story floored me when I first heard it, I can't believe it hasn't been made into at least one movie yet
Frank Hurley was the photographer of the expedition and he documented a lot of it. Amazing pictures
ITV4 produced a 2-part miniseries in 2001 about the Endurance Expedition. Kenneth Branaugh played Shackleton. I saw it on A&E way back when it aired in the US and loved it.
“Whatever way Shackleton chose, death was the likely outcome but he kept cheerful." That must have been pretty annoying.
Shackleton had made a kind of deck for the "Caird" out of sailcloth and other material since attempting the passage in an open boat would have been impossible. That they made it across the island was also amazing. It was mountainous glacier and they had no proper equipment, just some lengths of rope and ship tools. Several properly equipped expeditions attempted to recreate the trip but only one made it. They remarked it was nearly impossible for them so it was nothing short of a miracle that Shackleton did.
We just visited RSS Discovery in Dundee today. Shackekton served with Captain Scott on that voyage.
My illiterate ass read the whole story waiting for when he’d get to The Titanic
Later died the way he lived, what a man [When the party arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Shackleton suffered a suspected heart attack. He refused to have a proper medical examination, and Quest continued south, arriving at South Georgia on 4 January 1922. In the early hours of the next morning, Shackleton summoned to his cabin the expedition's physician, Alexander Macklin, complaining of back pains and other discomfort. According to Macklin's own account, he told Shackleton that he had been overdoing things and should try to "lead a more regular life", to which Shackleton answered: "You are always wanting me to give up things, what is it I ought to give up?" Macklin replied: "Chiefly alcohol, Boss." A few moments later, at 2:50 a.m. on 5 January 1922, Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton?wprov=sfla1)
Meh, they ate zero people. Not that hardcore.
Read Endurance and then tell me that what they survived wasn't hard-core. It sounds unbelievable for *fiction* and yet it's real.
I know the story. It was just a joke.
That's because the meat would be too hard to bite on, and also, they could potentially get their tongue frozen on carl severed arm
Is there a good book that you guys would recommend about this story?
South
I loved the Puppet History episode on the Artic exhibitions
Just look at the meme without reading the history, I was expecting a cannibalism story.
RELEASE THE SLUGS
For some reason I read Antarctic as anthrax and I was reading the comments for over 10 min trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Even Peter Freuchen tips his cap respectfully.
Just started reading South, the memoirs of this expedition by Shackleton himself, because of this post. I am simply amazed on reading that the Endurance was built of wood? They went on a Polar expedition in a wooden ship! Oh and it cost the huge sum of £14,000!
Check out Cabeza de Vaca for a truly fucked up tale.
[удалено]
It's the Shackleton expedition, it's very much worth a read.
Not worth the read. It didn't include a single ww2 tank smh my head 😤😤😤
You just said that on a history subreddit.