Antarctica 2023
THE SHACKLETON ROUTE
When we were told that the weather is way too windy at the Orkney Islands and we were going to be going to Elephant Island instead, I was pretty happy. After having read several books about the Endurance and Ernest Shackleton's expedition, to finally come to Antarctica and re-trace that same route he took, was not something I expected. So strap in, I'm about to provide the Cole's Notes version of that adventure before we recreate it, without all the drama, destruction, starvation and frozen toes.
CLICK HERE to Jump past the Shackleton history lesson
Shackleton Endurance Trans-Antarctica Expedition 1914-1916
Ernest Shackleton began planning his next journey to Antarctica as soon as he returned from the Nimrod Antarctica expedition of 1907-1909. He figured someone else would get to the South Pole before him, so Shackleton came up with the idea of crossing the Antarctica continent, a distance of about 1800 miles. He planned to set out from the Weddell sea region (via South America) across a completely unexplored region of Antarctica, to the South pole, and then continue to the Ross sea area (south of New Zealand), where another ship would pick them up. The ship used for the journey to the Weddell sea was built in Norway for tourist cruises in the Arctic. She was named the Endurance.
Just as they were preparing to set sail for South America, World War 1 was looming.
Shackleton offered the ships, stores and services to the country in the event of war
breaking out. Winston Churchill thanked them for their offer but desired that the
expedition go on.
That night, at midnight, war broke out.
August 8th, 1914 the Endurance sailed for the Antarctic via Buenos Aires and the sub Antarctic island of South Georgia where there was a Norwegian whaling station. On November 5th, 1914 they arrived at South Georgia.
The Norwegian whalers said the conditions between there and the Weddell Sea were particularly heavy with ice. The Endurance remained at South Georgia for a month to let the ice disperse. Extra clothing and stores were taken from South Georgia in the event that the Endurance may have to winter in the ice if the Weddell Sea froze.
December 5th, 1914 Shackleton and the Endurance leave South Georgia with his crew of 26, and one stowaway.
January 18th, 1915: The Endurance is frozen into the sea ice, 100 miles from their Antarctic destination
October 27th, 1915: After 10 months (281 days) of drifting 1186 miles in the ice pack, Shackleton abandons the ship.
November 21st, 1915: The Endurance breaks up and sinks
The 28 men of the expedition were now isolated on the drifting pack ice, hundreds of miles from land, with no ship, no means of communication with the outside world and with limited supplies. They had three lifeboats named after three men who had donated funds to the expedition; the James Caird, the Dudley Docker, and the Stancomb Wills which was initially left behind.
December 20th, 1915: Shackleton decided that the time had come to abandon their camp and move westward to where they thought the nearest land was, at Paulet Island 346 miles away.
New Year's Eve 1915: "Thus, after a year's incessant battle with the ice, we had returned... to almost the same latitude we had left with such high hopes and aspirations twelve months previously; but under what different conditions now! Our ship crushed and lost and we ourselves drifting on a piece of ice at the mercy of the winds" - Ernest Shackleton
April 12th, 1916: It was now 14 months since the Endurance had become frozen into the ice and nearly 5 months since she had sunk marooning them in a featureless icy wilderness. They spotted Elephant Island, and made landfall using their lifeboats. It had been 497 days since they had last set foot on land.
The outside world was not going to come to Elephant Island. Shackleton realized that in order to effect a rescue, he was going to have to travel to the nearest inhabited place which was the whaling station back on South Georgia, 800 miles away and across the most stormy stretch of ocean in the world, the Drake Passage.
April 24th, 1916: The James Caird set off on the very last day before the pack closed in again around Elephant Island on a day of relative calm. The crew was Shackleton, Worsley, Crean, McNeish, McCarthy and Vincent, the anticipated journey time was a month.
May 8th, 1916: Just after noon they caught a glimpse of South Georgia, only fourteen days after leaving Elephant Island and about half as long as they thought the journey would take. Worsley had only been able to take navigation sightings of the sun four times, on April 26th and May 3rd, 4th and 7th, all the rest had been dead reckoning, keeping on the same straight line in the same heading.
May 10th, 1916: After many failed attempts the James Caird was able to land on a South Georgia beach at King Haakon Bay.
There was still a major obstacle to overcome. The crew of 6 on the James Caird had landed 22 miles from the Stromness whaling station as the crow flies. In order to get there they had to go across the backbone of mountains that ran the length of South Georgia, a journey that no-one had ever managed, the map depicted the area as a blank.
May 19th, 1916 Shackleton, Crean and Worsley set out to cross the mountains and reach the whaling station, they crossed glaciers, icy slopes and snow fields. They climbed steep ice and down an icy stream to a 30 foot high waterfall with impassable ice-cliffs on both sides. Using a rope they climbed down through the last obstacle.
May 20th, 1916: Shackleton, Worsley and Crean walk into Stromness Whaling Station, It took them only 30 hours to make the crossing of South Georgia, a feat that has never been repeated.
They washed, shaved, ate and slept. Worsley boarded a whaler and went to rescue the three
left on the other side of South Georgia at King Haakon Bay sheltering under the upturned
James Caird. Shackleton remained at Stromness and prepared plans for the rescue of the 22
men on Elephant Island.
May 23rd, 1916 Shackleton borrows a ship, Southern Sky, and sails for Elephant Island to rescue his men. The pack ice prevents passage, and the ship returns. Two subsequent rescue attempts, aboard the Instituto Pesca No. 1 in June and the Emma in July, are stopped by pack ice and an engine failure.
August 30th 1916 Shackleton, aboard the Yelcho, rescues the 22 men on Elephant Island, 24 months and 22 days since leaving England. They had survived on Elephant Island for 137 days, it was 128 days since Shackleton had left for South Georgia with his small crew on the James Caird. Not a single man of Shackleton's original twenty-eight was lost.
If you are more interested in this adventure, there is a book called 'Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage' by Alfred Lansing that I would highly recommend.
January 5, 1922 Shackleton was once more drawn back to Antarctica in an attempt to map 2000 miles (3200 km) of coastline and conduct meteorological and geological research. Although he was only 47, he died of a heart attack on board the Quest as she was at anchor in South Georgia. Shackleton was buried on South Georgia and the grave is marked by a headstone of Scottish granite and is visited regularly by scientists and tourists to this day.
Feb 8
GPS Position: 61°24.5’S / 054°53.7’W
Wind: SW-5 • Sea: Smooth • Weather: Overcast
Air temp: 6°C • Sea temp: 1°C
We were rocking and rolling most of the night, so ear patches and wrist bands are back on this morning.
Having left Paulet Island the day before (where Shackleton had hoped to land after the Endurance was abandoned and sunk), we are on our way to Elephant Island, the famous landing spot of Shackleton’s party after drifting on ice for 5 months.
Today is declared Shackleton day on the ship.
We went to the front of the ship as we are rounding Elephant Island... There is so many fin whales, we are seeing 12-15 spouts at a time. At least 100 whales in a feeding frenzy. Fin whales are the second largest next to the blue whale, up to 22 meters long. One of the crew also saw a Blue Whale, but we never saw it.
Felicity got this amazing shots of a whale spouting a rainbow, and suddenly we hear Ursula yelling "See that Orange on the surface, see the orange? That's whale pooh, we are seeing whale pooh" I haven't seen anyone that excited about seeing Pooh in my life.
Elephant Island
After an hour of slow cruising through the massive collection of Fin whales, we leave them behind, and our expedition guide Pelin, gives us a lecture all about Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition, (see my summary above) an incredible story of success, failure and outstanding leadership. As soon as she is done, the anchor drops at Point Wild on Elephant Island.
Everyone made their way to the bow, to grab a glass of glühwein and soak in the surrounding landscape and history.
We have great views of the rough area where they landed, and the memorial bust displayed on the beach where Shackleton's crew spent more than 4 months before being rescued. The statue is of Captain Luis Pardo, the Chilean Captain of the Yelcho, the ship that rescued Shackleton's men.
After spending some time trying to imagine how 22 men could have possibly survived on this 'beach' during the dead of winter, it was time to go and we are now headed towards South Georgia. We are traveling the same 1300 km (800 miles) route that Shackleton's six man crew took in the James Caird, (a 22.5 foot lifeboat) across open ocean, adjacent to the Drake Passage.
We had lunch with a Dutch couple, and then I let the Gravol take charge.
We had dinner with an Israeli couple, then after dinner, there is a screening of a short documentary about the Trans-Antarctic Expedition. This was followed by an open discussion led by Pelin, about anything Shackleton related. It was a chance for a lot of our ships Shackleton enthusiasts to share their knowledge, stories and even pictures from exhibits they had seen in the past.
Feb 9
GPS Position: 59°00.56’S / 048°27.1’W
Wind: NNE- 7/8 • Sea State: Moderate • Weather: Overcast
Air temp: 2° C • Sea temp: 7°C
We woke up to grey and wet morning, choppy seas with good swells making moving around interesting. Drake adjacent.
Today is declared Ice-day on the ship.
Jakub introduces us to the beauty of icebergs in a lecture including A-76a, an Iceberg we would be seeing later in the day. We learn what might affect their sizes and colours, what things may cause the different shapes and textures, and what different terminology is used for chunks of ice.
It's very windy, very cold, and very wet if you're on the bow. Norine and Ranajoy are sitting at the front of the lounge, and when they see a woman go out the bow door, Norine say's "I don't think that's a good idea", and almost as if on cue, a giant wave crashes over the front of the ship. I came up just in time to see her walk back inside, she is just soaked, water is just rolling down her head and back. Right after that the crew put up the signs to close the bow deck.
Seeking a better view, we went up to the bridge and spent some time watching the waves crash over the bow of the boat.
We know we are getting close when we start seeing other Icebergs.
A-76a Iceberg
The A-76 iceberg was originally 176 km long when it broke off the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2021. Over the next 2 years it split into 3, and the renamed A-76a is the largest piece. It measures 135 kilometres in length and 25 kilometres in width (83 x 15 miles), estimated at 150 meters thick, we are looking at the largest floating iceberg in the world, twice the size of Greater London.
When you think of a giant Iceberg, this isn't what comes to mind... it's long and flat.
After almost an hour we reach its end. The Captain increases our speed and continues the original course towards South Georgia.
To wrap up the Ice theme of the day, we were served Ice cream in the lounge. Ice cream with icebergs.
Tonight's dinner we sat with the Dutch doctor and her husband, a fascinating couple. She has been using her doctorate to volunteer and travel around the world to Dutch colonies, and now, as the Hondius is a Dutch ship, she could volunteer here. It took her 3 tries to volunteer on an Oceanwide ship, and finally she got to go, since she was accepted her husband bought a ticket too. Such a fun night, we had to be kicked out of the Dining Room.
It would be a long rough night of rolling back and forth in bed with the swells, and feeling the shudder of the boat as it crashes through the waves. At least there wouldn't be a wakeup call in the morning.
Feb 10
GPS Position: 56°38.8’S / 041°46.0’W
Wind: NW-6 • Sea State: Moderate • Weather: Fog
Air temp: 4° C • Sea temp: 5°C
Today was our third sea day on our way to South Georgia, it's taking a little longer as the winds and sea have slowed our progress.
It’s a grey, wet and foggy day... all day.
Our Expedition Leader Pippa held a mandatory South Georgia briefing, breaking down what to expect, and what safety precautions we would need to take for this special place.
There was a time change of 1 hour at noon, I laughed when the announcement was made for lunch...
"Good afternoon everybody, it's 12:00 and that means the Dining Room is now open for
Lunch, Oh, wait sorry, there's a time change, it's now 1:00 and the Dining Room is now
closed"
As we prepare for landing on the shores of South Georgia, we had a detailed Bio security check this afternoon. The scrubbing stations are out, the vacuums are out, velcro is checked and the paperclips are put to use cleaning out every little seam and gap.
We had a mid-afternoon lecture with Ursula about the commonly sighted Fur Seals and Elephant Seals.
We are getting into a heavily populated bird area as we approach South Georgia, so the ship is blacked out at night to prevent bird strikes. Our room blinds have to be closed, all the ships windows are draped or covered, and the ships lights are dimmed.
We had Dinner with Frances, Jim and a bunch of the Aussies. Even though we were kicked out of the Dining Room again, It is an early night as everyone wanted to be fully rested and ready to wake up to the breath-taking views of South Georgia. The overnight journey would complete our Shackleton route, but there was more to his story on the Island.