BackgroundEdit

Ernest Shackelton was captain of his famous Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, on which he was determined to reach the South Pole and be the first person to cross Anartica coast to coast, via the South Pole. He was going to start at the southernmost part of South America and finsh at the southernmost part of New Zealand. The ship left for the South Pole on December 5, 1914. Sadly, when the ship was only one day from its destination it got stuck in the ice. The ice proved to be too thick and solid to break through and all the ship and crew could do was drift with the ice. The crew soon came to the conclusion that they'd be stuck there until the ice thaws in the spring. The only fresh meat the crew had to eat were seals and penguins. After 281 days of being trapped in the ice, the crew came to the inescapable conclusion that the ice had crushed the ship beyond any hope of repair. They abandoned the ship, walked across the ice, and began to search for land. Before abandoning the ship the crew saved as many supplies as they could. The 28 men of the expedition were now isolated on the drifting pack ice hundreds of miles from land, with no ship, no means of communication with the outside world and with limited supplies. What was worse was that the ice itself was now starting to break up, as the Antarctic spring got under way. Ernest never gave up hope, that was the only reason his men didn't give up. They made landfall on Elephant Island, 5 months after they abandoned the Endurance and 497 days since they last set foot on solid ground. Sadly, they weren't out of the woods yet. They had no way of calling for help and no ships passed by Elephant Island. The nearest whaling station was 800 miles away across the most inhabitable place on the planet. Shackleton and a few of his men decided to go for help while the rest would endure on Elephant Island. It took Ernest 16 days to reach South Georgia Island, but they were still 22 miles away from the whaling station. Two of Shackleton's men were too weak to make the journey and decided to stay behind. They crossed glaciers, icy slopes and snow fields to reach their destination. After reaching their destination, they first put some dry clothes on and got some rest. The next thing they did was retrieve the sailors that were wailting for them on the South Georgia coast and then headed for Elephant Island. In 1917, after four attempts to reach the island, the remaining crew of the Endurance had been rescued, surrviving 105 days on the island. Shackelton died at the age of 47 and was buried on South Georgia Island; today his grave is a popular tourist attraction. Supposedly the only items that surrvived the journey were Shackleton's logbook, adze and cooker.