February 9 - Elephant Island

This afternoon and evening deserve an entry all their own.  Around 5:30 PM we approached Elephant Island and the next hour or so was magical. As we approached the island we were surrounded by whales.  The whale expert on the expedition team told us they were baleen whales which draw in large volumes through keratinaceous plates in their mouths. The plates  act as sieves to get small fish and krill that they take in with the water.  These whales weren’t coming out of the water in the dramatic way you always see. Instead what we saw all around us were hundreds of little geysers in the ocean which were whales blowing out through their blowholes.  Looking across the water it was like looking at lots of chimneys spouting water.  Sadly, none of the pictures I took captured them because the contrast with the little wave crests wasn’t great enough so you’ll have to take my word for it. One of my teammates got a great shot though.

Isn't this a great photo that he took?

Elephant Island was impressive, but I first have to recount its importance.  I’ve mentioned Shackleton and his Antarctica Expedition and I encourage you to read the book Endurance by Lansing.  In case you haven’t I have to set the stage so you’ll understand why I was so fascinated by this island.

Ernest Shackleton set out to cross Antarctica via the south pole on foot from the Weddell Sea  to the Ross Sea.  He and his crew of 27 set sail from the island of South Georgia in the wooden ship Endurance on December 5, 1914, heading south to the Weddell Sea.  Their ship was powered by both sail and steam engines.  On January 19, 1915, his ship became stuck fast in the ice pack in the sea. In late February he realized that the ship would remain stuck until the spring thaw (remember that in the southern hemisphere spring begins in September) so they stopped their normal routine and instead concentrated on setting up the ship as a winter camp.  Over the next months the ship drifted northward with the ice pack in which it was stuck.  In September as spring approached the ice began to break up but instead of releasing the boat, it created tremendous pressure on the hull and began to crush it. In late October 1915, water began pouring into the ship and Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship.  The 28 men took everything they possibly could off the Endurance and set up camp on the ice pack, which remember was moving with the ocean currents.

On November 21, 1915, the ship finally sunk. At that point the men had been stuck on the ice for 10 months. As an aside, the Endurance was found by an underwater submersible in nearly 10,000 feet of water on March 5, 2022, and because of the cold and lack of sea life is very nearly intact.  The day it was found also happened to be the exact day 100 years after Shackleton was buried on South Georgia.) For two months the men camped on a large flat floe hoping that the pack would drift toward Paulet Island, a small place that they knew had some supplies stashed on it from previous expeditions and to reprovision whaling ships.

Paulet Island was about 250 miles from their camp and after several unsuccessful attempts to cross the ice, they gave up.  Instead they set up a more permanent camp which they called Camp Patience and hoped that the pack movement would bring them closer to the island.  As another summer ended, on March 17, 1916, their camp was within 60 miles of Paulet Island, but the ice was impassable.  On the 9th of April, the ice around their camp began to break up and Shackleton ordered them into their boats and to head for the nearest land.. They had salvaged three lifeboats from the Endurance so they took to the sea.  After five rough days in the water, the managed to come ashore on Elephant Island.  It was the first time in nearly 500 days that these men had stood on dry land.

A condensed version of what happened next is as follows.  The 28 men set up a camp (they had to move from their original one because it was in danger of being swamped or destroyed by rock and ice slides).  They knew that somehow they needed to send for help, so on April 24, 1916, after refitting the largest of the three lifeboats they had managed to bring with them, Shackleton and 5 men set sail on the James Caird, the name they’d given that little 22-foot boat, to make the 800 mile trip across the Drake Passage to South Georgia, the place they began their voyage in December, 1914. I’ll spare you the details, but they made it and eventually in August 1916, the men left behind on Elephant Island were rescued.  All 28 members of the crew survived.  Just a sad historical note, four of those men wound up dying on the western front in WW I.

These two photos were taken just offshore of where the group made their camp.  Imagine how unforgiving that place was, especially because they were there in Antarctic winter.

Because I’d read of this epic journey I was fascinated seeing the island.  I hope you can tell from the photos I’ll try to upload what a rugged and unforgiving place it looks like.  No doubt it was better than floating on the ice pack, but had the rescue attempt failed, I don’t think they could have survived much longer there.

I urge you to read the book because it’s a truly gripping story of what men can do when they want to survive..  There was a photographer named Hurley on the expedition and he managed to save some of his photographic plates so there are many photos in the book. 

Okay, I’ve probably written too much about this.  So good night for now.