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Alfred Buchanan Cheetham (1867-1918) - Biographical
notes
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Alf Cheetham (left) with Tom Crean
on the Endurance, 1914
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Alfred Buchanan Cheetham
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Morning - relief ship for
the Discovery 1902
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Third officer and boatswain
Nimrod 1907-09
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Boatswain (Bosun), R.N.R.
Terra Nova 1910 -
13
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Third officer Endurance
Endurance 1914-17
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The Endurance Expedition
Alf Cheetham was an old hand on Antarctic
expeditions when he joined the Endurance at the age of 47, he was well
known for his positive attitude and was a popular member of crews on
which he served.
While on the Terra Nova expedition, he
had volunteered to help search for Scott and his missing south pole
party, but had been turned down as he was a married man with children.
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Alf Cheetham
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 |
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Biography
Alfred Cheetham was born in Liverpool,
and the family moved to Hull around 1877. Hull was a great fishing port
and he ran away to sea as a teenager working in the fishing fleet of
the North Sea. He became a merchant navy boatswain working out of Hull
and a Royal Naval Reservist. Alf married Eliza Sawyer and they produced
13 children.
On return from the Antarctic he enlisted
in the Mercantile Marine and while serving as second Officer on the
S.S. Prunelle on Thursday 22nd August 1918, at the age of 51, his ship
was torpedoed in the North Sea by a German U-Boat . Alf went down with
the ship.
References to Alfred Cheetham
in Shackleton's book "South!"
buy USA
buy UK
| Three emperor penguins made their appearance
in a lead west of the ship on May 3. They pushed their heads
through the young ice while two of the men were standing
by the lead. The men imitated the emperor's call and walked
slowly, penguin fashion, away from the lead. The birds in
succession made a magnificent leap 3 ft. clear from the
water on to the young ice. Thence they tobogganed to the
bank and followed the men away from the lead. Their retreat
was soon cut off by a line of men.
"We walk up to them, talking loudly and assuming a threatening
aspect. Notwithstanding our bad manners, the three birds
turn towards us, bowing ceremoniously. Then, after a closer
inspection, they conclude that we are undesirable acquaintances
and make off across the floe. We head them off and finally
shepherd them close to the ship, where the frenzied barking
of the dogs so frightens them that they make a determined
effort to break through the line. We seize them. One bird
of philosophic mien goes quietly, led by one flipper. The
others show fight, but all are imprisoned in an igloo for
the night. . . . In the afternoon we see five emperors in
the western lead and capture one. Kerr and
Cheetham fight a valiant
action with two large birds. Kerr rushes at one, seizes
it, and is promptly knocked down by the angered penguin,
which jumps on his chest before retiring.
Cheetham comes to Kerr's
assistance; and between them they seize another penguin,
bind his bill and lead him, muttering muffled protests,
to the ship like an inebriated old man between two policemen.
He weighs 85 lbs., or 5 lbs. less than the heaviest emperor
captured previously. Kerr and Cheetham
insist that he is nothing to the big fellow who escaped
them." |
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| A strong south-westerly wind was blowing
on October 20 and the pack was working. The Endurance was
imprisoned securely in the pool, but our chance might come
at any time. Watches were set so as to be ready for working
ship. Wild and Hudson, Greenstreet and
Cheetham, Worsley and Crean,
took the deck watches, and the Chief Engineer and Second
Engineer kept watch and watch with three of the A.B.'s for
stokers. |
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| My anxiety, as a matter of fact, was
groundless. I will quote Worsley's own account of what happened
to the Dudley Docker:
"About midnight we lost sight of the James Caird with the
Stancomb Wills in tow, but not long after saw the light
of the James Caird's compass-lamp, which Sir Ernest was
flashing on their sail as a guide to us. We answered by
lighting our candle under the tent and letting the light
shine through. At the same time we got the direction of
the wind and how we were hauling from my little pocket-compass,
the boat's compass being smashed. With this candle our poor
fellows lit their pipes, their only solace, as our raging
thirst prevented us from eating anything. By this time we
had got into a bad tide-rip, which, combined with the heavy,
lumpy sea, made it almost impossible to keep the Dudley
Docker from swamping. As it was we shipped several bad seas
over the stern as well as abeam and over the bows, although
we were ‘on a wind.' Lees, who owned himself to be a rotten
oarsman, made good here by strenuous baling, in which he
was well seconded by Cheetham.
Greenstreet, a splendid fellow, relieved me at the tiller
and helped generally. He and Macklin were my right and left
bowers as stroke-oars throughout. McLeod and
Cheetham were two good
sailors and oars, the former a typical old deep-sea salt
and growler, the latter a pirate to his finger-tips. In
the height of the gale that night
Cheetham was buying matches
from me for bottles of champagne, one bottle per match (too
cheap; I should have charged him two bottles). The champagne
is to be paid when he opens his pub in Hull and I am able
to call that way. . . . We had now had one hundred and eight
hours of toil, tumbling, freezing, and soaking, with little
or no sleep. I think Sir Ernest, Wild, Greenstreet, and
I could say that we had no sleep at all. Although it was
sixteen months since we had been in a rough sea, only four
men were actually seasick, but several others were off colour.
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Landmarks named after Alfred Cheetham
Feature Name:
Cheetham Ice Tongue
Feature Type: glacier
Latitude: 7545S
Longitude: 16255E
Description: A small ice tongue on the E coast of Victoria Land
between Lamplugh Island and Whitmer Peninsula. It projects eastward
into Ross Sea. The tongue appears to be nourished in part by Davis Glacier
and partly by ice draining from Lamplugh Island and Whitmer Peninsula.
First charted by the BrAE, 1907-09, under Shackleton - Nimrod expedition.
Variant Name(s) - Cheetham Glacier Tongue, Cheetham Ice Barrier Tongue.
Feature Name:
Cape Cheetham
Feature Type: cape
Latitude: 7018S
Longitude: 16242E
Description:
An ice-covered cape forming the NE extremity of Stuhlinger Ice Piedmont.
First charted by members of the BrAE, 1910-13, who explored this coast
in the location assigned on maps of the ANARE (Thala Dan), 1962.
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Biographical information
- This is a difficult area to research, I am concentrating on the Polar
experiences of the men involved. Any further information or pictures
visitors may have is gratefully received. Please email
- Paul, webmaster. |
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