“He put his glasses back in their case and turned to me, his face showing more emotion than I had ever known it show before. Crean had joined us, and we were all unable to speak… It sounds trite, but years literally seemed to drop from him as he stood before us.”
— Frank Worsley
“Every man is prone to make errors of judgment at times…but if ever a man worked hard and conscientiously to keep up the spirits and maintain the general peace & welfare of a community containing one or two “difficile” members that man was Frank Wild who…by his buoyant optimism, dogged determination…and calm demeanour had pulled us through these trying months of waiting.”
— Thomas Orde-Lees
“We had the fear that those on board… might not have seen us. The terrible thought crept into our minds that we would then be left on Elephant Island to die, for by this time we could not have held out for more than a few days.”
—Leonard Hussey
“Whilst the party were in [the hut] at lunch Marston & I were without shelling limpets, when I called Marston’s attention to a curious piece of ice on the horizon, which bore a striking resemblance to a ship. Whilst we were so engaged a ship rounded the [point]! We immediately called out Ship O, which was instantly followed by a general exodus of cheering & semi hysterical… inmates.”
— Frank Hurley
Lionel Greenstreet
—Lionel Greenstreet
“Food is life and life is too serious a matter to risk needlessly. Strange to say, now that there really is a shortage the imperturbable pessimists are apparently quite unconcerned… It is not unusual that pessimism and equanimity are counterparts. The fatuous optimists exhibit their fears [by] assuming that the pessimists are now thoroughly scared and therefore making mocking remarks such as … “We shall have to eat the one who dies first” and so on, which has actually occurred before now when people have been in only very slightly worse straits than we are now. There’s many a true word said in jest.”
—Thomas Orde-Lees
Nacella (Patinigera) concinna
[Object smaller than it appears in the image]
“Wild has it all nicely cut & dried, & has revealed his plans to the favoured few. He and four other members are to go in the Dudley Docker, and will make their way carefully along under the lee of the land from island to island of the South Shetlands… until they reach Deception Island about 150 miles away to our S.W.”
— Thomas Orde-Lees
“We were forced to feed ourselves mainly by seals and penguins. Already during the first few days of our stay on the island, we were lucky enough to kill [enough] not only for our immediate needs but also for a winter supply. Thus, on the 11 March [1903] 184 penguins were killed, 326 on the 12th, 508 on the 13th and so on.”
— Captain Carl Anton Larsen, quoted in Nils Otto Nordenskjöld’s ‘Antarctica: Or, Two years amongst the ice of the South Pole‘
“A very dashing little Chilean lieutenant, Ramon Aguirre, came aboard with a guitar… and very glad we were to have him. He was a most amusing character, completely indifferent to everything but the pleasure he could extract from the moment, and always in high spirits.”
— Frank Worsley
Shackleton. 