“For scientific discovery, give me Scott. For speed and efficiency of travel, give me Amundsen. But when disaster strikes and all hope is lost, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”
–Sir Raymond Priestley
Elephant Island! We have reached that stage of our journey where we really begin to travel in the footsteps of Ernest Henry Shackleton and his ice-bound band of desperadoes. After watching helplessly as Endurance was crushed by the ice and sank in the Weddell Sea, Shackleton and his men set out to save themselves. Dragging their three small boats across impossible pressure ridges of sea ice, after 5 months the 28 men were able to put into the boats for a grueling 6 day boat journey to Elephant Island. Arriving at the outset of winter, their plight indeed looked grim. They managed to find two of the only landing sites on this formidable island, and made camp. But who would ever look for them here? Once again, Shackleton made the decision that they must save themselves, and it was from here that he set out on the epic open boat journey – 800 miles across the stormiest seas in the world in 16 days from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Raymond Priestley, geologist on this and other expeditions, knew well of what he spoke.
We arrived at Elephant Island this morning under rather less dire circumstances. Well fed and rested, we awoke to sunshine and little wind. Although a bit of a swell rolled in from the northwest, one could hardly fault these ideal conditions. We piled into the boats and headed for Point Wild, legendary site where the marooned 22 men waited for four and a half months, not knowing if Shackleton had survived the boat journey to bring help. Afterwards we made our way east to Cape Valentine, an utterly exposed site where the shipwrecked mariners stumbled ashore after not touching land for over 15 months. Normally we are only able to gaze at this rocky promontory from the ship, as huge surf crashes across the beach. Yet today things seemed relatively calm. Captain Lampe found us shelter from the swell and a boat was launched. After a brief scout, the word went out – we can do it! Everyone tumbled back into boots and parkas for the short ride to shore. We bobbed in the surge and compared Frank Hurley’s famous photograph of a boat landing here to the telltale geologic formations just offshore (pictured here). This is a most rare treat and we all felt a new sort of kinship with the incredible crew of Endurance.
–Sir Raymond Priestley
Elephant Island! We have reached that stage of our journey where we really begin to travel in the footsteps of Ernest Henry Shackleton and his ice-bound band of desperadoes. After watching helplessly as Endurance was crushed by the ice and sank in the Weddell Sea, Shackleton and his men set out to save themselves. Dragging their three small boats across impossible pressure ridges of sea ice, after 5 months the 28 men were able to put into the boats for a grueling 6 day boat journey to Elephant Island. Arriving at the outset of winter, their plight indeed looked grim. They managed to find two of the only landing sites on this formidable island, and made camp. But who would ever look for them here? Once again, Shackleton made the decision that they must save themselves, and it was from here that he set out on the epic open boat journey – 800 miles across the stormiest seas in the world in 16 days from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Raymond Priestley, geologist on this and other expeditions, knew well of what he spoke.
We arrived at Elephant Island this morning under rather less dire circumstances. Well fed and rested, we awoke to sunshine and little wind. Although a bit of a swell rolled in from the northwest, one could hardly fault these ideal conditions. We piled into the boats and headed for Point Wild, legendary site where the marooned 22 men waited for four and a half months, not knowing if Shackleton had survived the boat journey to bring help. Afterwards we made our way east to Cape Valentine, an utterly exposed site where the shipwrecked mariners stumbled ashore after not touching land for over 15 months. Normally we are only able to gaze at this rocky promontory from the ship, as huge surf crashes across the beach. Yet today things seemed relatively calm. Captain Lampe found us shelter from the swell and a boat was launched. After a brief scout, the word went out – we can do it! Everyone tumbled back into boots and parkas for the short ride to shore. We bobbed in the surge and compared Frank Hurley’s famous photograph of a boat landing here to the telltale geologic formations just offshore (pictured here). This is a most rare treat and we all felt a new sort of kinship with the incredible crew of Endurance.
