Shackleton's Endurance Expedition

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which ran from 1914 to 1917, is remembered as the final major venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Sir Ernest Shackleton came up with the idea: to become the first person to cross the Antarctic continent by land. After Amundsen reached the South Pole in 1911, Shackleton believed this crossing was the last great goal left in Antarctic travel. The expedition did not achieve its aim, but instead became famous as an incredible story of survival.

Shackleton had already been to Antarctica on the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and had led the Nimrod Expedition (1907–1909). For this new attempt, he planned to sail into the Weddell Sea and put a shore party ashore near Vahsel Bay. From there, they would march across the continent, passing the South Pole, and end at the Ross Sea. A second group, the Ross Sea party, would set up camp in McMurdo Sound and place supply depots across the Ross Ice Shelf to the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. These depots were vital because the crossing party could not carry enough food for the whole journey. The expedition used two ships: *Endurance*, under Shackleton, for the Weddell Sea party, and *Aurora*, under Aeneas Mackintosh, for the Ross Sea party.

*Endurance* got stuck in the ice of the Weddell Sea before it could reach Vahsel Bay. The ship drifted northward, trapped in pack ice, through the Antarctic winter of 1915. Eventually, the ice crushed and sank the ship, leaving 28 men stranded on the ice. After spending months in makeshift camps while the ice continued to drift north, the group used lifeboats saved from the ship to reach Elephant Island, a bleak and uninhabited place. Shackleton and five others then sailed 800 miles (1,300 km) in the open boat *James Caird* to South Georgia. From there, Shackleton managed to arrange a rescue for the men left on Elephant Island, bringing everyone home alive. The remarkably well-preserved wreck of *Endurance* was found on the seafloor in 2022.

On the other side of the continent, the Ross Sea party faced severe hardships to complete its mission. *Aurora* was torn from its moorings during a gale and could not return, leaving the shore party stranded without proper supplies or equipment. Despite this, they managed to lay the depots, but three people died before the party was finally rescued.

**Preparations**

**Origin**

After the public praise for Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition, he felt restless—British skiing pioneer Sir Harry Brittain called him "a bit of a floating gent." By 1912, his future Antarctic plans depended on the results of Robert Falcon Scott’s *Terra Nova* Expedition (which left Cardiff in July 1910) and the concurrent Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen. News of Amundsen reaching the South Pole reached Shackleton on 11 March 1912. He replied: "The discovery of the South Pole will not be the end of Antarctic exploration." The next task, he said, would be "a transcontinental journey from sea to sea, crossing the pole." He knew others were also aiming for this goal.

On 11 December 1911, a German expedition under Wilhelm Filchner sailed from South Georgia, hoping to go deep into the Weddell Sea and set up a base for a crossing to the Ross Sea. Filchner returned to South Georgia in late 1912, having failed to land and establish his base. However, his reports of possible landing sites at Vahsel Bay, around 78° latitude, caught Shackleton’s attention and were included in his developing plans.

News of the deaths of Scott and his companions on their return from the South Pole reached London in February 1913. Against this sad backdrop, Shackleton began preparing for his journey. He asked for financial and practical help from, among others, Tryggve Gran of Scott’s expedition and former prime minister Lord Rosebery, but got nothing from either. Gran was evasive, and Rosebery blunt: "I have never been able to care one farthing about the Poles."

Shackleton did get support from William Speirs Bruce, leader of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–1904), who had planned an Antarctic crossing since 1908 but abandoned it due to lack of funds. Bruce generously let Shackleton use his plans, though the final scheme Shackleton announced owed little to Bruce. On 29 December 1913, after getting his first promises of financial backing—a £10,000 grant from the British government—Shackleton made his plans public in a letter to *The Times*.

**Shackleton's plan**

Shackleton named his new expedition the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition because he believed "not only the people of these islands, but our kinsmen in all the lands under the Union Jack will be willing to assist towards the carrying out of the ... programme of exploration." To spark public interest, he issued a detailed programme early in 1914. The expedition would have two parties and two ships. The Weddell Sea party would travel on *Endurance* to the Vahsel Bay area, where 14 men would land. Six of them, under Shackleton, would form the transcontinental party. This group, with 69 dogs, two motor sledges, and equipment "embodying everything that the experience of the leader and his expert advisers can suggest," would make the 1,800-mile (2,900 km) journey to the Ross Sea. The other eight shore party members would do scientific work: three going to Graham Land, three to Enderby Land, and two staying at base camp. The Ross Sea party would...