The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Shackleton set his sights on another expedition, this one with higher sights than any expedition before him. The others had set out to reach the South Pole; he planned to cross the whole continent. It took him a while, but he managed to get together enough money for his adventure. Many people donated money, and he received money other ways, too, like selling movie rights to studios, and turning the Nimrod into a museum with charged admission. Shackleton bought a ship from Norway, named Polaris, but she had never sailed before. He renamed her Endurance, based on his family motto, “Fortiduine Vincimus” or, “By endurance we conquer”. In fact, he needed two vessels to complete his journey. While he would be making his trip overland from the Weddell Sea, he would have a different set of people depositing caches of food and supplies along the route he planned to take starting from the other side. He purchased the Aurora, a sealer that had belonged to his friend, Douglas Mawson. He hired some of his crew in Britian, hiring the rest in Buenos Aries. While the Endurance Expedition had been of quite keen interest to the British, the launch was overshadowed by the breakout of World War 1, and Shackleton volunteered his ship to the war efforts. The Admiralty, however, sent him a telegram telling him to go ahead with the expedition.

Shackleton's Past Experiences

Sir Ernest Shackleton of Britian had been on two previous expeditions to the Antarctic. The first one had commenced in 1901, when Captain R. Scott said the Discovery with two other men and had set out to reach the South Pole. It had been poorly planned, and it failed disastrously. They suffered from starvation, scurvy, and their dogs had all dropped dead. Shackleton almost died. He returned home a hero and built on his lesson from the Discovery and tried again with a different expedition, this one led by him. He had decided not to let himself be put under the command of anyone else again. He sailed the Nimrod to the Antarctic with ten Manchurian ponies and nine dogs, even though ponies had been proved to be totally inadequate. He hadn’t learned to ski, and he did not have enough equipment. Surprisingly, they got far closer to the pole than the Discovery expedition, within 100 miles before deciding to turn back. He and four other men made a mad dash to the campsite where the rest of their men were supposed to be waiting. Instead, it was deserted. The sailors had left and returned to winter over and search for their bodies. When he returned, he was deemed a national hero and knighted.

Shackleton's Crew

Sir Ernest Shackleton- Leader

Frank Wild- Second in command

Frank Worsley- captain

Lionel Greenstreet- first officer

Hubert T. Hudson- navigator

Thomas Crean- second officer

Alfred Cheetham- third officer

Louis Rickinson- first engineer

A.J. Kerr- second engineer

Alexander H. Macklin- surgeon

James A. McIlroy- surgeon

James M. Wordie- geologist

Leonard D. A. Hussey- meteorologist

Reginald W. James- physicist

Robert S. Clark- biologist

James Hurley- photographer

George E. Marston- artist

Thomas Orde-Lees- motor expert/storekeeper

Harry McNiesh- Carpenter

Charles Green- cook

Walter How- Sailor

Will Bakewell- sailor

Tim McCarthy- sailor

Tom McLeod- sailor

John Vincent- sailor

Ernest Holness- fireman

William Stevenson- fireman

Perce Blackboro- stowaway

Introduction

This is the story of a journey to places where men should not be able to survive. The men in Shackleton’s crew suffered trials beyond comprehension. At one point or another, they were close to death from exhaustion, starvation, and sub-zero temperatures with inadequate clothing. They were forced to abandon all but the uttermost essentials in their trek across the arctic. None but the most dedicated could have survived. The incredible thing is that not one person on the whole expedition died.