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Adrift in the Weddell Sea CHAPTER 1 Adrift in the Weddell Sea he men had retired to their tents when Boss announced, “She’s going, boys!” All scrambled out to look. The mastless, broken Endurance Thad finally been freed from the sea’s icy grip. The ship’s bow de - scended as her stern rose 20 feet into the air, silhouetted against the late af - ternoon sky. A moment later the ship slipped silently into the deep. From atop his lookout tower at Ocean Camp, Boss quietly pronounced, “She’s gone, boys.” The men—28 in all—were perched on an ice floe measuring just 1 square mile, stranded hundreds of miles from the coast of Antarctica in the Weddell Sea. Then, and for most of the remainder of their journey, not a single other person had ever been where they were. No one in the world knew of their shipwreck, and the stranded explorers had no methods of communication. They were utterly alone—a tiny speck of humanity in 1 million square miles of floating ice and snow. It was November 21, 1915. The Weddell Sea Party of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, organ - ized by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, now had an entirely new agenda—to survive. The expedition had been promoted as an important scientific endeavor . Shackleton’s calling, however, was Antarctica and the opportunity to un - dertake what no one else had done thereby gaining wealth and fame. Could Great Britain regain the glory of polar exploration? Robert Peary, an Amer - ican, had reached the North Pole in 1909 and Roald Amundsen, a Norwe - gian, the South Pole in 1911. “There now remains the largest and most striking of all journeys—the crossing of the continent,” Shackleton wrote. His plan was simple, yet bold and imaginative. The Endurance would sail into the Weddell Sea and drop a team of six men at Vahsel Bay on the eastern edge of Antarctica. The men would sledge to the pole and then con - tinue across Antarctica to McMurdo Sound, following an expedition route 3 STORY OF THE ENDURANCE PARTY 1.1: Map of Antarctica showing Shackleton’s proposed transcontinental route from Vahsel Bay at the base of the Weddell Sea to the South Pole and the return to the camp at McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea. which Shackleton and Robert Scott had taken years earlier . Shackleton knew from experience that the Weddell Sea Party couldn’t transport sufficient supplies for its entire 1,800-mile journey—Scott’s team had starved to death in 1912 on its return from the pole, and Shackleton’s earlier party in 1909 had turned back before ever reaching its destination. To avoid these fail - ures this time, Shackleton arranged for a second team, this one aboard the Aurora , to enter the Ross Sea and establish a base at McMurdo Sound. From there they would lay supply depots for the Weddell Sea Party during their return from the pole. Shackleton became famous following his Antarctic expedition in 1908- 09, when he trekked to within 97 miles of the South Pole. Perhaps his team 4 ADRIFT IN THE WEDDELL SEA could have reached the pole, but they surely would have died of cold and starvation on their return. Valuing his men’s welfare more than his goal, Shackleton had turned back. Even so, starvation was a constant threat. The men struggled against cold, blizzards, exhaustion, and illness to reach the depots of food they had cached on their outbound journey. At one point when he and Frank Wild were suffering from starvation and dysentery, Wild wrote in his diary : [Shackleton] privately forced upon me his one breakfast biscuit, and would have given me another tonight had I allowed him. I do not suppose that anyone else in the world can thoroughly realize how much generosity and sympathy were shown by this: I do, and by God I shall never forget it. Thousands of pounds would not have bought that one biscuit. Time and again, Boss put his men’s needs before his own. This character trait was a hallmark of his leadership. Shackleton returned to England a hero in 1909, knighted by the king of England and acknowledged with honors by many nations. He wrote a book and toured North America and Europe as the quintessential polar explorer. However, he grew bored with the customs of the civilized world and was not altogether successful at dealing with them. He yearned for the ice- bound world that pitted one against the implacable forces of nature. Groundwork for his 1914 expedition took the second half of 1913. In January 1914, with the promise of financial backing, Shackleton announced his plans. Some 5,000 applicants, including three women, sought out one of the 56 positions on the Endurance team and the Ross Sea Party, but Shackleton required few new recruits . He built much of his crew from the pool of hardened veterans of exploration and adventure that he already knew. Of the interviews he actually conducted, few if any, lasted more than 5 minutes. He had an uncanny ability to size up a man quickly. The major criterion appeared to be whether or not Shackleton liked a man, a liking that related to the man’s character and hardiness. However, the system wasn’t perfect. Shackleton dismissed the Endurance cook and three seamen from duty and replaced them at Buenos Aires. Of the new hires, none was more fortuitous than Frank Worsley, a ship captain who would soon become the Endurance’s skipper. Worsley, based in London at the time, dreamed one night that he was navigating his ship down Burlington Street—amid huge pieces of ice. A superstitious man, he 5 STORY OF THE ENDURANCE PARTY took the dream as a premonition and proceeded to Burlington Street the next day. An office sign caught his attention: “Imperial Trans-Antarctic Ex - pedition.” Inside, he found Shackleton. Worsley wrote: He and I spent only a few minutes together, but the moment that I set eyes on him I knew that he was a man with whom I should be proud to work. He quickly divined what I wanted, and presently said to me, “You’re engaged. Join your ship until I wire for you. I’ll let you know all details as soon as possible. Good morning.” He wrung my hand in his hard grasp, and that was that. The Endurance had its captain. Worsley sailed the Endurance to Buenos Aires. Shackleton and Wild, the expedition’s second in command, met the ship there. After a few weeks of stocking and preparations, the ship departed for South Georgia Island on October 26, 1914. After several days at sea, Perce Blackborow, a stowaway, revealed him - self to become the 28 th man in the Weddell Sea Party. Third Officer Alfred Cheetham, age 47, was the oldest. The three youngest were 22: Blackborow, assistant to the cook; Ernest Holness, fireman; and A.J. Kerr, second engi - neer. The three leaders of the team—Shackleton, Wild, and Worsley—were 40, 41, and 42. The average shipmate age was 31. The Endurance reached the whaling stations at Grytviken, South Geor - gia, on November 5, 1914. The Antarctic whalers there were keen on the expedition and more than willing to share all they knew of the southern waters and its ice. The Weddell Sea is a several million-square-mile area of ocean roughly between 65˚ and 75˚ south latitude, and 20˚ and 60˚ west longitude. As the indentation that the Atlantic Ocean makes into Antarc - tica, the Weddell Sea is 1,300 miles wide at its northern mouth and extends 600 miles to the south. Vahsel Bay, Shackleton’s planned jumping-off place, is 1,600 miles almost due south from South Georgia at the southernmost end of the Weddell Sea. Interior to what is now the Caird Coast is Coats Land that stretches 600 miles to the northeast of Vahsel Bay. Eleven hun - dred miles to the northwest of Vahsel Bay, across the Weddell Sea, is Graham Land and the Larsen Ice Shelf. Sea ice is always present in the Weddell Sea, and often impenetrable. The band of ice along the coast varies in width and thickness from season to season and year to year. During the severest winters, pack ice fills the sea and extends north and northeast to the South Sandwich Islands group. 6 ADRIFT IN THE WEDDELL SEA Water currents push the ice west and northwest against the Graham Land coast, causing the entire ice mass to move in a clockwise circle. Once formed, ice remains for several years, and because winds are less intense than in other parts of Antarctica, lingers on into summer. The whaler captains who had recently returned from Antarctic waters warned Shackleton that the Weddell Sea ice had never been as treacherous. Owing to these exceptionally severe conditions, some of the whaling skip - pers were skeptical that the Endurance could reach Antarctica. They advised Shackleton to lay over until the next summer. This was unthinkable. He agreed to give the ice one month to clear a bit. During his layover, Shackleton met Thoralf Sørlle, a Norwegian who managed the Stromness whaling factory. Sørlle had spent his earlier days harpooning whales and had vast experience with polar ice. He admired the Endurance but had concerns about her design. He worried that the ice might crush her. Known first as the Polaris , shipbuilders in the Framnaes shipyard in Norway constructed the Endurance for an entrepreneur to take wealthy clients on Arctic polar bear hunting parties. Finances fell short, however, leading the Polaris ’s owner, who liked Shackleton and took an interest in 1.2: Endurance at anchor.
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