“Almost immedately, stores began to float up, beginning with a barrel of walnuts. Other supplies were grappled to the surface—a case of sugar, a boxful of baking soda. By the end of the day, nearly 3 1/2 tons of flour, rice, sugar, barley, lentils, vegetables, and jam had been rescued and sledged back to camp.”
— Alfred Lansing, Endurance
“The sailors are busy at work erecting a canvas hut 23 feet x 11 feet from sails and spars, to be used as a galley and shelter. I searched the ship over for a suitable object that could be converted into a cooking range; and as the ash chute was the nearest approach to the desideratum, it was conveyed to the camp… The stove is designed to consume blubber for fuel, & when installed in the new shelter, should ameliorate the cook’s duties considerably. The chipping of two holes fifteen inches in diameter with a blunt flat chisel was a somewhat arduous undertaking.”
— Frank Hurley
“I was on watch from 3am to 4am and caught an Adelie penguin.”
— Thomas Orde-Lees
“It is scandalous—all we seem to live for and think of now is food. I have never in my life taken half such an interest in food as I do now—and we are all alike…We are ready to eat anything, especially cooked blubber which none of us would tackle before. Probably living totally in the open and having to rely on food instead of fire for body heat makes us think so much of food…”
— Frank Worsley
“Owing to this impossible surface, we were of the unanimous opinion that the alternative project of establishing a permanent camp on a piece of heavy old floe, and awaiting the breaking up of the ice pack, should be resorted to. In pursuance of this decision, all the sledges and boats were hauled to a suitable camping floe, and the tents pitched…”
— Frank Hurley
“A pathfinding party of three precedes the advance.. Then follows seven sledges, each drawn by seven dogs, and loaded with an average load of 100 pounds per dog. Five teams then return, and bring up the balance of the gear loaded on five sledges. The remaining two teams, Wild’s and my own team, will link together and bring up the light boat. The balance of the party, eighteen members, will man haul the large boat—the James Caird…”
— Frank Hurley
“They tried to guide the main party along a level route, but every few yards it was necessary to cross a pressure ridge. Then they set to work, chopping away at it until they had carved out a miniature mountain pass for the boats. On particularly high ridges, they had to build a ramp of ice and snow up one side and down the other.”
— Alfred Lansing
Now in the collection of the Royal Museums of Greenwich:
“Wood, skin and metal zither banjo, inlaid with mother of pearl which belonged to Dr L.D.A. Hussey, the meteorologist on ‘Endurance’. The banjo was rescued from the ship before she sank, crushed by the ice of the Weddell Sea. Hussey played it during morale-raising concert parties organised by the survivors while they awaited rescue on Elephant Island. The banjo has been signed by expedition members and others as follows ‘E.H. Shackleton, Frank Wild, Ruby Page le Brawn, Frank A. Worsley, L. Rickenson, George E. Marston, L.D.A. Hussey, A.H. Macklin, Frank Hurley, A.J. Kerr, F.W. Edwards, J.M. Wordie, T.O. Lees, C. Green, A. Cheetham, R.W. James, L. Greenstreet, Robert S. Clark, Harry McNeish’. The banjo comes complete with a leather carrying case.”
May the Lord help you to do your duty & guide you
through all the dangers by land and sea.
May you see the Works of the Lord & all His Wonders
in the deep.
I tore the fly-leaf out of the Bible that Queen Alexandra had given to the ship, with her own writing in it, and also the wonderful page of Job containing the verse:
Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of Heaven, who hath gendered it?
The waters are hid as with a stone,
And the face of the deep is frozen. [Job 38:29–30]
— Ernest Shackleton, South
“The order went forth that we should start the march at 3pm, and that we were each to carry only the following articles—six pairs socks, one spare pair of boots or finnesko, one pair fur mitts, 1lb tobacco or cocoa and 1lb personal gear such as soap, toothbrush etc. We were each served out with a packet of toilet paper, an absolutely indispensable prerequisite.
“Our leader proceeded to set an example by deliberately throwing away all he possessed—away went his watch, about 50 golden sovereigns, silver brushes and dressing case fittings, books and a dozen other things, whereupon we all did likewise until there was a heap of clothing and private property probably of some hundreds of pounds value, lying about all over the floe.”
— Thomas Orde-Lees
The noble mouser of the Endurance, and his master.
“I think the cat was more important to him than the Polar Medal.” – Tom McNeish, grandson; quoted in BBC Science/Nature.
Shackleton. 