Shackleton Tweets
Endurance Expedition
1:
South Georgia to Midwinter 1915
The events of the expedition: 1 - South Georgia to Midwinter 1915 | 2 - midwinter to the sinking of the Endurance | 3 - life on the ice | 4 - lifeboats to Elephant Island | 5 - rescue mission to South Georgia | 6 - rescue from Elephant Island
1 Dec 1914
I have decided to leave South Georgia
about December 5, whaling captains advise ice conditions very
severe - Ernest Shackleton, Endurance, 1914.
The Endurance at anchor at South Georgia
2 Dec 1914
Orde-Lees made storekeeper by Shackleton
at South Georgia, Lees regrets it hadn't happened in London.
4 Dec 1914
Coal stacked 7-8ft high on the deck
of the Endurance, preparing to sail into the Weddell Sea Antarctica
tomorrow. currently at Grytviken.
5 Dec 1914
Shackleton gave the
order to heave anchor at 8.45 am, the real adventure has begun,
the Endurance is ready to sail into the Weddell Sea.
6 Dec 1914
Endurance makes good progress south-easterly.
Weather hazy, pass two bergs, several growlers, numerous lumps
of ice, bird life plentiful.
8 Dec 1914
Large numbers of bergs
mostly tabular lay to the west. The presence of so many is ominous,
later we faced a belt of heavy pack-ice.
9 Dec 1914
This morning brought an easterly
breeze and hazy weather with snow, at 4.30 p.m. we encountered
the edge of pack-ice.
13 Dec 1914
We found several good leads to the
south in the evening. The pack extended in all directions as
far as the eye could reach.
13 Dec 1914
Frank Wild shot a young Ross seal
on the floe. He was a young male and proved very good eating,
a square meal for our twenty-eight men.
14 Dec 1914
A platform has been rigged under
the jib-boom so Hurley might secure kinematograph pictures of
the ship breaking through the ice.
17 Dec 1914
The Endurance has remained against
the floe for the last 24 hours. The pack extends to the horizon
all around broken by innumerable narrow lanes.
22 Dec 1914
The longest day, Dec 21 1914, was
beautifully fine, gentle WNW breeze. Made a start at 3am, proceeded
through the pack to the SW.
25 Dec 1914
Grog served at midnight to all on
deck and again at breakfast for those who had been in their
bunks at midnight.
25 Dec 1914
A really splendid dinner, turtle
soup, whitebait, jugged hare, Christmas pudding, mince-pies,
dates, figs crystallized fruits, rum & stout.
28 Dec 1914
Southerly gale blowing snow in clouds
off the floe, temp fallen to 23F. The dogs are having an uncomfortable
time in their deck quarters.
A snowfall while heading south
28 Dec 1914
Lupoid, one of the dogs taken by
Shackleton on the Endurance.
Lupoid, one of the dogs, so named for his resemblance to a wolf
31 Dec 1914
Endurance is having a serious encounter
with ice. Stopped by floes closing on us, at noon jammed between
two while pressure heeled us over 6 deg.
The Endurance reaches heavy pack ice
The ice thins and the ship finds a way through
3 Jan 1915
2 a.m. leads ended in hummocky ice
impossible to penetrate. By midnight we came to a full stop
in weather thick with snow.
8 Jan 1915
Endurance passed not fewer than five
hundred bergs on this day. One, a rampart berg was 150ft high
and a quarter of a mile long.
14 Jan 1915
Passed through large schools of seals
swimming splashing and blowing around us Hurley made a record
with the kinematograph-camera.
Frank Hurley filming from high in the ships rigging
14 Jan 1915
One of the bitches gave birth on
board ship in the Weddell Sea increasing our number of dogs!
Tom Crean with Husky puppies born on the Endurance
20 Jan
1915
A survey of our
position shows the ship firmly beset. Ice is packed heavily
and firmly all round us in every direction.
21 Jan 1915
Slight movement of ice caused the
rudder to be dangerously jammed had to cut it away with ice-chisels
heavy iron with 6-ft. wooden hafts.
18 Feb 1915
The sun, continually above the horizon
for two months set at midnight last night. Open water soon freezes,
the season is getting late.
19 Feb 1915
We are trying to break through the
ice to a lead to free the Endurance. Wordie - "the fates
are still against us".
Trying to cut a path through ice to open sea
using ice saws and picks
22 Feb 1915
22nd Feb Endurance reaches farthest
south at 77°S 35W. Temps are low day and night, pack freezing
solidly around the ship. -10F (minus 23C) at 2am.
Our path so far, green line to arrival at South Georgia, red
line since South Georgia
24 Feb 1915
Stopped observing ships routine today,
the Endurance is now a winter station, the men are reconciled
to not being freed until the end of the year.
24 Feb 1915
We are stuck "like an almond
in toffee" as "Chippy" McNish describes it.
25 Feb 1915
The dogs were taken off the ship
today with a huge amount of joyous noise to be away from their
unstable quarters.
Some of our dogs
The dogs being taken off the ship
25 Feb 1915
Kennels for the dogs being made on
the ice from ice blocks and wood, they have been named "dogloos"
by Worsley.
New dog quarters off the ship with much more
space
27 Feb 1915
All the fit dogs are being exercised
in the sledges and take to the work with enthusiasm, sometimes
laughably so.
Leonard Hussey, meteorologist, exercising a dog
team near the ship on sea-ice
1 Mar 1915
Listened to Endurance radio equipment
in vain for Saturday time signals from the Argentinians, no
2 am Port Stanley monthly signal either.
1 Mar 1915
Controversy surrounds how best to
preserve 2000 onions, airy shelves or freezing, they are valuably
anti-scorbutic (anti-scurvy) - Orde-Lees.
6 Mar 1915
Icebergs within the Endurance's
circle of vision have all become familiar objects, we have names
for some of them.
The Endurance stuck in the ice waiting to be released
A line of snow and cairns connected with a rope, to allow the men to find the ship if on the ice ina white-out
12 Mar 1915
This is the red letter day of my
Antarctic life so far, I have succeeded in breaking down the
sailors prejudice against seal meat - Orde-Lees.
The ice around the ship was quite varied, some flat and smooth, some very high and chaotic
18 Mar 1915
A huge ice crack 20yds wide just
200yds from the ship opened up during an overnight blizzard,
no use, but it shows the movements of the floe.
18 Mar 1915
Bi-weekly we all get involved in
the most basic of tasks, while it breaks down the hierarchy
it's not universally popular!
Alexander Macklin, James Wordie and Alfred Cheetham
cleaning the floor of The Ritz aboard Endurance
24 Mar 1915
Frank Hurley - My night watch. Have
a warm bath in front of the bogie fire. Change my 3 months worn
garments and wash socks.
24 Mar 1915
7-8 mile long crack, 100yds wide
opened in the ice. One feels one is going to remain imprisoned
in the ice forever.
26 Mar 1915
We heard a great yell from the floe
and found Clark dancing about, shouting Scottish war-cries.
Cracks in the ice called leads regularly opened and closed as currents and winds many miles away pulled and pushed at it
Robert Selbie Clark, biologist
26 Mar 1915
He has secured his first complete
specimen of an Antarctic fish, apparently a new species.
Open water in leads would soon refreeze again
in the cold temperatures
27 Mar 1915
Gramophone concert in the evening,
at which all hands attend, fo'c'stle included. (Endurance
crew as well as officers).
30 Mar 1915
Mirages are frequent. Sometimes it
appears that barrier-cliffs are all around us even in places
where we know there is deep water.
15 Apr 1915
April has not been uneventful. During
the nights we hear the ice grinding, by morning young ice is
rafted 8-10ft high.
Two of the Endurance crew amongst ice ridges
pushed up by the pressure from the pack ice
15 Apr 1915
Samson, a 75lb dog justified his
name starting at a smart pace with a sledge carrying 200lbs
of blubber and a driver.
Leonard Hussey and Samson, the largest of the dogs
29 Apr 1915
Worsley reports that a minute after
an impressive sun set he saw a golden glow, the sun appeared
again and 15 mins later the sun set a second time.
The setting sun and the bow of the Endurance
29 Apr 1915
A strong drift relieved our fears
carrying us to the lee of an iceberg which finally left our
sight by the end of the month.
1 May 1915
An extraordinary mild and bright
day, our enjoyment was tempered with sadness as we saw the sun
for the last time for 4 months today.
1 May 1915
The moon shone tonight with great
splendour, Orde-Lees went for a moonlight cycle ride along the
dog team track, 3 miles out and back.
9 May 1915
Remarkable reappearance of the sun
at noon, it rose, disappeared and rose again, all due to abnormal
mirages and refraction.
9 May 1915
A great day for the dog teams, 6
teams of 7 dogs each put to the test. A 20 mile run with 400lbs
and 2 men on each sledge, temp -15 to -19.
13 May 1915
We take a turn at night watch every
28 days, duties include keeping the fires lit, it is rewarded
by the luxury of a bath.
The nightwatchman returns to the safety and warmth of the ship after his rounds to check if the ice is moving
13 May 1915
A blizzard still rages outside all
but urgent work stops, the dogs are unexercised, Clark is skinning
a large penguin on the dinner table!
20 May 1915
An hilarious evening where everyone
had their hair shorn, we look like a party of convicts. We are
living largely on roast penguin meat now.
Winter shaven haircuts
24 May 1915
May 24 Empire Day celebrate by singing
patriotic songs all hands wish a speedy victory for the British
arms. We do not know how the war goes.
2 Jun 1915
Frank Hurley - Succeeded in taking
a picture of the dogs being fed and weighed using flash powder
and electrical firing. .
Feeding time for the dogs in their kennels or "dogloos" in the dark of the winter night
The dogs were regularly weighed to check on their condition and that they were being fed properly
8 Jun 1915
An occasional friendly moon or faint
noon twilight each day reminding us of the sun are the only
light we have
15 Jun 1915
The day of the "Antarctic Derby"
betting has been heavy, the serious bets involve chocolate or
cigarettes, money isn't so useful here.
15 Jun 1915
5 teams of 7 dogs each set out in
the dim noon twilight, the pups joined in the cacophony, Wild
came out of the gloom to win in 2 min 16s.
22 Jun 1915
June 22nd, we celebrate Midwinter's
Day, 6 hours of twilight and a good moon at noon. The day is
observed as a holiday with a feast.
The Midwinter feast in The Ritz
22 Jun 1915
A three hour concert held in "The
Ritz" with everyone convulsed with laughter. The sailors
were not invited but had gifts of rum, tobacco etc.
Next page: 2 - midwinter to the sinking of the Endurance
Credits, sources and references
Diaries - the diaries of expedition members were as sources of information and quotes to inform this narrative of the expedition.
Ernest Shackleton - South! - at Project Gutenberg
Thomas Orde-Lees - see book links below
Frank Worsley - see book links below
Frank Hurley - link
Harry McNeish (Henry McNish) - link
Pictures - from a variety of sources particular credit to:
State Library of New South Wales - link
National Library of Australia - link
National Library of New Zealand - link
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - link
Ernest Shackleton Books and Video
South - Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition (1919)
original footage - Video
Shackleton
dramatization
Kenneth Branagh (2002) - Video
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure (2001)
IMAX dramatization - Video
The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Expedition (2000)
PBS NOVA, dramatization with original footage - Video
Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Alfred Lansing (Preface) - Book
South with Endurance: Frank Hurley - official photographer
Book
South! Ernest Shackleton Shackleton's own words
Book
Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer
Book
