Scott Polar Research InstituteShackleton items from the Archives
Expeditions
Authors
Articles- About the expedition (below)
Articles from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The following 12 articles are from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition:
- Snow goggles used by Ernest Shacketon during the Endurance expedition
- Leather boots, two types, designed by Shackleton and worn during the Endurance expedition
- The chronometer used during the open boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia
- A pocket watch used during the open boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia
- A letter of application to join Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition
- A letter from James Caird to Ernest Shackleton. June 1914
- Ernest Shackleton's Endurance diary, 1915
- Emergency evacuation instructions for Ocean Camp, Endurance Expedition
- Alexander Macklin
- A map of the route across South Georgia, drawn by Frank Worsley, 1916
- Telegram from Queen Alexandra to Emily Shackleton, July 1914
- A letter from Ernest Shackleton to his wife, Emily. September 1916
About the expedition
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Weddell Sea Party) 1914-1916
Endurance
leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
The Endurance expedition is an inspiring story of adventure and survival. In August 1914 Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty seven set sail for the Antarctic in an attempt to cross the continent on foot. Disaster struck when Endurance was trapped fast in the pack ice just eighty five miles from their destination. She drifted with the pack for ten months and was finally crushed by the pressure, leaving the crew stranded on an ice floe.
The entire company wintered on the ice before escaping in the lifeboats to Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands. Shackleton, Thomas Crean, Frank Worsley, Timothy McCarthy, Harold McNish and J Vincent then sailed 1450Km to South Georgia in one of the life boats, James Caird.
Arriving at South Georgia Shackleton, Crean and Worsley made the first major trek across the island to the whaling station at Stromness. The fourth attempt at relieving the company at Elephant Island was successful. The ordeal lasted 20 months.