Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton is deeply embedded in the history of South Georgia.  2014-2016 marks the centenary of his most celebrated expedition.

He left the island on the ill fated Endurance on 5th December 1914.  The intention was to land on the Caird Coast of Antarctica (not too far from where Halley Base is now) and then make the first trans-Antarctic crossing.  The ice that year was however treacherous, and the Endurance became trapped in the floes before it could make landfall.  
After spending over a year stranded and exposed on the ice of the Weddell Sea the crew made it to Elephant Island at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.  It was rapidly decided that a party should make for South Georgia in search of relief.  Whilst the port of Stanley was closer (540miles), South Georgia at 800mi was chosen for pragmatic reasons as it lay in the path of the prevailing westerly winds.  Still, the seas of the South Atlantic are some of the worst in the world and Shackleton describes the journey as one of "supreme strife amid heaving waters".

Launching the James Caird from Elephant Island. (F Hurley)

Landfall was made on the 9th May 1916, but on the Western coast of South Georgia, away from the whaling stations.  With their boat too damaged to circumnavigate the island, Shackleton, Worsley and Crean hiked for 36hrs miles over uncharted mountainous terrain to  the whaling station at Stromness.  The rest of the crew left on Elephant Island were eventually rescued on 25th August.

It really is the most incredible story of fortitude and survival.  Shackleton wrote his account in a book called 'South' which is rich in the detail of the daily struggles to survive.

Shackleton died on 5th January 1922 aboard the Quest which was moored in South Georgia.  He had been due to sail on an expedition to circumnavigate Antarctica.  He is buried at Grytviken where many visitors now journey to his grave to pay tribute.