There was still a major obstacle to overcome.
They had landed 22 miles from the Stromness whaling station as the crow flies. In order to get
there they had to go across the backbone of mountains that ran the length of
South Georgia, a journey that no-one had ever managed, the map depicted the area
as a blank.
McNeish and Vincent were too weak to attempt the
journey so
Shackleton left them with MaCarthy to care for them. On May 15th Shackleton, Crean and
Worsley set out to cross the mountains and reach the whaling station, they
crossed glaciers, icy slopes and snow fields. At a height of about 4500 feet,
they looked back and saw the fog closing up behind them. Night was falling and
with no tent or sleeping bags, they had to descend to a lower altitude. They
slid down a snowy slope in a matter of minutes losing around 900 feet in the
process. They had a hot meal with two of them sheltering the cooker from the
wind. Darkness fell and they carried on walking, soon a full moon appeared
lighting their way. They climbed again and ate another hot meal to renew their
energy.
They were soon able to make out an
island in the distance that they recognized, but realised that they had taken
the wrong direction and had to retrace their steps. At 5 a.m. they sat down
exhausted in the lee of a large rock wrapping their arms around each other to
keep warm. Worsley and Crean fell asleep, but Shackleton realised that if they
all did so, they may never wake again. He woke them five minutes later and told
them they had been asleep for half an hour, once again they set off.
There was now but one ridge of
jagged peaks between them and Stromness, they found a gap and went through. At
6.30 a.m. Shackleton was standing on a ridge he had climbed to get a better look
at the land below, he thought he heard the sound of a steam whistle calling the
men of the whaling station from their beds. He went back to Worsley and Crean
and told them to watch for 7 o'clock as this would be when the whalers were
called to work. Sure enough, the whistle sounded right on time, the three men
must have never heard a more welcome sound.
|
"Boys, this snow-slope seems to end in a
precipice, but perhaps there is no precipice. If we don't go down we shall have
to make a detour of at least five miles before we reach level going. What shall
it be?"
"Try the slope". |
The three walked downwards to 2000 feet
above sea level. They came across a gradient of steep ice, two hours later, they
had cut steps and roped down another 500 feet, a slide down a slippery slope
placed them at 1500 feet above sea level on a plateau. They still had some
distance to go before they reached the whaling station. The going was still less
than easy and they had some climbing still to do to negotiate ridges between them and
their goal.
At
1:30 p.m. they climbed the final ridge and saw a small whaling boat
entering the bay 2500 feet below. They hurried forward and spotted a sailing
ship lying at a wharf. Tiny figures could be seen wandering about and then the
whaling factory was sighted. The men paused, shook hands and congratulated each
other on accomplishing their heroic journey.
The only possible way down seemed to
be along a stream flowing to the sea below. They went down through the icy water, wet
to their waist, shivering cold and tired. Then they heard the unwelcome
sound of a waterfall. The stream went over a 30 foot fall with
impassable ice-cliffs on both sides. They were too tired to look for another way
down so they agreed the only way down was through the waterfall itself. They
fastened their rope around a rock and slowly lowered Crean, the
heaviest, into the waterfall. He completely disappeared and came out the bottom
gasping for air. Shackleton went next and Worsley, the most nimble member of the
party, went last. They had dropped the logbook, adze and cooker before going
over the edge and once on solid ground, the items were retrieved, the only items
brought out of the Antarctic.
|
"..... we had entered a year and a half
before with well-found ship, full equipment, and high hopes. We had 'suffered,
starved and triumphed, groveled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the
bigness of the whole.' We had seen God in His splendours, heard the text that
Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man" |
The whaling station, was now just a mile and a half away.
They
tried to smarten themselves up a little bit before entering the station, but their beards were long, their hair was
matted, their clothes, tattered and stained as they hadn't been washed in
nearly a year. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of May 20th, they walked into the outskirts
of Stromness whaling station, as they approached the station, two small
boys met them. Shackleton asked them where the manager's house was and they
didn't answer, they just turned and ran from them as fast as they could. They came to the wharf where the man in charge was asked if
Mr. Sørlle (the manager) was in the house.
Mr. Sørlle came out to the door and said, "Well?"
"Don't you know me?" I said.
"I know your voice," he replied doubtfully. "You're the mate of
the Daisy." (the Daisy was the last of the American open boat whalers, it had
visited South Georgia in 1913)
"My name is Shackleton," I said.
Immediately he put out his hand and said, "Come in. Come in."
They washed, shaved, ate and slept. Worsley boarded a whaler
went to rescue the three left on the other side of South Georgia at King Haakon
Bay sheltering under the upturned James Caird. During this rescue a storm blew
up that had it come the day previously could have spelled disaster for the three
men crossing to Stromness and consequently the whole of the crew, those on the
wrong side of South Georgia and all those on Elephant Island.
Shackleton remained at Stromness and prepared plans for the rescue of the men
on Elephant Island. Shackleton, Worsley and Crean left on the British whale catcher
Southern
Sky that had been laid up for the winter bound for Elephant Island on the
23rd of May.
Later, Shackleton was
to write in a letter to a friend, "When we got to the whaling
station, it was the thought of all those comrades that made us so mad with
joy...We didn't so much feel safe as that they would be saved"
|
Sixty miles from the island the pack ice forced
them to retreat to the Falkland Islands whereupon the Uruguayan Government
loaned Shackleton the trawler Instituto de Pesca but once again the ice
turned them away. They went to Punta Arenas where British and Chilean residents
donated £1500 to Shackleton in order to charter the schooner Emma. One
hundred miles north of Elephant Island the auxiliary engine broke down and thus
a fourth attempt would be necessary. The Chilean Government now loaned the
steamer Yelcho, under the command of Captain Luis Pardo, to Shackleton.
As the steamer approached
Elephant Island, the men on the island were approaching lunchtime. It was August
30th 1917 when Marston spotted the Yelcho in an opening in the mist. He yelled,
"Ship O!" but the men thought he was announcing lunch. A few moments
later the men inside the "hut" heard him running forward, shouting,
"Wild, there's a ship! Hadn't we better light a flare?" As they
scrambled for the door, those bringing up the rear tore down the canvas walls.
Wild put a hole in their last tin of fuel, soaked clothes in it, walked to the
end of the spit and set them afire.
The boat soon approached close enough for Shackleton, who was standing on the
bow, to shout to Wild, "Are you all well?". Wild replied, "All
safe, all well!" and the Boss replied, "Thank God!"
Blackborow,
since he couldn't walk, was carried to a high rock and propped up in his
sleeping bag so he could view the scene. Frank Wild invited Shackleton ashore to
see how they had lived on the Island, but he declined being keen to on their way
as soon as possible in the light of previous failed attempts to reach the men
due to ice conditions. Within an hour they were headed north
to the world from which no news had been heard since October, 1914; they had
survived on Elephant Island for 105 days.
In 1921 Shackleton was once more
drawn back to Antarctica in an attempt to map 2000 miles (3200 km) of
coastline and conduct meteorological and geological research. Although
he was only 47, he died of a suspected heart attack on board the Quest
as she was at anchor in King Edward Cove, South Georgia.
Shackleton was buried on South Georgia and his death brought to a close
the "Heroic Age" of Antarctic
exploration. The grave was marked by a headstone of Scottish granite in
1928 and is visited regularly by scientists and tourists to this day.
Timeline
and map
Historical photographs on this page by
permission of National Library of Australia
