Voyage of The James Caird - On Elephant Island

On Elephant Island

Elephant Island, on the easterly edges of the South Shetland Islands, was remote from anywhere that the expedition had planned to go, and far beyond normal shipping routes. No relief ship would search for them there, and the likelihood of rescue from any other outside agency was equally negligible. The island was bleak and inhospitable, and its terrain devoid of vegetation, although it had fresh water, and a relative abundance of seals and penguins to provide food and fuel for immediate survival. The rigours of an Antarctic winter were fast approaching; the narrow shingle beach upon which they were camped was already being swept by almost continuous gales and blizzards, which rapidly destroyed one of the tents in their temporary camp, and knocked others flat. The pressures and hardships of the previous months were beginning to tell on the men, many of whom were in a run-down state both mentally and physically.

In these circumstances Shackleton decided that he should take the initiative and try to reach help, using one of the boats. The nearest port was Stanley in the Falkland Islands, 540 nautical miles (1,000 km; 620 mi) away, but unreachable due to the prevailing westerly winds. Another possibility was to head for Deception Island, at the western end of the South Sandwich chain. Although it was uninhabited, Admiralty records indicated that this island held stores for shipwrecked mariners, and was also visited from time to time by whalers. However, reaching it would also involve a journey against the prevailing winds—though in less open seas—with no certainty that rescue would arrive in time. After discussions with the expedition's second-in-command, Frank Wild, and ship's captain Frank Worsley, Shackleton decided to attempt to reach the whaling stations of South Georgia, to the north-east, with the help of following winds. This would mean a much longer boat journey, of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi) across the Southern Ocean, in conditions of rapidly approaching winter, but it appeared to offer the best possibility of rapid relief. As Shackleton later wrote, "a boat party might make the voyage and be back with relief within a month, provided that the sea was clear of ice, and the boat survive the great seas".