Kuli South Georgia Expedition

Oct 20

#9:
Drilling in Shackleton's Footsteps

Published at 20:05
Dispatch created from email
If our newest ice core could talk, it could give a guest lecture on Polar history when it arrives at the University of Maine.

The edge of the Fortuna Glacier, where we were drilling on Friday, was traversed by no less than Ernest Shackleton and his men in 1916. We were gathering scientific specimens. They were making their way through South Georgia's
unsurveyed wilderness in a bid to save the lives of their shipwrecked crewmates.

Their journey is a classic of Polar lore. After Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, sank off the coast of Antarctica in December 1915, the crew was forced to decamp to nearby Elephant Island to await rescue. By April 1916, with no rescue in sight and the Antarctic winter approaching, Shackleton and five men set off in an open lifeboat, the James Caird, and sailed 800 miles to seek help from whalers in South Georgia.

Crossing the Southern Ocean in a lifeboat is an achievement whose scale is hard to overstate. There were no dry places in the boat, and at last we simply covered our heads with our Burberrys and endured the all-pervading water, Shackleton wrote in his memoir, South. None of us had any real rest. The perpetual motion of the boat made repose impossible; we were cold, sore and anxious.

They reached South Georgia's southern coast after 16 days tossing about. Shackleton and two of his men then marched across the ice-covered mountains with no clear idea where they were going. Their walk across the Fortuna Glacier, perhaps on the very ice that is now on its way to UMaine, was an unintended detour as they tried to reach the whaling station in neighboring Stromness Bay. They found their way after hearing the Stromness factory whistle blow on May 20, 1916. They had been hiking for 36 hours.

A replica of the James Caird lifeboat now sits next to the museum in Grytviken. I cannot imagine spending an afternoon in that boat parked on dry land with a picnic lunch, let alone 16 days on the coldest, stormiest waters in the world. Shackleton saved his men back on Elephant Island. He now lies buried in the whaler's cemetery about 200 meters from where I am writing these lines.

Today, the Fortuna Glacier looks very different from when Shackleton trod the ice. Back then, the glacier reached almost to the waterfront. Today, visitors will find huge mounds of dirt at the beach, followed by three football fields'
worth of empty, flat land before the ice begins. This empty space is the area over which the glacier has receded over the past century due to warmer temperatures. Shackleton probably would have traded vital organs in exchange for some warmer weather. For us, it's a threat.

We never realize what the human spirit is capable of until adversity forces itself upon us. Still, I cannot help but wonder whether we, who complain when the Pelagic Australis' bathrooms are to cold, when we can't get email on our Iridium phone, and when our iPods aren't charged up, couldn't learn a thing or two from Ernest Shackleton.

Our next coring expedition is set for October 21 in Possession Bay. If current plans prevail, we will set sail on October 22 to make the week-long crossing back to the Falklands.
  • Name: Fortuna glacier
  • Elevation: 0 m
  • Latitude: 54° 760South
  • Longitude: 36° 4760West

Comments


  • Report as abuse...
    2024-09-12 14:07:42 UFAAUTO789 says: เว็บสล็อตเว็บตรง แหล่งเดิมพันออนไลน์ที่ดีที่สุด
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-09-12 13:54:34 UFAAUTO789 says: ufa789bet แหล่งเดิมพันออนไลน์ที่ดีที่สุด
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-06-18 06:43:23 SMM World Panel says: Your insights are always so fresh and unique. smm panel pakistan
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-06-03 07:58:32 ssss says: Thanks for every other informative site. The place else may just I get that kind of information written in such an ideal means? I have a venture that I’m just now operating on, and I have been on the look out for such information. bintang168
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-04-22 14:04:42 Pakistan says: This is often as a result exquisite and even very creative. Freezing take pleasure in that tones and even whomever makes the application with the -mail can be beaming. 메이저사이트
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-04-22 11:34:47 Pakistan says: I visit your blog regularly and recommend it to all of those who wanted to enhance their knowledge with ease. The style of writing is excellent and also the content is top-notch. Thanks for that shrewdness you provide the readers! AI Lawyer Website
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-04-22 11:25:41 Pakistan says: I think this is an informative post and it is very beneficial and knowledgeable. Therefore, I would like to thank you for the endeavors that you have made in writing this article. All the content is absolutely well-researched. Thanks... Kfz Gutachter Brandenburg
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-04-21 10:57:26 Pakistan says: Wow, What an Outstanding post. I found this too much informatics. It is what I was seeking for. I would like to recommend you that please keep sharing such type of info.If possible, Thanks. https://totogogu.com
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-04-19 04:18:12 토토사이트 says: It's a game. Five dollars is free. Try it It's not an easy game ->-> 토토사이트.COM
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-04-17 13:08:49 hsexxpqemou says: When your website or blog goes live for the first time, it is exciting. That is until you realize no one but you and your. forex robot
  • Report as abuse...
    2024-04-16 11:49:20 hsexxpqemou says: Excellent to be visiting your blog again, it has been months for me. Rightly, this article that I've been served for therefore long. I want this article to finish my assignment within the faculty, and it has the same topic together with your article. Thanks for the ton of valuable help, nice share. forex robot
  • More...



Add Comment


Notify this dispatch to subscribers?

Yes
No
Cancel