Shackleton had left his trusted friend, Antarctic veteran Frank Wild, as leader of the 21 men on Elephant Island.
On guano-covered rocks – the site of a penguin rookery exposed to terrific winds and blizzards – they built a shelter from the two upturned lifeboats. They plugged gaps with old sleeping bags and ice, and nailed tent canvas to the boat gunwales like a valance, anchoring it with rocks.
The shelter on Elephant Island made from the two remaining boats Stancomb Wills and Dudley Docker, 1916. Photograph: Frank Hurley. Courtesy Royal Geographic Society (with IBG)
The men named their tiny home ‘the snuggery’ and ‘the sty’. Crammed in, sleeping on boat thwarts and the ground, they grew filthy, continually wearing the same clothes, coated in reindeer hair from their sleeping bags, and with soot, smoke and blubber spewing from the small stove – all during the darkness of the Antarctic winter.
Frank Hurley's sketch showing the ground plan of 'the snuggery', taken from his diary. Pencil sketch by Frank Hurley. Courtesy State Library New South Wales, MLMSS 389/2 item 2
The men talked of food and tobacco, smoking all sorts of concoctions: grass shoe insulation, seaweed, reindeer hair and tea. They played cards, read, discussed entries from volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica they had salvaged, sang and made snowmen.
Depiction of the men camped under boats on Elephant Island. Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, a423080
Their diet was meagre. They had brought limited stores of sledging biscuits, sugar, salt, powdered milk and nutfood (ground nuts and sesame oil) – all carefully rationed for the first months until stocks ran out. They hunted and skinned wildlife or collected shellfish. Thomas Orde-Lees noted in his journal on 3 May 1915:
At present we are merely living hand to mouth and have yet only a small reserve. We were certainly lucky to have got here no later than we did, for we got in a fair stock of seal meat before the seals left us which they seem to have done now, There is enough seal meat for six weeks.
Their alcohol supply was methylated spirits, intended as fuel for the primus stove but released by the tablespoon with a spoon of sugar for the customary Saturday toast ‘to sweethearts and wives’.
A lack of carbohydrates caused lethargy, and several of the men suffered physically in other ways – the stowaway, Perce Blackborow, at 19 the youngest member of the crew, developed such extreme frostbite that his toes were amputated in the makeshift hut. Yet the mental challenges were far worse. Several men were unable to function, being confined to their sleeping bags. Cliques developed within the group, yet quarrels were few, with all men united in daily survival routines.
The Chilean tug Yelcho approaching Elephant Island. Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, a423008
As weeks rolled into months, the marooned men began planning to launch one of their boats, not knowing if Shackleton had made it to safety. Then on a gloomy 30 August, artist George Marston was out sketching with photographer Frank Hurley when they saw a ship on the horizon. The men lit a fire and raised makeshift flags. Soon after, the familiar figures of Shackleton, Worsley and Crean came into view aboard the Chilean naval tug Yelcho. This was Shackleton’s fourth attempt to reach the stranded men. Ice had thwarted previous attempts.
On deck the scientists and officers ate apples and oranges, eager for Shackleton’s news of the war; down below the sailors feasted, drank and indulged tobacco cravings with pipes and cigarettes.
The wild-looking party reached Punta Arenas, Chile, on 3 September 1916, where they were feted for two weeks. Visitors flocked to see the ‘frostbitten boy’ Perce Blackborow in hospital. They then made their way to Buenos Aires to ship back home.
The triumphant Elephant Island party in Punta Arenas
