|
His failure became the ultimate triumph 
When the going gets tough, do you keep going? You'd be hard pressed to find a better survival story than that of Irish-born explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) and the crew of the Endurance.
Travel log: Four expeditions to Antarctica.
Early adventures: Shackleton took to the seas while he was still a teenager, joining the Merchant Navy for what was a decade-long career. In 1901, he embarked on his first trip to the Antarctic as a junior officer with Captain Robert Falcon Scott. The expedition came within 400 miles of the South Pole, the closest anyone had yet gone. Shackleton led his own expedition in 1908 on the whaling ship Nimrod, coming within 97 miles of the South Pole.
For the history books: One of the most legendary adventures of the modern era began on August 8, 1914, when Shackleton and his crew of 27 set sail on the Endurance from England for Antarctica on what they expected to be a six-month expedition. The goal: to become the first men to traverse the frozen continent via the South Pole, an 1,800-mile journey. In the end, the Shackleton expedition would live up to the billing, but not for the intended reasons. With the frozen continent in plain site, the Endurance became snarled in floating pack and eventually was pounded by ice into splinters. Shackleton and the crew watched the Endurance sink into the icy sea. Dragging three lifeboats behind them, the men trudged in the direction of open water in hopes of sailing north to safety. After only six days, they were forced to abandon the march, and the team made camp on an ice floe that began drifting across the Antarctic Circle. April 7, 1916, brought good news: Shackleton made out a small spit of land on the distant horizon. He recognized it as Elephant Island, a barren, inhospitable chunk of rock. Inhospitable though it may have been, it was nevertheless terra firma--much more desirable than a floating chunk of ice. After setting up camp on their new home away from home, Shackleton came up with a bold idea. He and five men would attempt to sail one of the life-boats 800 miles to South Georgia Island, an island that supported a year-round whaling camp. If they could reach that camp, they could launch a rescue mission to save the rest of the crew. Miraculously, after 17 stormy days at sea, Shackleton and team reached South Georgia. Unfortunately, they landed on the wrong coast. With stamina flagging, they began a 36-hour trek that took them over the island's glacier-clad mountains and into safety. Shackleton held true to his promise, and after two attempts, he rescued his abandoned crew -- two years after the Endurance set sail from England.
Words to live by: Shackelton once said, "Optimism is true moral courage," a credo he lived by until his death in 1922.
|
