Endurance Part Seven and Epilogue

Although the men were safe for the night, they all knew that they still had to make haste because there were twenty-two men who were counting on their success. Shackleton allowed the six men to rest for the next few days because they were utterly exhausted. The rudder of the Caird had been lost in their entrance to the cavern, so this made travel difficult. They landed a ways up the shore near a beach with hundreds of sea elephants. They had two options: they could try and sail around South Georgia which was extremely dangerous and highly unlikely, or they could try and climb through the mountainous interior of South Georgia which was considered quite literally impossible. Shackleton made the bold choice of crossing the island. He decided that a crew of three men could cross it in about a day, so yet again he had to split up his party. He chose to take Worsley and Crean with him across the island. The crew of three woke up at two the next morning and set out. They set a brisk pace and worked through the mountains having to back track at times due to crevices and glaciers. As night was falling that night, the three men were on top of a steep cliff and were barely making much progress in their descent. Shackleton knew they would freeze if they kept at that pace. "They had to get lower and with all possible haste. So he suggested they slide." They slid down knowing very well the dangers of it, and they safely slid down for 1,500 feet. This moment of intensity was immediately rewarded. Within the hour, they could see the outline of their destination. The whaling village in Stromness Bay. Cautiously, they made there way to the village, and they safely arrived, but this was only after risking their lives yet again because the only way to reach the village was by going down a waterfall. They were able to tie themselves to a nearby boulder and lower themselves down the waterfall. As they arrived at the village, the whalers were in disbelief as to who these strangers who were approaching from the previously thought impassable interior. Shackleton stepped forward and told the man in charge named Sorlle: "My name is Shackleton." The arrival of Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean reminds me of a movie called Castaway in which a man is marooned on an island for years until he is finally rescued. The sorry sight of the three men reminds me of how repulsive the main character appeared during his rescue.

This is a picture of a clean and shaven Ernest Shackleton

The men on the other side of South Georgia were picked up in a whaling ship within two days. Shackleton and his crew were greatly praised by all the sea men at the village; however, they were not done yet because the other twenty-two men still needed to be rescued. It took three and a half months, but they were finally rescued after three failed attempts. At last, Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven other men were all safe. Shackleton had led his men through the most unforgiving conditions on earth, and he emerged victorious although his original goal of crossing the continent was never achieved. Shackleton's leadership kept twenty-eight men from dying in the bitter cold of the Antarctic.

Stromness Bay, South Georgia Island