5. On 19th January 1915, after a
five-week sail from South
Georgia & 3 days after
sighting land, the Endurance
was beset by early pack ice at
the extreme south east corner
of the Weddell Sea
6.
7.
8. Tom Crean “The
Irish Giant” & 2nd
Officer
He took great
interest in caring
for the dogs on the
journey south
aboard the
Endurance
11. Frank Hurley
would go to any
lengths to get a
photograph
On rigging
filming as
Shackleton
examines the
ice ahead
12. Shackleton, who had aimed to
achieve the crossing of the
Antarctic continent from west
to east, was forced to
abandon his expedition in the
face of a more immediate &
dangerous challenge
13. “The night
watch arouses
his friends, &
they sit in a
quorum
around the
bogie fire,
discoursing in
subdued
whispers”
14. After 9 months wedged on
floating pack ice, the
Endurance was finally
crushed & sank
18. The night
photograph of
Endurance held
fast in the ice of
the Weddell Sea,
is one of the
most famous &
enduring of the
120 images to
come out of
Shackleton’s
expedition
19. Saving as many supplies as
they could (including Frank
Hurley's photo archive), the
crew of 28 set up camp
20. Endurance among ice pinnacles: As time
wore on it became more & more evident that
the ship was doomed - February 1915
24. Initially they set up Ocean
Camp, located on the solidly
packed ice, from October l915
to January l9l6; & after the
sinking of Endurance,
Patience Camp, on the volatile
ice floes, January-April l916
25. Shackleton & Wild standing at Ocean Camp
in Weddell Sea - November 1915
38. On April 24th, the very last day
before the pack ice closed in
again, Shackleton Worsley,
Crean, McNeish, McCarthy
&Vincent - set off through the
Drake Passage
39. Men on Elephant Island wave farewell
Shackleton as they leave for South Georgia, 24 April 1916
40. They had the almost
impossible hope of making
landfall on South Georgia, 800
miles away & summon help at
the whaling stations
41. This journey involved a
crossing of the world's most
inhospitable ocean in the
depths of Antarctic winter
42. The boat was buffeted by
mountainous & tempestuous
seas - ice built up on the
decking, 15” deep, threatening
to overturn the James Caird
43. Hour by hour, frostbitten &
numbed with cold, they had to
chip away ice from the vessel
At other times they were
forced to bale for dear life
44. Their only solace was hot
meals & the glimmer of a tiny
primus stove
Their discomfort, hunched
below in the James Caird's
5’x7’ cramped hold, must have
been absolute
45. After 16 terrible days at sea,
the James Caird sighted land
at midday on May 8th, 1916
46. The boat arrived off South
Georgia in hurricane
conditions & only at 5 p.m. on
May 10th did they eventually
land in a small, inlet
48. With the James Caird beached
in King Haakon Bay to the
west, help now lay only some
20 miles away, at the whaling
stations on the east side of
the island
50. Previous attempts had been
defeated by the severity of the
elements and the only
available map, charted largely
by Captain Cook, showed
merely the outline of the coast
51. As Shackleton, Worsley &
Crean, set off, they were illprepared for climbing and had
little means to prepare for the
glaciers, crevasses & snow
storms that lay ahead
52. As Shackleton, Worsley &
Crean, set off, they were illprepared for climbing and had
little means to prepare for the
glaciers, crevasses & snow
storms that lay ahead
53. But in the end, Shackleton's
proverbial luck held
55. In 36 hours & against
incredible odds they crossed
the island on the only moonlit
night before bad weather
closed in again, & arrived at
the whaling station of
Stromness
56.
57. It took 4 more months & 4
attempts before Shackleton
finally managed get through
the pack ice aboard the steam
tug Yelcho to rescue his
remaining twenty-two men
62. Shackleton’s snow goggles
After crossing South Georgia to reach the
safety of the whaling station at Stromness,
Shackleton gave these goggles to a
Norwegian whaler named Harald Nilsen
63. These boots are
most likely those
worn by James
Mann Wordie during
Shackleton's
Endurance
Expedition
Wordie was
geologist aboard
Endurance
64. Frank Worsley used
this pocket watch to
help navigate the
James Caird during
Shackleton's
historic open boat
journey from
Elephant Island to
South Georgia, 1916
65. This chronometer
was used by
Worsley during the
open boat journey,
aboard James
Caird, from
Elephant Island to
South Georgia in
1916
67. The ordeal lasted 20
months
Shackleton kept
this diary during the
months spent
marooned on the
ice
68. Map drawn from memory by Frank Worsley
shortly after his return from the expedition.
It shows the route across South Georgia
taken by Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean and
Frank Worsley in May 1916 during the
Endurance expedition
69. Shackleton is
buried on South
Georgia Island
were he died in
1922 as he tried
to sail around
Antarctica
