Henry Worsley - In Shackletons Footsteps: A Return to the Heart of the Antarctic

IN SHACKLETONS FOOTSTEPS

Copyright 2011 by Henry Worsley

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Text design: Sheryl P. Kober

Project editor: Julie Marsh

Layout: Sue Murray

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Worsley, Henry.

In Shackletons footsteps : a return to the heart of the Antarctic / Henry Worsley.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7627-7763-1

1. Shackleton, Ernest Henry, Sir, 1874-1922. 2. Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) 3. AntarcticaDiscovery and explorationBritish. 4. AntarcticaDescription and travel. I. Title.

G875.S5W67 2011

919.89dc23

2011034666

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

To Joanna, Max and Alicia

A watercolor of Ernest Shackleton in front of Nimrod, by F. Haenen.

Nimrod Expedition: 29 October 19083 March 1909

Ernest Shackleton, 34

Former Merchant Marine officer, turned Antarctic explorer, born in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, leader of the Nimrod expedition.

Frank Wild, 35

Former Royal Navy officer from Skelton, North Yorkshire, and the only man to take part in all of Shackletons Antarctic expeditions.

Eric Marshall, 29

Ships surgeon and cartographer, responsible for mapping detail on the inland expedition. Like Shackleton, suffered badly from dysentery on the return journey, their weakened state slowing their return to the coast before the agreed date by which Nimrod was due to depart.

Jameson Boyd Adams, 27

Youngest of the four men, from Rippingale, Lincolnshire, serving as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, before joining the Nimrod expedition as meteorologist. He turned 28 just before the teams Furthest South achievement.

Matrix Shackleton Centenary Expedition: 14 November 200819 January 2009

Ice team:

Henry Worsley, 48

Army officer from Hereford, and a descendant of Shackletons Endurance skipper, Frank Worsley.

Will Gow, 35

A City worker from Ashford, Kent, Shackletons great-nephew by marriage and the one who first thought of the centenary expedition.

Henry Adams, 34

A shipping lawyer from Snape, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, and a great-grandson of Jameson Boyd Adams, Shackletons number two on the unsuccessful expedition.

97-Mile Team (Team members who flew to the 97-mile point on 9 January 2009 to complete the final stage of the journey):

Dave Cornell, 38

From Andover, Hampshire, a City fund manager and another great-grandson of Jameson Boyd Adams.

Tim Fright, 25

Policy analyst from Billingshurst, West Sussex, and a great-great-nephew of Frank Wild.

Andrew Ledger, 23

A policy researcher from Dronfield, near Sheffield, who won his place on the expedition as part of a national competition.

Ronnie Gray, 38

Ex-Army officer who generously joined the 97-Mile Team late in the centenary expeditions planning.

Matty McNair, 58

The leading female polar guide of her generation.

DISTANCE, TEMPERATURE AND WEIGHT ON THE NIMROD EXPEDITION were recorded by Ernest Shackleton in The Heart of the Antarctic in nautical miles, degrees of frost in Fahrenheit and pounds of weight. During the modern expedition, we measured the distance traveled in nautical miles, our sleigh weight in kilograms and the temperature in degrees Celsius. In Appendix II, which records the daily details of our journey, also illustrates the difference in mean air temperature and the effect of the wind which creates a wind chill factor. The lowest temperature we encountered was 61F of wind chill. Only two measurements in statute miles are mentioned in this book: Shackletons journey to the point he stopped and turned around was in the region of 820 statute miles and our journey covered 920 statute miles (799 nautical miles).

The cigarette cards at the end of each chapter are from a collection issued to mark the success of the Nimrod expedition.

Men go out into the void spaces of the world for various reasons. Some are actuated simply by a love of adventure, some have the keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others are drawn away from the trodden paths by the lure of little voices, the mysterious fascination of the unknown.

EHS, THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC, 1909

I TURNED INLAND FROM THE WATERS EDGE AND WALKED THE SLIGHT slope over the tussock grass toward the white picket fence. I opened the gate and headed to the back of the enclosure, where I stopped. Turning around I sat down on my rucksack and stared out across the bay, the water rippling in the weakening light. The feeling of excitement on doing something that had seemed beyond all possibility, yet was now actually about to happen, wrapped itself around me. I unpacked my sleeping bag, wriggled inside it and, settling down into the gathering warmth, turned to face the upright block of granite at arms length from my face. The metal lettering hammered into the rough face of the stone was just visible. Reaching out to touch it I considered for a moment just how significant a moment in my life this was; all my life Id hoped one day to be here. I was about to spend the night in the whalers cemetery in Grytviken on the island of South Georgia beside the grave of my hero since childhoodSir Ernest Shackleton.

My interest in the daring exploits of Shackleton and Captain Scott began when as a boy I came across accounts of their expeditions in the travel and exploration section of the school library. Ignoring reminders from the librarian that my books were long overdue, I saw the Discovery, Nimrod, Terra Nova and Endurance expeditions come vividly alive through the brilliant camera work of the expedition photographers, Frank Hurley and Herbert Ponting. There was also delicate and skillful artwork produced by Edward Wilson and George Marston, which added color to the panoramas and wildlife that the monochrome photographs were unable to capture. But it was the story of Shackletons