South Georgia
After a few days' recuperation Shackleton decided that the boat was not capable of making a further 150 nautical miles (280 km; 170 mi) voyage around the island's treacherous coastline, to reach the whaling stations on the northerly coast. Furthermore at least two of the men—Vincent and McNish—were unfit to travel. He decided to move the boat to a new location within King Haakon Bay, from which point he, Worsley and Crean would cross the island on foot, aiming for the inhabited station at Stromness.
On 15 May the James Caird made a run of about 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) to a shingle beach near the head of the bay. Here the boat was beached and up-turned to provide a shelter. The location was christened "Peggotty Camp" (after Peggoty's boat-home in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield). Early on 18 May the three members of the island-crossing party set out for what would be the first-ever confirmed land crossing of the South Georgia interior. The journey was far from straightforward, since they lacked any map and had to improvise a route which involved traversing mountain ranges and glaciers. Without camping equipment, they travelled continuously, reaching their destination at Stromness 36 hours after setting out. Shackleton's men were, in Worsley's words, "a terrible trio of scarecrows", their haggard faces dark with exposure, wind, frostbite and accumulated blubber soot. Later that evening, 19 May, a motor-vessel was despatched to King Haakon Bay to pick up McCarthy, McNish and Vincent, and the James Caird. Worsley wrote that the Norwegian seamen at Stromness all "claimed the honour of helping to haul her up to the wharf", a gesture which was "quite affecting".
Owing to the advent of the southern winter and the prevailing ice conditions, it was more than three months before Shackleton was able to achieve the relief of the men at Elephant Island but eventually, with the aid of the steam-tug Yelcho, the entire party was brought to safety, reaching Punta Arenas in Chile on 3 September 1916.
Read more about this topic: Voyage Of The James Caird
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