The Shackleton Walk

A few days ago, Mama, Jack, and I went on a great hike. Daddy and Adam dropped us off in Fortuna Bay (54°08.6'S 36°47.4'W). It was a beautiful day, with less than ten clouds in sight. We hiked up over a pass and down into the Stromness whaling station (54°09'S 36°02'W). There, Sila, which Daddy and Adam sailed around to meet us, was motoring into the harbor. Besides being a beautiful hike on a sunny South Georgia day, it was great for another reason.

In 1914, the Endurance set sail from the Grytviken whaling station to take Shackleton to Antartica so that the British flag could be the first to cross the Antarctic continent. On their way, the Endurance was captured in the ice for a winter. In the subsequent summer, it was crushed in the melting and moving ice. The crew salvaged as much as possible before she sank. They lived on the ice, slowly hauling their gear until the ice broke up and they were able to launch the boats. Three lifeboats from the Endurance sailed to Elephant Island from the dispersing pack ice. Twenty-eight men, the entire crew, landed and set up camp underneath the two less sea-worthy boats.

Shackleton, taking five men in the lifeboat James Caird, sailed to get help for his men. They arrived, after fourteen days of sailing in one of the roughest oceans on Earth, on South Georgia. Their excitement was dashed when they found themselves to be on the wrong side of South Georgia. Taking with him Worsley and Crean, the two strongest men, Shackleton walked across South Georgia, which was thought to be an impossible journey by the whalers. When they came over the mountains, they rushed excitedly down to a bay. They were disappointed to find that it was Fortuna Bay and to reach a whaling station they would have to go up and over another ridge.

It was this section of their journey that we walked. Every direction had an unbelievable view of mountains, glaciers, or beautiful oceans of rock, snow, and water. When we reached the whaling station in Stromness, we went aboard Sila, happily describing the hike. When Shackleton reached the same station, he immediately set about getting help for his men on Elephant Island. On his fourth try, four months after his initial departure from Elephant Island, he arrived to save his men. Through courage, leadership, and careful planning, Shackleton managed to save all of his crew. Although, ultimately, his expedition was a failure in that he did not cross Antarctica, he was welcomed back to England as if he had succeeded.

Ever since I read the book "South" by Ernest Shackleton, I have idolized him. I was impressed because Shackleton repeatedly did what other people thought impossible, plus he managed to do it without losing the admiration and respect of his crew. Furthermore, he did all of this in one of the most extreme environments on earth. Although it seemed a little pointless as first, I am glad I got the chance to walk the path he walked all those years before me. A beautiful sunny day with stunning South Georgia mountains only served to make that historic hike more fun. - Porter