Summer 2014 E G D I R B M a C

The James Caird Society Newsletter Issue 20 · Summer 2014 e g d i r b m a C f o y t i s r e v i n U , e t u t i t s n I h c r a e s e R r a l o P t t o c S f o y s e t r u o C . y e l r u H k n a r F y b e r u t c i P Bi-weekly ablutions of The Ritz . Wordie, Cheetham and Macklin scrubbing the floor So many celebrations, so much to be done... 2014 marks the centenary of the start of the Endurance tributes will take many different forms, but all are united Expedition. Like the expedition itself, an enormous by a common theme, namely that of honouring the amount of hard work and preparation has gone, and remarkable feats of discovery in the Antarctic and continues to go, into the celebration of this momentous commending the qualities of leadership associated with Sir anniversary. Expeditions, dinners, boat restorations, Ernest. Before you turn the page to read more about what theatrical productions, publications – events galore are is planned for the anniversary, spare a thought for all those planned in honour of Sir Ernest Shackleton and the other who will be working tirelessly behind the scenes to make members of his team whose achievements will never be sure that everything for the Centenary celebrations is forgotten. As you will see in the following pages, these shipshape! Registered Charity No. 1044864 James Caird Society news and events Events planned for the Centenary The AGM 2014 Key dates in 1914 will be held at Friday 1 August Endurance sails from London Dulwich College on Friday 8 August Endurance leaves England from Plymouth Friday 7 November 2014, Sunday 27 September Shackleton leaves UK to join the ship at Buenos Aires starting at 5.30pm Sunday 26 October Endurance sails from BA Following the meeting there Friday 5 December Endurance leaves South Georgia heading for the Antarctic will be a talk by Monday 15 December Aurora sails from Sydney, reaches Antarctica 16 January 1915 Kelly Tyler-Lewis author of The Lost Men Expeditions in honour of the Centenary Shackleton Epic Expedition – as reported Rob Small See page 6 for more details. Dinner will be served in our last issue. January 2013 a team led Shackleton Boat Project. This in the Great Hall by Tim Jarvis completed the double from undertaking will see the Sir Ernest afterwards Elephant Island to Stromness. The Shackleton transported from Scotland to expedition was aired on the Discovery the SPRI in Cambridge. More details on Meetings in 2015 Channel in November 2013 and the book page 6. Saturday 9 May is also available (see page 14). Sailing Regatta from London to Birthday Lunch aboard Shackleton’s Unfinished Business South Georgia. A flotilla of sailing boats, HQS Wellington Expedition led by Charlie Paton of organised by Andrzej Minkiewicz leaves (replaces traditional May Extreme Outdoor Adventures. Hopes to London on 1 August 2014, reforms in dinner) depart in November 2014 for the Trans- Milbay Docks Plymouth and finally sails Antarctic Route. from UK on 8 August hoping to arrive in Friday 6 November (AGM) From Fire to Ice Expedition , led by South Georgia 5 January 2015. Official moving of James Caird to new site at Dulwich Dinners and receptions College (details tbc) Devon and Cornwall Polar Society will Lunch on board HQS Wellington , restage Shackleton’s Final Dinner at the Duke Livery Hall of the Honourable Company of Cornwall Hotel Plymouth plus lectures 7/8 of Master Mariners, on Saturday 9 May Elsewhere in this issue: August 2014. James Caird replica Alexandra 2015 to celebrate JCS 21st Birthday. Shackleton will be on display. James Caird moves to the new Science This page and Page 3 SPRI Centenary Voyage Dinner will Building at Dulwich College. This will tie Past and future events take place at Trinity House on 27 Sept in with the annual AGM and dinner in Towards the Centenary... 2014. The dinner will include some November 2015. Page 4 wonderful auction prizes, and the guest Westminster Abbey Commemoration Music for an expedition speaker is Tim Jarvis. The voyage itself Service Friday 20 May 2016. Page 5 departs on 21 November 2014 and returns The President’s Year 10 December. Page 6 Drama, exhibitions, shows... Planning some Centenary The Endurance story staged in Italian – Christie’s ‘Travel, Science and Natural expeditions see page 10. History Sale’ takes place on Wednesday 8 Page 7 The Explorers Club Antarctica. A show October 2014. Likely to include several Planning the original from New Zealand about Scott, Shackleton / Polar items. expedition... Shackleton and the heroic age of There are several other films, dramas Pages 8 and 9 Antarctic exploration starts in the UK in and exhibitions being planned. There will Never the lost endeavour August 2014 at Edinburgh Fringe be more about these in the 2015 issue of followed by tour. the JCS newsletter, as more details Pages10 and 11 Shackleton’s Legacy – 8 November become available. In the meantime, try Shackleton translated 2014. A day of discussion arranged by checking on the new official anniversary Pages 12 and 13 SGA and Friends of SPRI. website. Please note that there may be Shackleton’s Ireland Shackleton’s Carpenter , a play about other similar-sounding websites McNish by Gale Louw, will be performed available. This is ours! Pages 14 and 15 at various venues in SE England from www.shackleton100.org Books and a recollection November 2014. of Charles Swithinbank Page 16 The Official Centenary Website: www.shackleton100.org How to join the Society 2 · The James Caird Society Newsletter · Summer 2014 Society Dinners in November 2013 and May 2014 The November AGM top jobs working in senior roles in Oppenheimer & Co, and dinner, which took Odyssey Partners, and other financial service institutions – place on Friday 8 including being named as the Chief Operating Officer for November 2013, was the Lehman Brothers Liquidation in 2009. So why should accompanied by a talk he be lecturing to the James Caird Society? How could any by Angie Butler which of this be relevant and have anything to do with Sir Ernest described in fascinating Shackleton? detail her seven years As so often in life the answer is quite simple, although researching the book it took Arthur over fifteen years to bring the two things The Quest for Frank together. Wild . Angie told the The simple answer is that, having discovered Society diners the story Shackleton, Arthur became totally absorbed in finding out of her finding the ashes why Shackleton was such a phenomenal leader of men. and then how she He retraced the life of Sir Ernest through archival research arranged to take them to and adventure travel, culminating in the publication of his South Georgia to be book Shackleton lessons in Leadership . Since the buried alongside Sir publication of the book Arthur has lectured extensively on Ernest Shackleton. the Endurance Expedition and the important role of She also explained how she had met Eric Marshall's leadership in times of crisis. nephew, Edward Marshall, an encounter that introduced her During his talk, Arthur showed the 2002 Imax film to some photographs of the Nimrod Expedition which had which illustrates beautifully where Shackleton’s strengths been taken by his uncle but were largely unseen beyond lay. Arguably this American-made film, although quite the family. These she also shared with the guests, a rare short, was one of the best films made of the Endurance treat. Finally, Angie played a clip of Shackleton's voice Expedition. describing Wild's fall down a crevasse during the Nimrod Finally with the help of some prompt cards which he Expedition – with slides to illustrate the moving words. put up on the screen, Arthur gave the audience the chance The James Caird Society invited Arthur Ainsberg to to choose for themselves from the various suggestions lecture at our May meeting, held on Friday 9 May 2014. which strategy they thought Shackleton would have Arthur had had an interesting and challenging career in chosen or would recommend in certain ‘sticky’ situations. the financial services world in the United States. He held The audience entered into this with interest. Shackleton’s Carpenter ‘I know a good story for you,’ said my husband one day while The play opens in 1930 with the now penniless carpenter, walking on the beach. ‘It’s about Shackleton’s carpenter’. physically and mentally broken, sleeping in an open boat on the This was not a propitious start. A few years before, I’d noticed wharf. He wakes in the middle of the night and speaks of his time, a copy of Caroline Alexander’s book The Endurance on the dining his experiences, his loved ones; he conjures up the ghosts of his room table. ‘What on earth is he doing with that?’ I had thought! past, principally Shackleton. A holiday walk, however, is a good place for tales to be told, I have created a situation where a man in dire straits, who has and after I had heard the story of McNish, my appetite was seen and done great deeds with extraordinary bravery, has reached whetted. the end of his tether. Alone and lonely, desperate and ill, he has My plays (I have written six) tend to be about flawed characters. to impart how he feels and explain what brought him to this I am intrigued not by heroism and brilliance, but by nuanced people point.

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