Antarctica Pictures | Antarctica Cruise | Facts | History | Ugg Sale | Store | Clothes | Whales | Book, DVD etc. | Schools | Boots | Forum | Site Map | FIDS

 

William Lincoln Bakewell (1888-1969) - Biographical notes

History: The Heroic Age | Historical timeline | Geological timeline | Ships of the explorers | Explorers quiz

Antarctic Expeditions crew lists and biographies

Explorers: Amundsen Fram  pictures | von Bellingshausen - Vostok and Mirny | Borschgrevink - Southern Cross | Bruce - Scotia | Charcot Français  Pourquoi-Pas? | Dumont D'Urville - Astrolabe and Zéléé | von Drygalski - Gauss | de Gerlache - Belgica | Mawson Aurora | Nordenskjöld - Antarctic | Ross - Erebus and Terror | Scott: Discovery  South Pole  The journey to the pole Pictures | Shackleton: Nimrod  Endurance Quest

Ebooks: South - Shackleton | The South Pole - Amundsen | Home of the Blizzard - Mawson

Biography - The American on the Endurance: Ice, Sea, and Terra Firma: Adventures of William Lincoln Bakewell by Elizabeth Anna Bakewell  Rajala - William Bakewell's daughter

bulletAble seaman Endurance 1914-17

William Bakewell joined the Endurance at Buenos Aires. He was the only American aboard ship, though he posed as a Canadian thinking that the British ship would be more inclined to take on a subject of the British Empire. He was taken on as an able seaman at £8 per month.

The Endurance had become three crew members short after they had been sacked due to misconduct on the passage from England and in port, Bakewell was taken on for this reason. Unknown to Shackleton at the time, Bakewell helped his friend Perce Blackborow to also join the ship unofficially as a stowaway. Bakewell along with Ernie How another able seaman were concerned that the Endurance was undermanned which encouraged them to smuggle Blackborow on board.

Bakewell was well liked and Shackleton regarded him to be;

"... a cut above the rest of the seamen".

William Bakewell lived an adventurous and romantic maverick lifestyle. His adventures started at the age of 11 when he ran away from his home town of Joliet, Illinois heading down to Missouri, where he found work as a farm hand near Sikeston. By the time he was 15, he started to ride boxcars on the railways which took him as far as Seney, Michigan when he was found and kicked off. Here he worked on lumber camp jobs, moving up into Canada eventually heading West and ending up as a ranch hand in Montana.

By 1914 he had reached San Francisco and joined a British ship as an able seaman, this took him to Newport in South Wales when he joined the "Golden Gate". This ship foundered off the coast of Montevideo (Uruguay) and so Bakewell made his way a little further South to the Argentinean port of Buenos Aires. Here he met and befriended Perce Blackborow who was also stuck in that port without a ship when the Endurance arrived.

After the expedition, Bakewell spent some time in Argentina managing sheep ranches before joining the British Merchant Navy in the First World War. He was twice on ships that were sunk by enemy torpedoes, on one occasion floating on a raft for several days before being rescued.

1921 found him back in his hometown of Joliet, Illinois. Here he built a boat he named the "Shamrock" which he sailed on the Des Plaines river and Illinois canal between Joliet to Chicago. This didn't last long however and by the end of the year, he had left again informing his family by letter that he intended to join Shackleton again on the Quest expedition. On advice from his family, he never joined this expedition, instead heading to the southern states of the USA and the Caribbean working as a merchant seaman.

A lack of a consistency of purpose seemed to have become the only stable factor in Bakewell's life and sure enough by 1923, he was back in Joliet again, this time working for the E.J. & E. Railroad, eventually becoming a towerman for the Rock Island Railroad. By 1925 he had married Merle, and a daughter Elizabeth was born. In 1945, they bought a farm in Michigan where William lived out the rest of his life. He died in 1969 at the age of 80 and is buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in Skandia, Michigan.

For many years after the expedition Bakewell could not be traced and in 1918 when Polar Medals were awarded to the expedition members, he did not collect his. Many years later, someone realised this when contact had once more been made and a special medal was cast just for him, he finally received it in 1964 shortly after he had attended the 50th reunion of the sailing of the Endurance which was held in London with his daughter Elizabeth.

Bakewell became a member of the Antarctic Club of British Expeditions and the Antarctican Society of the United States. He kept in touch with the Blackborow family and Ernie How's family.

Some of the crew of the Endurance photographed in Buenos Aries 1917
picture courtesy Robin Mackenzie - Stornoway Historical Society

Landmarks named after William Bakewell

Feature Name: Bakewell Island
Feature Type: island
Latitude: 7450S
Longitude: 01855W
Description: Small ice-covered island near Princess Martha Coast and E of Lyddan Island in the S part of Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf. The island was discovered Nov. 5, 1967, in the course of a USN Squadron VXE-6 flight over the coast in LC-130 aircraft, and was plotted by USGS from air photos taken at that time.

Endurance
Personnel

Summary

Bakewell, William
Able Seaman

Blackborow, Percy
Steward (stowaway)

Cheetham, Alfred
Third Officer

Clark, Robert S.
Biologist

Crean, Thomas
Second Officer

Green, Charles J.
Cook

Greenstreet, Lionel
First Officer

Holness, Ernest
Fireman

How, Walter E.
Able Seaman

Hudson, Hubert T.
Navigator

Hurley, James F. (Frank)
Official Photographer

Hussey, Leonard D. A.
Meteorologist

James, Reginald W.
Physicist

Kerr, A. J.
Second Engineer

Macklin, Dr. Alexander H.
Surgeon

Marston, George E.
Official Artist

McCarthy, Timothy
Able Seaman

McIlroy, Dr. James A.
Surgeon

McLeod, Thomas
Able Seaman

McNish, Henry
Carpenter

Orde-Lees, Thomas
Motor Expert and Storekeeper

Rickinson, Lewis
First Engineer

Shackleton, Ernest H.
Expedition Leader

Stephenson, William
Fireman

Vincent, John
Able Seaman

Wild, Frank
Second in Command

Wordie, James M.
Geologist

Worsley, Frank
Captain


Enter Your Last Name:

Biographical information - This is a particularly difficult area to research and I am concentrating on the Antarctic (and Arctic) experiences of the men involved. Any further information or pictures visitors may have is gratefully received. Likewise links to other websites, details of family trees or any other form of information of the people mentioned here and involved in early Antarctic exploration, or of any corrections to the details published.  Please email  - Paul, webmaster.
Recommended Books DVD's and VHS

Endurance, The Greatest Adventure Story Ever Told, book
Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Alfred Lansing (Preface)
Buy USA   Buy UK


South with Endurance: Frank Hurley - official photographer
Buy USA   Buy UK

South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-17
South! Ernest Shackleton
Shackleton's own words
Buy USA   Buy UK
Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer
Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer
Buy USA   Buy UK

Shackleton's Boat Journey: The narrative of Frank Worsley
Buy USA  Buy UK

Shackleton
biography by Roland
Huntford
Buy USA   Buy UK

Endurance: True Story of Shackleton's Voyage in the Antarctic
(Audiobook) - great for in the car!
Buy from Amazon USA Audiobook
Buy from Amazon UK Audiobook

The Endurance : Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
by Caroline Alexander
Buy USA   Buy UK

Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition:
The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton's Polar-Bound Cat
Buy USA   Buy UK

Shackleton's Forgotten Men
Lennard Bickel

Buy USA
   Buy UK
Tom Crean an Illustrated Life: Unsung Hero of the Scott & Shackleton Expeditions
Tom Crean: Unsung Hero
biography by Michael Smith

Buy USA
  Buy UK
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, The True Story of the Endurance Expedition
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World -
Jennifer Armstrong
for ages 12 and up
Buy USA  
 Buy UK
Movies / Documentaries
South - Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition
South - Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition (1919)
original footage
Buy from Amazon USA DVD  VHS
Buy from Amazon UK DVD  VHS
Shackleton - The Greatest Survival Story of All Time (3-Disc Collector's Edition)
Shackleton
dramatization
Kenneth Branagh
(2002)
Buy from Amazon USA DVD  VHS
Buy from Amazon UK DVD VHS
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure (Large Format)
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure (2001)
IMAX dramatization

Buy from Amazon USA DVD  VHS
Buy from Amazon UK DVD
The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Expedition (2000)
PBS NOVA, dramatization with original footage
Buy from Amazon USA DVD  VHS
Buy from Amazon UK DVD

Google
This Site  Web
Home | Site Map | Pictures | Antarctica Stock Photos | Facts | History | Antarctica Travel | Clothing | Video | Books | Calendars | Forum | FIDS | Feedback | Antarctica Map | Buy pictures | Find a trip to Antarctica | Ballet flats | Ugg Boots | Schools

Cool Antarctica visitors guest map

Copyright 2001 Paul Ward  copyright issues  |  privacy policy  |     |  Last modified:  June 29, 2008