“I had decided to take the James Caird myself, with Wild and eleven men. This was the largest of our boats, and in addition to her human complement she carried the major portion of the stores. Worsley had charge of the Dudley Docker with nine men, and Hudson and Crean were the senior men on the Stancomb Wills.”

— Ernest Shackleton, South

In the James Caird: Shackleton, Wild, Clark, Hurley, Hussey, James, Wordie, McNeish, Green, Vincent, McCarthy.

In the Dudley Docker: Worsley, Greenstreet, Kerr, Lees, Macklin, Cheetham, Marston, McLeod, Holness.

In the Stancomb Wills: Crean and Hudson, and Rickinson, McIlroy, How, Bakewell, Blackboro, Stephenson.

The Dudley Docker and Stancomb Wills are cutters, “heavy, square-sterned boats of solid oak,” also known as dreperbåts, originally built for hunting bottlenose whales. Approx. 21 ft long each.

The James Caird is a double-ended whaleboat, larger, than the other two, but lighter and springier. Baltic pine planking over a framework of American elm and English oak, custom-made to Worsley’s specifications. Approx. 22 ft 6 in long.