Retracing Shackleton

We were at sea today and despite the snow and miserable conditions, the ship made good time and we arrived at Elephant Island in the late afternoon.  We could barely see it and the conditions made a landing impossible.   We were retracing Sir Ernest Shackleton's voyage.  He had left South Georgia on 5 December 1914 on his Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition aboard the ship the Endurance.  His plan was to sail into the Weddell sea and land and in dog teams, cross the continent across to McMurdo sound.

Disaster struck this expedition when the Endurance became trapped in pack ice  and was slowly crushed before the shore parties could be landed. The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice until it disintegrated, then by launching the lifeboats to reach Elephant Island and ultimately South Georgia.

On the shore here at Elephant Island is a plaque commemorating their landing.  Some of his crew were quite ill and the stowaway was given the honour of putting foot on land (the first in 18 months) but he was so weak he collapsed. 

We could all imagine how they felt in the conditions we had.  More about the expedition to come!

We watched the movie, Shackleton with Kenneth Branagh that evening amid the rolling seas heading into the Scotia sea.