The Swamp Fox: South: the story of Shakleton's 1914-1917 expedition "How to Put Your Life in Prespective"

I just finished reading Sir Earnest Henry Shackleton's personal account South: the story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 expedition. Not only does Shackleton recount the unbelievable adventure of managing his 28 man team in an effort to cross Antarctica, but he also goes into detail to explain what happened to the team assigned to lay up depots of supplies for his team to use as they crossed the southern continent.

Most sailors know the fate of the Endurance, trapped in the ice pack of the Weddell Sea, only to be slowly crushed and pulled to the fathoms below, leaving the men whose expedition changed

from one of exploration to an exercise in perseverance and survival. However, Shackleton goes further to describe the hardships and fate of the Aurora and the crew she put ashore.

There are so many facets to this book that one could and some have spend a lifetime studying and garnering the information gathered and revealed in this three year ordeal. For the sake of brevity I'll touch on only a few that had the greatest impact on me.

1. Seamanship - There are three ocean voyages made in open boats that will standout as the greatest feats of seamanship in history.

First is the from the whaleboat from the Essex. The Essex whaling ship, having been rammed and sunk by an sperm whale thereby forcing the survivors into 25ft whaleboat. The small crew traveled over 4500 miles from the middle of the Pacific east toward the Chilean coast were they were rescued by another whaling ship.

Second is the famous voyage of Captain Bligh. Having been put into an open launch by the mutinous crew of the Bounty. Bligh navigated the launch over 3,600 nautical miles in the south Pacific to safety.

Third is the two voyages made by Shackleton. The first he made with28 men in three open boats as he sought to escape the clutches of the ice in the Weddell Sea. With the help of his ships captain Frank Worsley, he managed to land his crew intact on Elephant Island; a journey of 346 nautical miles in five days through the raging 70 an 60 latitudes in bitterest conditions. Then after a few days rest and preparations sets off in a 20 ft. open launch on a 720 NM, 16 day journey through some of the most horrific ocean in the world. Enduring hurricane force winds and waves so large that Shackleton wrote, "At midnight I was at the tiller and suddenly noticed a line of clear sky between the south and south-west. I called to the other men that the sky was clearing, and then a moment later realized that what I had seen was not a rift in the clouds but the white crest of an enormous wave. During twenty-six years' experience of the ocean in all its moods I had not encountered a wave so gigantic. It was a mighty upheaval of the ocean, a thing quite apart from the big white-capped seas that had been our tireless enemies for many days. I shouted, "For God's sake, hold on! It's got us!" Then came a moment of suspense that seemed drawn out into hours. White surged the foam of the breaking sea around us. We felt our boat lifted and flung forward like a cork in breaking surf. we were in a seething chaos of tortured water; but somehow the boat lived through it, half full of water , sagging to the dead weight and shuddering under the blow." Yet he and Worsley landed at the island of South Georgia. All this with an inaccurate chart, an broken compass and a sextant. Bear in mind, given the distance they covered any variation of one degree would have caused them to to miss there mark by 60 miles, yet they were still able to find an island only 10 miles in lenght.

2. Endurance - For over 500 days the team of the endurance never set foot on solid ground. They lived either on a boat or on an ice flow. Conditions were always miserable at best, yet they all, to a man continued to work care for each other and performed the duties they volunteered to do. Shackleton described one episode as they were sailing / rowing toward Elephant Island, " The temperature was down to 4 degrees below zero, and a film of ice fromed on the surface of the sea.When we were not on watchwe lay in each other's arms for warmth. Our frozen suits thawed where our bodies met, and as the slightest movement exposed these comparatively warm spots to the biting air, we clung motionless, whispering each to his companion our hopes and thoughts."

Even the day to day activities of existing are punishing, their diet of seal and penguin meat, using seal blubber to heat their stoves, which covers everything in a black soot and the constant wet condition of their clothes and sleeping bags would seem to be enough to make anyone want to stop and just give up...but they didn't.

3. Leadership - Volumes have been written and indeed classes taught on the techniques that Shackleton used to get his me to perform under the must adverse circumstances time and time again. We know he was fully aware of what was at stake and accepted it for it was, writing "I confess that I felt the burden of responsibility sit heavily on my shoulders; but, on the other hand, I was stimulated and cheered by the attitude of the men. Loneliness is the penalty of leadership,..." Several examples of his techniques were described by Shackleton.

"Some of the men were showing signs of demoralization. They were disinclined to leave the tents when the hour came for turning out, and it was apparent they were thinking more of the discomforts of the moment than of the good fortune that had brought us to sound ground and comparative safety...They said they wanted dry clothes and that their health would not admit of their doing any work. Only by rather drastic methods were they induced to turn to." We can only imagine what those drastic measures included. On the other side of the coin, Shackleton was able to find a solution in a more personal manner, this after their enduring cook had finally given in to exhaustion, writing, "Then I took out to replace the cook one of the men who had expressed a desire to lie down and die. The task of keeping the galley fire alight was both difficult and strenuous, and it took his thoughts away from the chances of immediate dissolution. In fact, I found him a little later gravely concerned over the drying of a naturally not over-clean pair of socks which were hung up in close proximity to our evening milk. Occupation had brought his thoughts back to the ordinary cares of life."

Time and again Shackleton demonstrated his ability to inspire and breed the loyalty required to lead men, not into, but out of a perilous situation.

Please take the time to read this. It is written in a matter-of-fact way that only helps to magnify the situation and reveal a condition and reality that can make our daily issue seem trivial at best. So fire up your kindle and download the free version of a book about real men by a real man.

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

I've included some additional photos below: