Survival! The Shackleton Story

To license this clip go to http://www.natgeomotion.com/bell/clip/447N01W_112.do Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew took bitter defeat and turned it into heroic survival.Early this century, members of the imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition watched as their ship, the Endurance was crushed by the frozen sea.They were left with no radio and no hope of rescue.For more than a year, they drifted on packed ice, surviving on seal, penguin, and eventually dog meat, while battling freezing temperatures and mind-numbing boredom.When Shackleton, along with all 28 members of the expedition, emerged at Stromness whaling station in May, 1916, almost two years after their departure, the world was shocked.

Un día a finales de 1914

se intentó una importante Expedición Antártica

que comenzó a ir mal

En este día comenzó una pesadilla de dos años de difícil catástrofe

y en última instancia herorismo del más alto orden

Ernest Shackleton un brillante y carismático líder tomó a 27 hombres en un

viaje que desafiaría sus espíritus y sus vidas

Esta es la saga de una de las más notables historias de supervivencia de el siglo:

El Viaje en el Endurance

en este temprano día de Diciembre de 1914, el barco Endurance navega fácilmente a través de

partidas de hielo del norte de Antartica. El líder de la Expedición Sir Ernest Shackleton

es un ambicioso Inglés Irlandés de 40 años

el es conocido por su manera de trazos significativos y por su habilidad de salir de

situaciones duras.

La Expedición Británica planea navegar a través del Mar de Wedell a la Antartica

su meta es ser al primero en alcanzar y cruzar sobre tierras del contienente

Ernest Shackleton era ya un afamado Explorador, el fue rival de Sir Robert Scott's

en la carrera por alcanzar el Polo Sur

La relación de mi padre con Scott es bastante dificil de describirla, verás

en un sentido mi padre fué un aventurero que entró en

los pensamientos de la gente de Ben Scott y decidió correr su propia Expedición

En 1907 Shackleton permitió a su propio equipo sobre de intentar alcanzar el Polo

con él fué Frank Wild quién se uniría más tarde con Shackleton en el Endurance

En 1912 Scott golpeó a Shackleton a el Polo, los
enrollados papeleos, habían hecho alcanzarlo primero

competitivo y jironeado Shackleton volteó
sus avistamientos envés a el Viaje sobre

la inmensamente desconocida Antártica,

la impresión que he tenido desde todo lo que he leído acerca de Shackleton y sus expediciones

es que las cosas fueron arrojadas juntas en el útlimo minuto

usualmente corto de dinero y el asunto fué sólo manejado por su impresionante energía y

entusiasmo y ambición y cosas que hicieron ir mal comparado

a las expediciones polares Noruegas

Las de Shackleton fueron posiblemente caóticas pero él mismo tuvo ojos de aquellas situaciones,

la vida en el Endurance es una mezcla de disciplina y rutina

y buenos tiempos

mas de 50 perros, dos equipos de activos trineos para la travesía

Frank Wild está abordo, su capitán Shackleton tiene una imbatible Fé en

su segundo al mando

él fue muy dependiente de Frank mientras que yo diría que fué un gran hombre

a su manera

Frank Wild y el yo no creo que piensen que tenían que finalizar oraciones una vez que las plantas entre

ellos habían sugerido que era necesario

ese fatídico Verano

Hay frías temperaturas en la Antartica

Las extensas anotaciones del barco, el empeoramiento del clima y el escaso progreso

the Endurenace movido de pesados flujos y

aves

por el día 20 de Enero de 1915, el Endurance está atrapado

el diario del Carpintero de Barco, debería ser McNeish. Enero 24

Aún rápido y sin señal de algo abierto, la presión es un asunto importante

y si no salimos pronto

No tendríamos mucha opción de alguna vez salir de aquí

la situación parece desbastadora todavia los hombres tienen una pertinaz Fe en el que ellos

llaman el Jefe

Para el líder científico Scott .

Veloz y eficiente viaje

Amundson: Pero cuando tu estás una situación desesperada, cuando parece que no hay salida

inclinate de rodillas y ora

por Shackleton

después de más de un mes en la partida

Shackleton decide tratar de mover manualmente las 300 toneladas del Endurance

en agua abierta

por cerca de dos días la triplación virtualmente trabaja sin descanso

cansados de batallar contra el hielo

cuando ello están en el punto de dejar caer

Shackleton tiene la crudeza de empujar el barco

hacia atrás tan lejos como alcance ir para embestir su ruta a través del hielo que

era de más de 18 pies de grosor

mientras permanece solo en la cubierta

el barco surca a 400 yardas de

agua abierta

pero no puede ir más lejos

en Febrero 24 de 1915

Shackleton se rinde tratando de liberar el barco

y el Endurance llega a la estación de Invierno

se dejará llevar por la corriente con los caprichos de la partidas de hielo

los cuales lo llevarán a cualquier parte errante

Pra la mayor parte de la tripulación aceptó todo con buena salud

Ellos aún esperaban poder eventualmente completar su misión

el hombre mantuvo arriba el espíritu con juegos de Fútbol sobre las duras partidas congeladas

esperando a que el hielo se abra

A bordo Shackleton adhiere a su profunda creencia

en lo importante de una estricta rutina

Hay algunos quejumbrosos acerca de las faenas

pero la autoridad de los Jefes es raramente cuestionada

la bodega del barco llega a ser conocida como el Ritz

y la vida continúa en ralativo confort

revisiones de costumbres son muy populares
Shackleton gana el premio por la peor

pero varios cantantes son serios competidores

el verdadero enemigo es el tedio que es tratado con aún más drasticas medidas

todos tuvimos nuestro corte de pelo y luego tuvimos una fotografía tomada en el Ritz

Luciamos como un montón de convictos y
no eramos más bajos que la Vida hoy

pero aún esperando tener civilización algún día

la última camada de cachorros es también una diversion

inlcuso para bruscos y viejos marineros como Tom
Cream

Frank Wild es cariñoso con Sampson el mas grande de los animales indomables

perros llegan a ser cada vez más como mascotas también
varios de los hombres

la complacencia es despedazada una tade de comienzos de Abril

millones de toneladas de hielos

están siendo empujados contra el Endurance

Shackleton recuerda esa noche de mal augurio

durante la noche tercera

nosotros tuvimos hielo estancado hacia el este

Y en la mañana vimos que el hielo recién formado fue calado de 8 a 10 pies de altos lugares

este fue el primer momento gran de peligro para amenazarnos después

Di ordenes de esas acumulaciones de nieve y basura alrededor de el Endurance

debería ser apaleada lejos

el enorme esfuerzo para aliviar la presión sobre el barco son imposibles

incluso con sus tres pies para motivar el Endurance es en la piedad de los mas lejanos

poderes que la nave podría alguna vez esperado vencer

Julio 14 de 1915

Todas las manos

tuvimos un lado cerrado anoche hubo un ruido bajo el

fondo despues de los mismos hielos y mirando hacia arriba

El Jefe piensa que es una Ballena pero pienso diferente

Shackleton ordena una especial observación

es una estresante y exhaustiva noche y

en la mañana la presión luce aún peor

los asaltos por el hielo conitnuan por semanas

el viento halló la jarcia

y no pudo ayudar a pensar

fue haciendo sólo un tipo de sonido que tu

esperarías responder a un ser humano si ellos no temieran ser aniquilados

Shackleton dijo

mientras mejor maquilles tu mente es solamente una cuestión de tiempo

lo que el hielo obtiene el hielo mantiene

the unrelenting pressure damages the
rudder of the ship beyond repair

wild and Shackleton are stranded trapped
for more than seven months in the pack

ice

they are now 1,200 miles from
civilization

the crew has no communications and no
hope of outside help

they have only ernest shackleton October
18th 1915 the endurance has been trapped

for nine months

a wave of pressure causes the ship to
keel over 30 degrees in a matter of

seconds

bent and twisted she begins to leak
dangerously

All Hands work ceaselessly throughout an
interminable night

pumping and repairing the damage even
blankets are used to try to contain the

leak

at 5pm on october 27 Shackleton gives
the order to abandon ship

ok

the attack of the ice reached a climax
at four o'clock after long months of

ceaseless anxiety after times when hope
feet high and times when the outlook was

black indeed the end of the endurance
has come to his men

Shackleton says simply shipping stores
are gone so now we'll go home but in his

own diary he writes i pray god I can
manage to get the whole party to

civilization

the boss is facing the most crucial test
of his life

Shackleton tells his crew that they will
head for the nearest supplied a pole

left behind years earlier on polit
island three hundred and forty-six miles

away

within a few days the endurance loses
her final struggle

the men attempt to march with the
terrain is impassable everywhere they

turn the ice blocks their way

i woulda thought of anybody had to take
a bet on his data said I said they were

probably 10 20 to 1 against bringing
them back alive I mean I fraud

there they were sitting in the middle of
the the weddell sea in the middle of the

pack ice miles from land

it's very difficult to contemplate what
the likelihood of their getting back

alive were I would almost have said they
were negligible for the next six months

the crew camps on unpredictable and
hazardous ice floes at the beginning

morale stays high

Shackleton's hopes are pinned on three
small bolts in which he plans to set

sail when the pack opens but if the
weddell sea had crushed the endurance

what could it do to these fragile craft
in the meantime they drift helplessly

with the pack

they were moving they want to moving ice
flow of course and I suppose

Shackleton would have been very very
concerned with keeping it from the men

how desperate the situation was and time
the supplies become depleted the men

hunt whatever game they can find what
food becomes an obsession

februari 1916 the food is pretty well
all meet seal stakes

dude sale penguin states to penguin
penguin liver

the latter being very good indeed the
cocoa has been finished for some time

and the tea is very nearly done

even the mild temperature shifts dr.
James Macklin is showing the strain at

such times he wrote his diary and cord

I think the boss was a bit improvident
not getting all the food in whilst the

going was good it was worth the risk

as the months pass game become scarce
lunches one biscuit and three lumps of

sugar issued each day

on March thirteenth Shackleton orders
the men to shoot the surviving dogs now

they can eat

they come tantalizingly close to polit
island but in the end they drift

helplessly past it and it's vital supply
depot

they have been marooned for 14 months
yet Shackleton somehow manages to keep

his men from sinking into what could
become fatal despair

people tell me that 50 times a day

people said what do we do now boss ok
boss he was known as the boss and I

think they literally had a pattern of
activity that he controlled and when

they got the end of the task they turned
him what we do novels

the boss has to plan a new course of
action after their numerous with polit

island

he will aim for elephant island instead
100 miles to the north the next decision

on the morning of people night is made
for him at 11am our flow suddenly split

right across under the boats we rushed
out gear onto the larger of the two

pieces

our home was being shuttered and her own
feet

they take to the boats and Anna roaring
sea begin a dash for elephant island

for the next seven days they find a
heroic battle

the storms are enormous they go days
without sleep first becomes overwhelming

and their mouths and tongues are so
swollen

they cannot swallow food

leading them through 17 hours of
darkness each day is Frank worsley

Shackleton's brilliant navigator

the temperature was 20 degrees below
freezing . Green Streets right foot got

badly frostbitten

but leaves restored it by holding it in
his sweater against his stomach

my eyes began to family I could not see
or judge distance properly and found

myself falling asleep at the tiller yet
words Lee's uncanny navigation rings the

three battered craft to the Bleak shores
of Elephant Island

the men have not touched solid ground in
more than 16 months for the first time

in three days

they have a meal and a hot drink

uninhabited Elephant Island is a
desolate and dangerous place

they have one for Lauren home the
whaling station on South Georgia island

800 miles to the northeast

Shackleton decides to attempt the almost
suicidal journey

the night before he leaves he writes a
note to Frank wild April the 23rd 1916

Elephant Island dear so in the event of
my not surviving the boat journey to

South Georgia you will do your best for
the rescue of the party

you are in full command from the time
the boat leaves this island

you can convey my love to my people and
say I tried my best

yours sincerely eh Shackleton

the next morning the 22 men who will be
left behind gather on shore the

optimists expect the boss back in a few
weeks

Shackleton and five other men face the
world's most vicious see and a 23-foot

open bolt

Elephant Island people 24th 1916 we
watch them until they were out of sight

which was not known for such a tiny boat
soon lost the sight of the great healing

ocean and she dipped into the trap of
each way she disappeared completely

saleable

three days out their craft is hit by a
powerful game enormous waves 50 or more

feet high batter them relentlessly as
they struggle in a last desperate effort

to reach help

and these men were in this tiny 23 for
boat for 16 days altogether being tossed

around with these wet reindeer clothes
reindeer sleeping bags chafing them and

great wet to rock some ballast bumping
against them

huge waves I mean they were they were in
storm conditions bail conditions

virtually the entire time of the
crossing

and I think worsley only had one chance
to take a sighting from the Sun to work

out that position and the rest was done
entirely on dead reckoning

on may eight against all odds the men's
side the south georgia coast they spend

nearly two days trying to make a landing
on the islands treacherous shores

and is the the most wild coast with huge
glasses flowing down into the sea and I

think it was just as they finally
managed to get through some rocks into

this tiny little bay and drag the boat
ashore stumbling and slurring on on the

wet rocks see we that the the main pin
holding the rudder fell out

just at that moment is that as they
landed

incredible fortunately that lasts until
it fate compels them to land on the side

of the island

opposite the whaling station which lies
over an interior of glaciers and

mountains that no human being has ever
crossed

terribly weekend Shackleton is called on
to lead yet another heroic effort

he has a bit of rope a carpenter's ands
and some screws which the men twist into

the bottom of their shoes

leaving behind the three men were too
will to make the trip

Shackleton sets off with Frank where's
Lee and Tom cream

chuckles and was a polar expert he was a
seaman but he wasn't really a

mountaineer

and yet when they arrived on the wrong
side of South Georgia and had to cross

it

they were having to do a very serious
bit of mountaineering and I think that's

where this incredible intuition came in
they knew roughly where they were going

but but they had no Maps

at one point Shackleton finds himself at
the top of an impossibly steep slope

once again he decides to take an
enormous gamble

but by this time night was falling and
the mr. was covering the bottom of the

slope

they had no idea what was at the bottom

they tried a few steps down but it was
evident that if they continued they

would die of exposure so they coil their
rope down the three of them sat on it

and they put their arms around each
other's waists and they pushed off into

space

they careen crazily down a thousand foot
mountain side at the bottom they are

bruised and tour but to have survived at
all is another in a long line of

miracles

at about four o'clock in the afternoon
of made twentieth nineteen sixteen three

filthy string had men dressed in tatters
walk into a whaling station on South

Georgia island

Shackleton has to introduce himself to a
man he is known for years

don't you know me he asks the whaler
hesitates

I know your voice and the response comes

my name is Shackleton

some say the old sailor turned away

and wet

less than three days later ernest
shackleton leave South Georgia to return

for his men on Elephant Island

it takes him more than three months and
four different attempts

on august 30 of 1916 he finally sites
the dismal coast

a signal fire can be seen burning
faintly Shackleton Oh has no way of

knowing how many of his men are still
alive

yet on the beach is gathering the entire
elephant island crew all 22 men

I'm survive

onshore the realization slowly sinks in
that the boat is really there that the

unendurable has been endured

earnest check

the boss

has come to take them all

yeah