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Lewis Rickinson had a particular aversion to the
cold, so it seems rather odd that he should volunteer for a trip to
Antarctica, however, he was a good engineer with a good
understanding of the still relatively new and little used internal
combustion engines.
He is known also for a good sense of humour,
during a head shaving event on the Endurance, he agreed to have his
own head shaved on the condition that he could shave Shackleton's
head first.
He suffered particularly on the voyage to Elephant
Island with salt-water boils and it is thought to have had a mild
heart attack on landing on Elephant Island. In Shackleton's
words:
The blubber-stove was quickly
alight and the cook began to prepare a hot drink. We were
labouring at the boats when I noticed Rickenson turn white and
stagger in the surf. I pulled him out of reach of the water and
sent him up to the stove, which had been placed in the shelter
of some rocks. McIlroy went to him and found that his heart had
been temporarily unequal to the strain placed upon it. He was in
a bad way and needed prompt medical attention. There are some
men who will do more than their share of work and who will
attempt more than they are physically able to accomplish.
Rickenson was one of these eager souls. He was suffering, like
many other members of the Expedition, from bad salt-water boils.
Our wrists, arms, and legs were attacked. Apparently this
infliction was due to constant soaking with sea-water, the
chafing of wet clothes, and exposure.
Much of Rickinson's time on Elephant Island was
spent in the makeshift hut, (the snuggery) with Blackborow and
Hudson, the other two injured men in the party.
On return from Antarctica, in the First World War
he served in the Royal Navy. Afterwards becoming a Naval Architect
and Consulting Engineer.
He died during the Second World War at the age of
62 as Engineer Commander on H.M.S. Pembroke. References to
Lewis Rickinson
in Shackleton's book "South!" (Shackleton
misspells the surname as Rickenson)
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 | A path over the shattered floes would
be hard to find, and to get the boats into a position of
peril might be disastrous.
Rickenson and Worsley started back for Dump Camp
at 7 a.m. to get some wood and blubber for the fire, and
an hour later we had hoosh, with one biscuit each. At 10
a.m. Hurley and Hudson left for the old camp in order to
bring some additional dog-pemmican, since there were no
seals to be found near us. Then, as the weather cleared,
Worsley and I made a prospect to the west and tried to
find a practicable road. A large floe offered a fairly
good road for at least another mile to the north-west,
and we went back prepared for another move. The weather
cleared a little, and after lunch we struck camp. I took
Rickenson, Kerr, Wordie,
and Hudson as a breakdown gang to pioneer a path among
the pressure-ridges. Five dog teams followed. Wild's and
Hurley's teams were hitched on to the cutter and they
started off in splendid style. |
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| The first consideration, which was
even more important than that of food, was to provide
shelter. The semi-starvation during the drift on the
ice-floe, added to the exposure in the boats, and the
inclemencies of the weather encountered after our
landing on Elephant Island, had left its mark on a good
many of them. Rickenson,
who bore up gamely to the last, collapsed from
heart-failure. Blackborow and Hudson could not move.
All were frost-bitten in varying degrees and their
clothes, which had been worn continuously for six
months, were much the worse for wear. The blizzard which
sprang up the day that we landed at Cape Wild lasted for
a fortnight, often blowing at the rate of seventy to
ninety miles an hour, and occasionally reaching even
higher figures. The tents which had lasted so well and
endured so much were torn to ribbons, with the exception
of the square tent occupied by Hurley, James, and
Hudson. Sleeping-bags and clothes were wringing wet, and
the physical discomforts were tending to produce acute
mental depression. The two remaining boats had been
turned upside down with one gunwale resting on the snow,
and the other raised about two feet on rocks and cases,
and under these the sailors and some of the scientists,
with the two invalids, Rickenson
and Blackborow, found head-cover at least. Shelter from
the weather and warmth to dry their clothes was
imperative, so Wild hastened the excavation of the
ice-cave in the slope which had been started before I
left. |
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| Rickenson,
who was still very weak and ill, but very cheery,
obtained a place in the boat directly above the stove,
and the sailors having lived under the Stancomb Wills
for a few days while she was upside down on the beach,
tacitly claimed it as their own, and flocked up on to
its thwarts as one man. |
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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 |
