Preparations
To reach South Georgia, Shackleton's boat party would have to traverse some of the most tempestuous and storm-swept seas in the world, with almost unceasing gales. They could expect hurricane force winds and heaving waves—the notorious Cape Horn Rollers—measuring from trough to crest as much as 60 feet (18 m). Worsley wrote: "We knew it would be the hardest thing we had ever undertaken, for the Antarctic winter had set in, and we were about to cross one of the worst seas in the world".
Of the three boats, Shackleton selected the heaviest and strongest, the James Caird. The 22.5-foot (6.9 m) long James Caird had been built as a whaleboat in London to Worsley's orders, designed on the "double-ended" principle devised by Norwegian shipbuilder Colin Archer. Shackleton asked the expedition's carpenter, Harry McNish, if he could make the vessel more seaworthy. McNish, with improvised tools and materials, immediately set about adapting the boat, raising its sides and building a makeshift deck of wood and canvas, sealing the work with oil paints, lamp wick, and seal blood. The craft was further strengthened by having the mast of the Dudley Docker lashed inside, along the length of her keel. She was then fitted with a mainmast and a mizzenmast, rigged to carry lugsails and a jib. The weight of the boat was increased by the addition of approximately 1 long ton (1,016 kg) of ballast, to lessen the risk of capsizing in the high seas that Shackleton knew would be encountered.
Shackleton had decided that the boat party would number six, and stores were loaded aboard to last six men one month, for, as he later wrote, "if we did not make South Georgia in that time we were sure to go under". In addition to ration packs intended for the transcontinental crossing, they took biscuits, Bovril, sugar and dried milk. They also took two 18-gallon casks of water (one of which was damaged during the loading and let in sea water), two Primus stoves, paraffin, oil, candles, sleeping bags and "a few spare socks".
According to Shackleton's own account, his first choices for the journey were Worsley and the dependable Tom Crean, who "begged to go". Shackleton knew Crean from the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04; Crean had also been with Captain Scott's Terra Nova Expedition in 1910–13 and had distinguished himself on Scott's ill-fated polar march. Shackleton asked for volunteers for the remaining places, and "many came forward". Of these he chose two strong sailors in John Vincent and Timothy McCarthy, and offered the final place to the carpenter, McNish. "He was over fifty years of age", wrote Shackleton of McNish (he was in fact 41), "but he had a good knowledge of sailing boats and was very quick". The choices of Vincent and McNish, both reportedly difficult characters, have been ascribed by some writers to Shackleton's wish to keep potential troublemakers under his personal charge, although each had proved his worth during the earlier boat journey from the ice. Shackleton had great faith in Worsley's skills as a navigator, especially his ability to work out positions in difficult circumstances. In Crean, Shackleton was confident he had a man who would persevere to the bitter end.
Read more about this topic: Voyage Of The James Caird
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