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Sir Ernest Shackleton
The Nimrod
Nimrod sailing in the tropics en route for
Antarctica
The Towing Steamer Koonya as Seen from the
Nimrod in a heavy sea
"Day with the Motor-car on the sea ice"
Day was the mechanic with responsibility for the running of the car
"Motor hauling stores for a depot"
The Nimrod expedition was the first to take a recently invented motor-car
to Antarctica, it kept breaking down through over-heating and getting stuck
in even shallow snow.
"A Quiet Evening on the Barrier"
From "The Heart of the Antarctic", Volume I, by E. H. Shackleton, 1909.
"The Aurora Australis"
From "The Heart of the Antarctic", Volume I, by E. H. Shackleton, 1909.
P.212
"The Southern Party on Board
the Nimrod. Left to right - Wild, Shackleton, Marshall, Adams.
From: "The Heart of the Antarctic", Volume I, by E. H. Shackleton, 1909.
P. 364.
Nimrod Returns
From: "The Heart of the
Antarctic", Volume I,
by E. H. Shackleton, 1909. P. 122
Book
"Heart of the Antarctic" from:
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Originally a Yorkshire family, the Shackleton's
had moved to County Kildare in Ireland where Ernest was born on February
15th 1874. His father hoped for Ernest to enter the field of medicine,
though Ernest had other ideas, at the age of 16 he joined his first ship
sailing out of Liverpool. He took naturally to a life at sea and progressed
through the ranks, by the time he was 24 he was qualified to command a British
ship anywhere she may be.
In the summer of 1900, Shackleton volunteered for the
National Antarctic Expedition that
Robert Falcon Scott
was in the process of arranging. He was accepted as third lieutenant in
charge of holds, stores, provisions and deep sea water analysis and left
on this expedition in 1901, the Discovery expedition.
This was not a successful voyage for Shackleton as he
became ill with scurvy and though wanting to remain in the south had to
be taken back home earlier than he wished on the relief ship Morning.
Shackleton was chosen to be leader of an expedition
to leave for Antarctica in 1907 aboard the ship Nimrod, not the
first choice of ship, but as in many Antarctic expeditions, one forced by
the available budget. The Nimrod sailed initially for New Zealand
on August 7th 1907.
From New Zealand, the Nimrod was towed by
another vessel the Koonya in order to save coal that would be used
at a great rate once the ship met pack ice.
Douglas Mawson an Australian
geologist had secured a place on the expedition and the subsequent journey
to the South magnetic pole. On January 14th 1908, the an iceberg was sighted
for the first time, shortly afterwards the Koonya cast her line off
and the Nimrod sailed free and was now on her own.
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"Men wanted for hazardous
journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness.
Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success."
From an advertisement (almost certainly
apocryphal as it has been attributed both to Shackleton's Nimrod
and also to the Endurance expeditions)
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By necessity rather than
design, the Nimrod entered McMurdo sound, the original landing place
(the Bay of Whales) being too congested with heavy pack ice and icebergs.
She anchored to the sea ice edge some 16 miles from where the hut was to
be erected at Hut Point, preparations were made for unloading, but this
was delayed to allow the ice to break up further back to Hut Point. By February
3rd the ice had indeed broken back to Hut Point and so the Nimrod
was fastened alongside the ice foot and unloading began. Shackleton had
brought ponies for transport and a motor car especially adapted for Antarctic
conditions. The ponies did not fare well on the journey and were in poor
condition, one had been injured and had to be shot during the journey, another
was shot on arrival. The temperature was now consistently cold and below
-20°C. The Nimrod left the landing party and headed back towards
New Zealand on February 22nd.
Scientific reading and observations began immediately,
particularly meteorological and biological of the seas through cracks in
the ice. A party of six succeeded in the first ascent of the
4023m (13,200-ft)
nearby volcano Mount Erebus. The base then embarked
on the mundane chores of winter life livening them with distractions wherever
possible, but in the main life slowed and chores filled the time available,
the cold and wind making even simple activities become much more involved
and time consuming. There were of course tensions to be expected of such
disparate characters living closely together
Come the spring the plans for sledging
parties made over the winter started to be put into action. Shackleton,
Adams, Marshall and Wild would head south for the Pole.
Another party led by Edgeworth David, (aged 50 at the
time) with Mackay and
Mawson
would set out to reach the southern magnetic pole, itself a 1260 mile journey.
This latter party had no experience of Antarctic exploration at all and
did not have the help of dogs or ponies, they did however have the motor
car taken on the expedition and used it to establish two depots, 10 and
15 miles from the winter base. Ironically the car suffered from overheating
of the engine and the men had to wait in the cold for it to cool down again
before it could run. They set out on September 25th 1908 and were soon running
out of food, having to ration themselves quite strictly by early November.
They soon learnt the lessons of Antarctica from brushes with disaster as
each of the men and the sledge fell or nearly fell into ever present crevasses.
Snow blindness sunburn and frostbite made travelling all the more difficult,
but by January 15th 1909 they reached the southern magnetic pole, photographs
were duly taken and the Union Flag hoisted.
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"I hereby take
possession of this area now containing the Magnetic Pole for
the British Empire"
Edgeworth David
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On the return journey they worked out that to reach the
arranged depot and signal the Nimrod on time, they had to cover 17
miles per day from January 17th to February 5th. They were within a mile
of the depot on February 5th when the Nimrod was heard signalling
with a gun. By that afternoon, they were aboard the ship and luxuriating
in the tea, food and being able to have a bath for the first time since
September. David felt that had they had dogs, they could have completed
the 1260 miles in half the time.
The polar party led by Shackleton left on a fine day
on October 29th 1908. Only those who have experienced Antarctica directly
can appreciate the feeling of exhilaration, and excitement that setting
out on a journey on a fine day in the Antarctic spring can give.
They had ponies on this journey, but they became weak
and caused problems as much as they helped solve them. Adams was kicked
under the knee and the bone exposed on the first day out. Rations were very
short and the men soon became very hungry. The weakest pony was shot on
November 21st, some of the meat eaten and the rest depoted. On November
the 26th they passed the previous furthest south point reached by
Robert Scott (a trip
that Shackleton was also on) in 1902. A further two ponies were shot soon
afterwards, this freed up some of the food and the men began eating pony
maize.
Christmas was celebrated with some carefully held back
treats, plum pudding, brandy, cigars and a spoonful of crème de menthe each.
By December 27th, they were on the polar plateau at an altitude of 10,200
feet with the wind against them, suffering from a lack of food and with
hands and feet almost on the point of frostbite. Shackleton was aware of
the worsening situation, knowing that they only had a limited time in the
light of their rations and physical state. They battled southwards into
blizzards, sometimes the blizzards kept them in their sleeping bags all
day. On January 9th they reached their furthest south point of 88°23'S,
just 97 miles from the pole. A flag was planted and photographs taken, they
turned around and began to head for home.
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"I thought, dear, that you
would rather have a live ass than a dead lion."
Sir Ernest Shackleton
to his wife Emily, after deciding to turn back 97 miles from
the Pole.
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On the journey back, the wind that they had battled against was behind them,
they used a sail on the sledge and rushed across the ice making up to 29
miles a day. They were able to obtain food from the depots they had lain
on the outward journey including the meat from the ponies and so by contrast
to earlier weeks were well fed and relatively content. They reached Hut
Point to find a note saying that the Nimrod was sheltering nearby,
burning the magnetic hut to provide a signal summoned the Nimrod
they were soon safe aboard. They had walked 1700 miles.
Next Shackleton
pages, the Trans-Antarctic expedition
The
Nimrod Expeditioners
Historical photographs on this page by permission of
National Library of Australia
Full Moon in the Winter
From: "The Heart of the
Antarctic", Volume I,
by E. H. Shackleton, 1909. P. 122
The Returning Sun
From: "The Heart of the Antarctic",
Volume I,
by E. H. Shackleton, 1909. P. 26
A Blizzard on the Barrier
From: "The Heart of the Antarctic",
Volume I,
by E. H. Shackleton, 1909. P. 82
The Nimrod Expeditioners
The Heroic age of Antarctic Exploration
Roald Amundsen
Douglas
Mawson
Robert Falcon
Scott
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