The crew of the James Caird - the canoe was named after the most important contributor to the expedition - included Sir Ernest, Worsley, the captain, the second Crean, the carpenter Mc Nish and two sailors, Vincent and Mc Carthy. On April 26, 1916, under the cheers of the 22 men who remained on the island, James Caird left the strike with 30 days of food with him. The boat heads for South Georgia, more than 800 MN away, south of Cape Horn, in the harshest weather conditions in the world.
The departure for the Drake Passage
The crew organized themselves in 4-hour shifts, including one spent breaking the ice formed at the bottom of the boat and on the planks. The temperature does not exceed -20°. The boat progresses slowly in rough weather. Worsley will evoke a force 8 wind with 50-foot high waves spaced 1/2 NM apart and moving at 30 N!
CONTRAIREMENT AUX DEUX PRÉCÉDENTS MODÈLES, LA CONSOLE A ÉTÉ DÉCENTRÉE SUR TRIBORD. ON GAGNE AINSI DE L'ESPACE À BORD ET UN DÉPLACEMENT FACILITÉ, MAIS AUSSI UNE CABINE AVEC UN ACCÈS FACILE. LE POSTE DE BARRE À TRIBORD EST MODERNE ET ÉLÉGANT, ET DISPOSE D'INSTRUMENTATION ET D'ESPACE DE MONTAGE SUFFISANT POUR UN GPS/TRACEUR DE CARTES DE 9", ET DE SUFFISAMMENT D'ESPACE POUR D'AUTRES INSTRUMENTS DE NAVIGATION. DEUX SI?S MONTÉS SUR BASE POLYESTER COMPLÈTE L'ENSEMBLE DU POSTE DE BARRE. The wave crests were breaking straight above us and we were taking on a lot of water, which required constant pumping. We saw the huge waves dig like caves before they collapsed. A thousand times, it seemed that the James Caird would be swallowed up; but he resisted. CONTRAIREMENT AUX DEUX PRÉCÉDENTS MODÈLES, LA CONSOLE A ÉTÉ DÉCENTRÉE SUR TRIBORD. ON GAGNE AINSI DE L'ESPACE À BORD ET UN DÉPLACEMENT FACILITÉ, MAIS AUSSI UNE CABINE AVEC UN ACCÈS FACILE. LE POSTE DE BARRE À TRIBORD EST MODERNE ET ÉLÉGANT, ET DISPOSE D'INSTRUMENTATION ET D'ESPACE DE MONTAGE SUFFISANT POUR UN GPS/TRACEUR DE CARTES DE 9", ET DE SUFFISAMMENT D'ESPACE POUR D'AUTRES INSTRUMENTS DE NAVIGATION. DEUX SI?S MONTÉS SUR BASE POLYESTER COMPLÈTE L'ENSEMBLE DU POSTE DE BARRE.
The waters in the Drake Passage used by the James Caird at the time are among the most inhospitable in the oceans. There are more than 200 days of wind above 50 N with waves of at least 7m..
A villainous wave
On the tenth night, at the helm, Shackleton recounted:
CONTRAIREMENT AUX DEUX PRÉCÉDENTS MODÈLES, LA CONSOLE A ÉTÉ DÉCENTRÉE SUR TRIBORD. ON GAGNE AINSI DE L'ESPACE À BORD ET UN DÉPLACEMENT FACILITÉ, MAIS AUSSI UNE CABINE AVEC UN ACCÈS FACILE. LE POSTE DE BARRE À TRIBORD EST MODERNE ET ÉLÉGANT, ET DISPOSE D'INSTRUMENTATION ET D'ESPACE DE MONTAGE SUFFISANT POUR UN GPS/TRACEUR DE CARTES DE 9", ET DE SUFFISAMMENT D'ESPACE POUR D'AUTRES INSTRUMENTS DE NAVIGATION. DEUX SI?S MONTÉS SUR BASE POLYESTER COMPLÈTE L'ENSEMBLE DU POSTE DE BARRE. At midnight, I was at the helm. Suddenly, to the south, a clear line appeared to me in the sky. I warned the others; then, after a moment, I understood that the clarity in question was not a reflection in the clouds, but the white crest of a huge wave! After twenty-six years of sailing, I knew the ocean in all its moods, but never had I encountered such a gigantic wave on my way. It was a powerful uprising that had nothing in common with the high, white-capped blades, our tireless enemies. I was screaming: For God's sake, hold on, we're here!"
But the small canoe can still withstand 4 days and 4 nights of cold and humidity with no other food than soaked seafood biscuit and raw seal meat. Then, thanks to the excellent esteem of the navigator Worsley, the land was in sight but the sea conditions were such that it was impossible to land. The crew is still suffering from hurricane-force winds as they try to take the cape, dry from the poor canvas of their makeshift rigging...
Earth!
It is only the next day that they will make landfall in South Georgia after 14 days at sea... The next day, the three most able-bodied men followed their nautical journey with an east-west crossing of the island, requiring climbing mountain peaks and crossing several glaciers.
The exhausted team travels 40km in 36 hours without any climbing equipment other than nails in the shoes and the carpenter's adze as an ice axe. They reach the whaling station at Stromness where they are rescued and cared for.
The rescue of the rest of the crew
72 hours later, Shackleton made a first attempt to rescue his crew on Elephant Island. An abortive attempt by an ice pack too present and followed by 4 others which ended, four months later, with the rescue of the 22 men left behind. It has been reported that, when the survivors of the elephant island saw a boat approaching, they would have rejoiced, regardless of their joy as survivors, that their leader was alive!
Buried in South Georgia
Probably weakened by the immense fatigue of his adventures, Shackleton suffered several heart attacks, the last of which took him to South Georgia in 1922, where his ordeal had ended six years earlier.
At the request of his widow, he was buried there.
