Sir Ernest Shackleton, A Disastrous Expedition
Sir Ernest Shackleton led a group to within 97 miles from the South Pole and returned to be knighted by the King. But he would not rest and planned to come back to be first to cross the continent as Amundsen had already reached the South Pole.
Article Source: TravelFreeGuides.com
The Endurance set sail to the Arctic Circle with a 26 men crew. Shackleton felt the great attainment was to cross the continent of Antarctica by foot and after a short stopover in South Georgia they moved towards the pack ice. What turned into a standard event, the expedition and the ship, found themselves gripped by the ice. Shackleton waited for the floe to switch direction so that the ship could release it.
This did not happen and the men made prepared for a long winter. By June they were still stuck and in October the ship started to heel over to the side. Then the heavy wooden beams exploded and the men had to desert their ship a few days later.
They save the rescue boats and whatever they could save. In Nov the last of the ship disappeared underneath the ice. The men found walking too perilous and moved with the ice till they were inside reach of Elephant Island. The journey that turned from the hope for glory, to a hope for survival was nearly over. They launched the 3 rescue boats and managed to get to the island. But this was a non-permanent haven.
5 men and Shackleton got back in the ship and set sail for a destination eight hundred miles away not a few days later. After an exhausting 2 week journey they were just about crushed on the rocks of South Georgia in the final approach.
They were on the back side of the island and now had to get over the mountains. The men were so weak that after waiting a week, only 3 of the 6 could continue. After 6 hours the reach the mountain range they wanted to cross to reach Stromness, a little wailing station. Between the tops were openings. So if you went up to the top and could not go down the opposite side it was all of the way down again.
This occurred everytime till they reached the 4th opening. After a daring slide at terrible speed, the men were on flat ground and began their last walk. Though it was midnight they continued to stroll
Later the following afternoon they reached the whaling station. They went for the 3 men and then after many failed attempts, Shackleton himself rowed towards the remainder of the men on Elephant Island. Ultimately and 2 years after he returned the men home. Keeping the promise he made to himself to bring them all back alive.
About the Author
Hotel Booking and Travel Reservation
by: Admin
Total views: 23
Word Count: 467
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 Time: 1:32 PM -
1 comments
Publish/Share this article
To use this article on your site click here to get the HTML code |Remember: The article body, title, author bio and links may not be changed or removed. By publishing this article, you agree to all the terms in our Terms of Service.
Rating: Not yet rated
More articles in this Category
1: Sir Ernest Shackleton, A Disastrous Expedition
