Voyage of the James Caird

Six men pulling a boat on to an icy shore, with a line of ice cliffs in the background
A depiction of the James Caird landing at South Georgia at the end of its voyage on 10 May 1916

The voyage of the James Caird was an open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, its objective was to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, trapped on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance. Historians have ranked the James Caird's voyage as one of the greatest open boat journeys ever accomplished.

In October 1915 Endurance had been crushed and sunk by pack ice in the Weddell Sea, leaving Shackleton and the crew stranded on an unreliable ice surface thousands of miles from safety. During the following months the party drifted northward until April 1916, when the floe on which they were camped broke up. They then made their way in lifeboats to the remote and inaccessible Elephant Island, where Shackleton quickly decided that the most effective means of obtaining relief for his beleaguered party would be to sail one of the lifeboats to South Georgia.

Of the three lifeboats, the James Caird was deemed the strongest and most likely to survive the journey. It had been named by Shackleton after Sir James Key Caird, a Dundee jute manufacturer and philanthropist, whose sponsorship had helped finance Shackleton's expedition. Before its voyage the boat was strengthened and adapted by ship's carpenter Harry McNish, to withstand the mighty seas of the Southern Ocean. It carried a six-man crew led by Shackleton, with Endurance's captain, Frank Worsley, responsible for navigation.

After surviving a series of dangers, including a near capsize, the boat reached South Georgia after a voyage lasting 16 days. The crew overcame a final peril in securing a safe landing on the exposed coast. Shackleton was subsequently able to organise the relief of the Elephant Island party, and to return his men home without loss of life. After the end of the First World War the James Caird was brought back from South Georgia to England, and is now on permanent display at Shackleton's old school, Dulwich College.

Contents

Background

Side of a wooden steamship held in solid ice, leaning heavily to the left with a lfeboat swinging in its davits. One man visible on the ice, another aboard the ship, looking down.
Endurance, listing heavily, immediately before being crushed by the ice, October 1915

On 5 December 1914, Shackleton's expedition ship Endurance left South Georgia for the Weddell Sea, on the first stage of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.[1] Its destination was Vahsel Bay, the southernmost explored point of the Weddell Sea at 77°49'S, where a shore party was to land and prepare for a trans-continental crossing.[2] Before it could reach this spot the ship was trapped in pack ice, and by 14 February 1915 was firmly beset, despite prolonged efforts to free her.[3] During the following eight months she drifted northward until, on 27 October, she was crushed by the pack's pressure, finally sinking on 21 November.[4] As his 27-man crew set up camp on the slowly-moving ice, Shackleton's focus shifted to how best to save his party.[5]

Shackleton's initial plan was a march across the pack ice to the nearest land, where the party would try to reach a point that ships were known to visit.[6] This idea was thwarted by the nature of the ice's surface, later described by Shackleton as "soft, much broken up, open leads intersecting the floes at all angles", which made travel almost impossible.[7] After struggling to make headway over several days, the march was abandoned; the party established "Patience Camp" on a flat ice floe, and waited as the drift carried them further north, towards open water.[8] They had with them three lifeboats, which Shackleton named after the principal backers of the expedition: Stancomb Wills, Dudley Docker and James Caird.[9] The party marked time for more than three months until, on 8 April 1916, they finally took to the boats as the ice started to break up. Over a perilous period of seven days they sailed and rowed through stormy seas and dangerous loose ice, to reach the temporary haven of Elephant Island on 15 April.[10]

On Elephant Island

Nine men in dark clothing stand or sit around a small wooden boat that has been dragged on to a rocky shore, with rocks and icy peaks in the background.
Shackleton's party arriving at Elephant Island, April 1916, after the loss of Endurance

Elephant Island, on the easterly edges of the South Shetland Islands, was remote from anywhere that the expedition had planned to go, and far beyond normal shipping routes. No relief ship would search for them there, and the likelihood of rescue from any other outside agency was equally negligible.[11] The island was bleak and inhospitable, and its terrain devoid of vegetation, although it had fresh water, and a relative abundance of seals and penguins to provide food and fuel for immediate survival.[12] The rigours of an Antarctic winter were fast approaching; the narrow shingle beach upon which they were camped was already being swept by almost continuous gales and blizzards, which rapidly destroyed one of the tents in their temporary camp, and knocked others flat. The pressures and hardships of the previous months were beginning to tell on the men, many of whom were in a run-down state both mentally and physically.[13]

In these circumstances Shackleton decided that he should take the initiative and try to reach help, using one of the boats. The nearest port was Stanley in the Falkland Islands, 540 nautical miles (1,000 km; 620 mi) away, but unreachable due to the prevailing westerly winds.[11] Another possibility was to head for Deception Island, at the western end of the South Sandwich chain. Although it was uninhabited, Admiralty records indicated that this island held stores for shipwrecked mariners, and was also visited from time to time by whalers.[14] However, reaching it would also involve a journey against the prevailing winds—though in less open seas—with no certainty that rescue would arrive in time. After discussions with the expedition's second-in-command, Frank Wild, and ship's captain Frank Worsley, Shackleton decided to attempt to reach the whaling stations of South Georgia, to the north-east, with the help of following winds. This would mean a much longer boat journey, of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi) across the Southern Ocean, in conditions of rapidly approaching winter, but it appeared to offer the best possibility of rapid relief. As Shackleton later wrote, "a boat party might make the voyage and be back with relief within a month, provided that the sea was clear of ice, and the boat survive the great seas".[11]

Preparations

Outline map showing Weddell Sea, Elephant Island and South Georgia with parts of the landmasses of Antarctica and South America. A line indicates the path of the voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
Sketch map indicating (in red) the general route of the James Caird

To reach South Georgia, Shackleton's boat party would have to traverse some of the most tempestuous and storm-swept seas in the world, with almost unceasing gales.[11] They could expect hurricane force winds and heaving waves—the notorious Cape Horn Rollers—measuring from trough to crest as much as 60 feet (18 m).[15] Worsley wrote: "We knew it would be the hardest thing we had ever undertaken, for the Antarctic winter had set in, and we were about to cross one of the worst seas in the world".[16]

Of the three boats, Shackleton selected the heaviest and strongest, the James Caird.[17] The 22.5-foot (6.9 m) long James Caird had been built as a whaleboat in London to Worsley's orders,[18] designed on the "double-ended" principle devised by Norwegian shipbuilder Colin Archer.[19] Shackleton asked the expedition's carpenter, Harry McNish, if he could make the vessel more seaworthy.[20] McNish, with improvised tools and materials, immediately set about adapting the boat, raising its sides and building a makeshift deck of wood and canvas, sealing the work with oil paints, lamp wick, and seal blood.[21] The craft was further strengthened by having the mast of the Dudley Docker lashed inside, along the length of her keel. She was then fitted with a mainmast and a mizzenmast, rigged to carry lugsails and a jib.[22] The weight of the boat was increased by the addition of approximately 1 long ton (1,016 kg) of ballast,[23] to lessen the risk of capsizing in the high seas that Shackleton knew would be encountered.[22]

Shackleton had decided that the boat party would number six, and stores were loaded aboard to last six men one month, for, as he later wrote, "if we did not make South Georgia in that time we were sure to go under".[20] In addition to ration packs intended for the transcontinental crossing, they took biscuits, Bovril, sugar and dried milk. They also took two 18-gallon casks of water (one of which was damaged during the loading and let in sea water), two Primus stoves, paraffin, oil, candles, sleeping bags and "a few spare socks".[20]

According to Shackleton's own account, his first choices for the journey were Worsley and the dependable Tom Crean, who "begged to go".[20] Shackleton knew Crean from the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04; Crean had also been with Captain Scott's Terra Nova Expedition in 1910–13 and had distinguished himself on Scott's ill-fated polar march.[24] Shackleton asked for volunteers for the remaining places, and "many came forward".[20] Of these he chose two strong sailors in John Vincent and Timothy McCarthy, and offered the final place to the carpenter, McNish. "He was over fifty years of age", wrote Shackleton of McNish (he was in fact 41), "but he had a good knowledge of sailing boats and was very quick".[20] The choices of Vincent and McNish, both reportedly difficult characters, have been ascribed by some writers to Shackleton's wish to keep potential troublemakers under his personal charge,[22] although each had proved his worth during the earlier boat journey from the ice.[22] Shackleton had great faith in Worsley's skills as a navigator, especially his ability to work out positions in difficult circumstances.[20] In Crean, Shackleton was confident he had a man who would persevere to the bitter end.[22]

The open-boat journey

A group of men pushing a boat from a rock beach into the sea, with a background of rocks.
Launching the James Caird from the shore of Elephant Island, 24 April 1916

The James Caird was launched from Elephant Island on 24 April 1916. The wind was a moderate south-westerly, which aided a swift getaway, and the boat was quickly out of sight of the land.[25] Before leaving, Shackleton had left instructions with Frank Wild, who was remaining with the main party, that he was "in full command from the time the boat leaves this island";[26] in the event of the boat journey's failure, Wild was to attempt to take the party to Deception Island the following spring, and await help there.[20]

As soon as they were away, Shackleton ordered Worsley to set a course due north, instead of directly for South Georgia, to get clear of the menacing ice-fields that were beginning to form.[27] By midnight they had left the immediate ice behind, but the sea swell was rising. At dawn the next day, they were 45 nautical miles (83 km; 52 mi) from Elephant Island, sailing in heavy seas and Force 9 winds.[27] A ship's routine was established: two three-man watches, with one man at the helm, another at the sails, and the third on bailing duty.[27] The off-watch trio rested in the tiny covered space in the bows. The difficulties of exchanging places as each watch ended would, Shackleton wrote, "have had its humorous side if it had not involved us in so many aches and pains".[28] Their clothing, designed for Antarctic sledging rather than open-boat sailing, was far from waterproof; repeated contact with the icy seawater left their skins painfully raw.[29]

Success depended on Worsley's navigation, based on sightings attempted during the very brief appearances of the sun, as the boat pitched and rolled.[29] The first observation was made after two days, and showed them to be 128 nautical miles (237 km; 147 mi) north of Elephant Island.[27] The course was now changed to head directly for South Georgia.[27] They were clear of the dangers of floating ice but had reached the dangerous seas of the Drake Passage, where huge rolling waves sweep round the globe, unimpeded by any land.[29] The movement of the ship made cooking hot food on the Primus nearly impossible, but Crean, acting as cook, somehow kept the men fed.[27]

A small boat with two sails set climbs the steep side of a wave. In the background are the rocky tops of high cliffs and distant mountains
Depiction of the James Caird nearing South Georgia (from Shackleton's expedition account, South)

The next observation, on 29 April, showed that they had travelled 238 nautical miles (441 km; 274 mi).[30] Thereafter, navigation became, in Worsley's words, "a merry jest of guesswork",[31] as they encountered the worst of the weather. The James Caird was taking on water in heavy seas and in danger of sinking, kept afloat by continuous bailing. The temperature fell sharply, and a new danger presented itself in the accumulations of frozen spray, which threatened to capsize the boat.[32] In turns, they had to crawl out on to the pitching deck with an axe and chip away the ice from deck and rigging.[29] For 48 hours they were stopped, held by a sea anchor, until the wind dropped sufficiently for them to raise sail and proceed. Despite their travails, Worsley's third observation, on 4 May, put them just 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) from the nearest point of South Georgia.[33]

On 5 May the bad weather returned and brought them to the point of disaster in the largest seas so far. Shackleton later wrote: "We felt our boat lifted and flung forward like a cork in breaking surf".[34] The crew bailed frantically to keep the boat afloat. Nevertheless they were still moving towards their goal, and a dead reckoning calculation by Worsley on the next day, 6 May, suggested that they were only 115 nautical miles (213 km; 132 mi) from the western point of South Georgia, a position generally confirmed by the next day's observation.[34] But the experiences of the past two weeks were taking their toll. Shackleton observed that Vincent had collapsed and ceased to be an active member of the crew. McCarthy was "weak, but happy". McNish was weakening, although showing "grit and spirit".[34]

On 7 May Worsley advised Shackleton that he could not be sure of their position within ten miles.[35] To avoid the possibility of being swept past the island by the fierce south-westerly winds, Shackleton ordered a slight change of course so that the James Caird would reach land on the uninhabited south-west coast. It would then, if possible, work its way round to the whaling stations on the opposite side.[34] "Things were bad for us in those days", wrote Shackleton. "The bright moments were those when we each received our one mug of hot milk during the long, bitter watches of the night".[34] Late on the same day floating seaweed was spotted, and the next morning there were birds, including cormorants which were known never to venture far from land.[35] Shortly after noon on 8 May came the first sight of land.[35]

As they approached the high cliffs of the coastline, heavy seas made immediate landing impossible. For more than 24 hours they were forced to stand clear, as the wind shifted to the north-west and quickly developed into "one of the worst hurricanes any of us had ever experienced".[34] For much of this time they were in danger of being driven on to the rocky South Georgia shore, or of being wrecked on the equally menacing Annenkov Island, five miles from the coast.[29] On 10 May, when the storm had eased slightly, Shackleton was concerned that the weaker members of his crew would not last another day, and decided that whatever the hazard they must attempt a landing. They headed for a small cove near the entrance to King Haakon Bay, and finally, after several attempts, made their landing there.[34] Shackleton was later to describe the boat journey as "one of supreme strife";[36] Historian Carol Alexander comments: "They could hardly have known—or cared—that in the carefully weighted judgement of authorities yet to come, the voyage of the James Caird would be ranked as one of the greatest boat journeys ever accomplished".[37]

South Georgia

Outline of a long, narrow irregular-shaped island with small islands around its coasts. Thr main island is labelled "South Georgia", and various place names are shown on its north coast including Stromness Husvik and Grytviken.
South Georgia. King Haakon Bay, where the James Caird landed, is the large indentation at the western end of the southerly side.

After a few days' recuperation Shackleton decided that the boat was not capable of making a further 150 nautical miles (280 km; 170 mi) voyage around the island's treacherous coastline, to reach the whaling stations on the northerly coast. Furthermore at least two of the men—Vincent and McNish—were unfit to travel. He decided to move the boat to a new location within King Haakon Bay, from which point he, Worsley and Crean would cross the island on foot, aiming for the inhabited station at Stromness.[38]

On 15 May the James Caird made a run of about 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) to a shingle beach near the head of the bay. Here the boat was beached and up-turned to provide a shelter. The location was christened "Peggotty Camp" (after Peggoty's boat-home in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield).[39] Early on 18 May the three members of the island-crossing party set out for what would be the first-ever confirmed land crossing of the South Georgia interior.[40] The journey was far from straightforward, since they lacked any map and had to improvise a route which involved traversing mountain ranges and glaciers. Without camping equipment, they travelled continuously, reaching their destination at Stromness 36 hours after setting out. [n 1] Shackleton's men were, in Worsley's words, " a terrible trio of scarecrows",[42] their haggard faces dark with exposure, wind, frostbite and accumulated blubber soot.[43] Later that evening, 19 May, a motor-vessel was despatched to King Haakon Bay to pick up McCarthy, McNish and Vincent, and the James Caird.[44] Worsley wrote that the Norwegian seamen at Stromness all "claimed the honour of helping to haul her up to the wharf", a gesture which was "quite affecting".[45]

Owing to the advent of the southern winter and the prevailing ice conditions, it was more than three months before Shackleton was able to achieve the relief of the men at Elephant Island but eventually, with the aid of the steam-tug Yelcho, the entire party was brought to safety, reaching Punta Arenas in Chile on 3 September 1916.[46]

Aftermath

White-hulled small boat sitting on a base of stones behind a rail, within a museum. The name "James Caird" is visible. A stuffed penguin in a glass case stands nearby.
The James Caird, preserved at Dulwich College in South London

The James Caird was returned to England in 1919.[47] Two years later Shackleton went back to Antarctica, leading the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition. On 5 January 1922 he died suddenly of a heart attack, while the expedition’s ship Quest was moored in South Georgia.[48]

Later that year James Quiller Rowett, who had financed this last expedition and was a former schoolfriend of Shackleton’s from Dulwich College, South London, decided to present the James Caird to the College. It remained there until 1944, when its display building was severely damaged by bombs. After the war, the boat was given to the care of the National Maritime Museum, and underwent restoration. It was then displayed by the museum until 1985, when it was returned to Dulwich College and placed in a new location in the North Cloister, on a bed of stones gathered from South Georgia and Aberystwyth.[49] This site has become the James Caird's permanent home, although it is sometimes lent to major exhibitions and has been seen in London Boat Show (1994 & 2009), Greenwich, Portsmouth, Falmouth (2006), Washington DC, New York, Wellington (2004), and Bonn, Germany (1998).[47][50][51]

The James Caird Society was established in 1994, to "preserve the memory, honour the remarkable feats of discovery in the Antarctic, and commend the outstanding qualities of leadership associated with the name of Sir Ernest Shackleton".[52]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ In 1985 a British Army patrol, properly equipped for a climbing expedition, completed the same trek in 32 hours, a feat described as "a great achievement but one which makes Shackleton’s all the more outstanding".[41]
References
  1. ↑ Shackleton, p. 3
  2. ↑ Huntford, p. 367
  3. ↑ Shackleton, pp. 29–34
  4. ↑ Shackleton, p. 98
  5. ↑ Huntford, p. 460
  6. ↑ Huntford, pp456–57
  7. ↑ Shackleton, p. 102–06
  8. ↑ Shackleton, pp. 107–116
  9. ↑ Huntford, p. 469
  10. ↑ Shackleton, pp. 120–43. Shackleton (p. 143) claimed it as the first landing ever on the island.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Shackleton, pp. 156–57
  12. ↑ Huntford, p. 523
  13. ↑ Alexander, pp. 130–32
  14. ↑ Shackleton, p. 119
  15. ↑ Alexander, p. 132
  16. ↑ Worsley, quoted in Barczewski, p. 105
  17. ↑ Shackleton, p. 149
  18. ↑ Worsley, p. 37
  19. ↑ Huntford, pp. 504, 525. The boat was sharp at stern and bow, to facilitate movement in either direction.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 Shackleton, pp. 157–62
  21. ↑ Huntford, p. 525
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 Alexander, pp. 134–35
  23. ↑ Worsley says 15 hundredweight of shingle and 5 hundredweight of boulders, Shackleton about 1000 lbs. of bagged ballast plus a number of round boulders and about 250 lbs. of ice.
  24. ↑ Huntford, pp. 401–02
  25. ↑ Huntford, p. 527
  26. ↑ Alexander, p. 139
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 Huntford, pp. 548–53
  28. ↑ Shackleton, p. 167
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 Barczewski, pp. 107–09
  30. ↑ Huntford, p. 555
  31. ↑ Worsley, p.88
  32. ↑ Huntford, p. 557
  33. ↑ Huntford, p. 560
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 34.6 Shackleton, pp. 174–79
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Alexander, p. 150
  36. ↑ Shackleton, p. 165
  37. ↑ Alexander, p. 153
  38. ↑ Shackleton, pp. 185–86 and p. 191
  39. ↑ Shackleton, p. 191
  40. ↑ Huntford states (p. 571) that Norwegian skiers had "probably" crossed at various points, but these journeys were not recorded.
  41. ↑ Fowler, Carol (July 2003). "Unplanned epics: Bligh's and Shackleton's small-boat voyages". National Maritime Museum. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/epic-small-boat-journeys/. Retrieved 13 December 2009. 
  42. ↑ Quoted by Huntford, p. 597
  43. ↑ Huntford, pp. 597–98
  44. ↑ Shackleton, p. 208
  45. ↑ Worsley, quoted in Huntford, p. 602
  46. ↑ Shackleton, pp. 210–222
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 "The James Caird Society". James Caird Society. http://www.jamescairdsociety.com. Retrieved 19 August 2008. 
  48. ↑ Huntford, pp. 689–90
  49. ↑ "Eminent Old Alleynians: Sir Ernest Shackleton". Dulwich College. http://www.dulwich.org.uk/OA_Document_1.aspx?doc=1:26848&id=1:29465&id=1:29454&id=1:29431. Retrieved 23 August 2008. 
  50. ↑ "The James Caird in New Zealand". James Caird Society. http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/shackleton-news.php?id=101451. Retrieved 2 June 2008. 
  51. ↑ Exhibitions: Arktis - Antarktis 19 December 1997 - 19 April 1998, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, retrieved 2 June 2010
  52. ↑ "The James Caird". Dulwich College. http://www.dulwich.org.uk/Document_1.aspx?id=1:29396&id=1:29089&id=1:29083. Retrieved 19 August 2008. 

Sources

External links