Shackleton

Story of the Antarctic Hero, written for the Telegraph's Earls Court Boat Show supplement

Arguably the greatest ever true story of human endurance began in November 1914, when British ship Endurance was crushed and sunk by ice off Antarctica. Marooned on shifting ice floes, 28 men led by Ernest Shackleton survived and engineered their own rescue over 18 inconceivably harsh months. In their Odyssey of self-preservation, they showed the pluck, dedication and ingenuity that epitomises the Whyte and Mackay Earl’s Court Boat Show, not to mention the typical British sailor who will find a new spiritual home at Earls Court this December.

As tribute to this great British hero and his crew, a 23 foot whaling boat called the James Caird will be on display at the Whyte and Mackay Earl’s Court Boat Show. To find what pivotal role the James Caird played in Shackleton’s inspiring tale of derring-do, read on.

Ernest Shackleton was born in Ireland, in 1874. His father wanted him to become a doctor, but Ernest joined the merchant navy at 16. He did well, becoming a Master Mariner in 1898. His first taste of the Antarctic came on a 1901 expedition. Showing less fortitude than in later years, Shackleton fell seriously ill and had to be shipped home. He’d gained great experience, however, both as a mariner and a natural philosopher. On recovery, he became secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographic Society.

He couldn’t stay on land for long though, and in 1908 he lead a successful Antarctic mission which came within 100 miles of the South Pole, paving the way for the two 1911 attempts on the pole – Amundsen’s successful one and Scott’s tragic failure.

With the first-to-the-pole record gone, Shackleton planned an even more epic challenge: first to cross Antarctica - Weddle Sea to Ross Sea - via the South Pole.

The Endurance set off in July 1914, the same month as war was declared in Europe, with 28 crew. Shackleton offered his ship and crew to the war effort, but the Government declined. So the Endurance sailed south, away from the horrors of World War One, towards its very own hell.

He first sailed to Argentina to pick 54 Canadian husky cross-breeds to use as sled dogs, and left Buenos Aires on 27th October 1914. He was cheered on departure, in those days of warmer Anglo-Argentine maritime relations, by a vast crowd.

The intended landing point was the Vahsel Bay in the Filchner Ice Shelf. On January 19th 1915 they were a day away when disaster struck. The weather turned unseasonably cold (January, of course, is mid Summer in the Antarctic(, and the Endurance became stuck in the ice.

The crew set to work cutting the ship free. A channel opened up tantalisingly close, and they worked night and day hacking a path through the ice to it. It was back-breaking work in miserably cold conditions, and to no avail. The channel closed, the days got shorter and colder, and they realised they were stuck in ever thickening ice for the whole winter. The abandoned ship and set up camp on the ice to sit out the unimaginably cold, dark Antarctic winter.

Shackleton kept morale together with his unflappable optimism and leadership. The crew took scientific readings and biological samples. For leisure and survival they trained the dogs, using them to collect supplies from the beleaguered Endeavour, and to hunt seals and penguins for food. Several of the bitches had puppies, and the playful little bundles added some welcome innocent joy.

However, as Antarctic summer began and they thought the ice might melt enough for them to escape, the Endurance sank. They remained marooned.

Although a little warmer, summer brought new troubles. First, the ice started to break up. The surface became increasingly less stable and more dangerous. Shackleton led two attempts to march to solid land. Both failed.

Worse perhaps, as the 1915-1916 summer wore on, the seasonally nomadic seals and penguins became scarce. It became clear that the dogs could no longer be fed. And if they weren’t going to feed them, there was just one sensible option. They ate the dogs.

Somehow, Shackleton kept morale. In April 1916 the ice had broken enough to set off in three boats for Elephant Islands, 500 miles (800kn) south of Cape Horn, 100 miles (160 km) from their current position.

One of the three boats was a 23 foot whaling boat named the James Caird. When you see it at the Whyte and Mackay Earls Court Boat Show, imagine what must have been going through the minds of those poor sailors as the bobbed across the Weddle Sea, in a seemingly impossible journey home...

It took them seven days to arrive, exhausted, at Elephant Island. It was land but, bleak and desolate, it was no great improvement on the ice. The 28 men were becoming weaker, increasing frost bitten, and dysenteric from their high protein sea-bird, seal and canine diet.

They were miles from their own route, and any shipping lanes. Shackleton realised that they could either go and find help themselves, or they could die.

He set off with four others in the doughty James Caird. The target was South Georgia – although it was 800 miles (1,300 km) away, much further than Cap Hope, Shackleton thought the prevailing current and wind would take him there. He set off with five other men and four weeks food.

It was the tiny James Caird versus the massive South Atlantic – arguably the world’s most treacherous sea. A gale blew continuously, and the little boat was tossed about sickeningly by colossal waves. They nearly sank so many times that death became more of a ‘when’ than an ‘if’ thing, especially in the massive storm that hit 16 days into the voyage.

When they spotted the storm waves breaking on South Georgia their jubilation was cut short by the realisation they couldn’t land without being smashed on rocks. After nine terrible hours, they managed to bring the boat ashore.

The trial wasn’t over. Shackleton took two men and walked 35 miles across the treacherous, blizzard-blown, mid-winter mountains of South Georgia, leaving behind the three who were too ill to make the journey.

They arrived at a whaling station on 20th May 1917. A boat was dispatched to pick up the three from the southern coast, but it wasn’t until August that the ice cleared enough to get a boat to Elephant Island and rescue the other 22. All the other 22, note. Although they weren’t in peak physical condition, all 28 men survived. Shackleton’s bravery had saved every one of them.

Shackleton died on his next voyage. He had a heart attack just off South Georgia in 1922. That same year the Jenny Caird was donated to his old school, Dulwich College, where it remains to this day as a reminder of astonishing heroism and resilience.

So, as you enjoy the fun and noise of the Whyte and Mackay Earls Court Boat Show, why not stop for a quiet minute by the James Craig. Maybe think about the six men in a storm in the South Atlantic, and maybe give thanks to brace sailors of yore like Ernest Shackleton. They made this island what is today, and give you the freedom to sail its waters.

Copyright Telegraph 2007