The Endurance: A Legendary Story Of Survival | Shackleton's Captain | Timeline

my name's dan snow and i want to tell you about history hit tv it's like the netflix for history hundreds of exclusive documentaries and interviews with the world's best historians we've got an exclusive offer available to fans of timeline if you go to history hit tv you can either follow the information below this video or just google history hit tv and use the code timeline you get a special introductory offer go and check it out in the meantime enjoy this video [Music] captain frank worsley adventurer mariner navigator the man who captained ernest shackleton's fateful 1914 expedition to the antarctic the the norwegian whalers on south georgia's told them before they set off it's crazy you're not going to get through and without whom all of its crew would have perished miserably in the icy desert in today's standards it's like being on a space station cut loose and they thought you know there's just no way of salvation yet the story of his critical role remains largely untold [Music] london 1914 captain frank wesley has woken from a strange dream navigating between icebergs down burlington street it is so vivid he decides to follow it up it's a fateful decision in burlington street worsley meets the renowned explorer serena shackleton who is hiring crew for an expedition to cross the antarctic continent a journey never attempted before early explorers were perhaps the astronauts of their day and for people like captain frank worsley his whole life was adventure and antarctica was the last frontier it's an opportunity not to be missed shackleton had been twice to antarctica before he got within a whisker of the south pole in 1909 when he came back he was knighted he was a big celebrity hugely ambitious huge ego great buccaneering adventurer wursley impresses the renowned explorer [Music] worsley was so full of exuberance and enthusiasm for things and i think shackleton would recognize that as something that would give a phenomenal amount of lift to an expedition and he had a very good background as a captain [Music] he had had by then 25 years experience at sea he had sailed most of the major oceans and shackleton hired frank wursley then and there as the captain of the ship shackleton's expedition appeals to worseley's sense of adventure a whaling station on south georgia will be their last stop before sailing on bound for the antarctic coast from there a team of six men will attempt to traverse antarctica via the pole in the early 20th century antarctica was the next great frontier it was just a huge unknown land just waiting to be explored almond and had got to the south pole in 1911. scott had got there in 1912 and died so crossing the antarctic was the last great challenge in the last place on earth on the 26th of october 1914 the expedition ship endurance set sail [Music] on board is a crew of 28 men including photographer frank hurley to document the expedition it is early summer and they're right on schedule for their voyage to antarctica but it is much colder than usual when they got to south georgia the norwegians warned shackleton that the ice conditions to the south were worse than they've ever seen and they advised him strongly not to go but the advice is ignored on the 5th of december 1914 shackleton gives the order to sale initially progress is good the whaler's warnings seem to have been misplaced but after three days and a thousand miles further north than expected the endurance runs into pack ice by any rational analysis the decision to push on into the wedding sea it was ludicrous all the signs were against it the the norwegian whalers on south georgia's told them before they set off it's crazy you're not going to get through there's a difference of opinion between captain frank worsley and his boss serena shackleton about continuing to sail south worsley's years of experience tell him the journey ahead will be perilous worsely on several occasions spoke to shackleton about the conditions of the ice and that he thought that it wasn't going to get any better but shackled and elected to continue you have to put into context where shackledom was coming from he was desperate to get away he was openly having an affair with an american actress and so life at home can't have been too rosy the ship was hitting the fan as far as shackledom was concerned at home and also it would have been a crushing blow to his ego to turn around and go back and so against all common sense he somehow persuaded his captain worsley to push on regardless into the ice negotiating the pack ice is difficult the expedition begins to fall behind schedule [Music] but the planned continental crossing can only be achieved during the antarctic summer worsley's preference is to make landfall at the earliest opportunity but to shorten the overland trek shackleton decides to push on as far south as possible shackleton didn't take the opportunity of going to a relatively close point on the coast that they could see he kept going and frank wursley of course he didn't have much say in the matter in terms of the ambitious nature of shackleton's dream to cross the continent it is the second time shackleton chooses to ignore his captain's advice a decision that will have far-reaching consequences just 60 miles short of their destination progress halts altogether the ice closes in around endurance this is the height of summer but ci stretches as far as the eye can see worsely never ever criticizes shackleton for basically getting them in into this terrible predicament he seems to have a willingness to present things in a positive light worsely notes we therefore lie to for a while to see if the pack will open at all when this northeasterly wind ceases but the pack doesn't open crew and ship are stuck fast in the ice tantalizingly close to their destination they thought it was just a temporary hold up maybe having to winter over it meant that the expedition was going to put be well behind time but shackleton of course never actually admitted just how serious the situation was for an entire month nothing changes then they spot open water in the distance the crew make a herculean effort to free the ship digging and chipping away at the ice for two whole days in the hope of reaching the opening before it closes up worsely drives full steam ahead into the pack but the ice is too thick they're forced to abandon this last desperate bid for freedom finally the ice just completely glued around them and really it's a case of waiting for the next year summer to come and the ice to move north and break up and then release the tension in the pack but in the meantime there was nowhere to go they would have to stay as they were it's a total trap finally shackleton and the expedition's first officer frank wild confirm the expedition's goal of crossing the antarctic continent must be abandoned the focus now turns to survival the expedition was put together in a bit of a hurry like most things shackleton did and it was a very very ambitious project these fellows were going to walk 1800 miles across mostly uncharted territory um and my own view is that they would have all died if they had actually landed they would almost certainly all have perished [Music] frank wersley is powerless captain of a floating hotel the crew affectionately refer to as the ritz [Music] they have no choice but to settle in for the winter and attempt a homewood journey in the spring the crew keep busy with survival tasks they hunt seal and penguin collect snow to melt and maintain endurance in ship shape condition they know their situation is desperate but they try to keep up morale insanity wasn't by any means unknown on a ship you have very little room to escape the men are forced to adapt their food to what is locally available the cook develops a talent for preparing penguin it's a lifesaver and their only means of combating scurvy but as the months pass the men's spirits become strained worsely notes the desolation of the 24-hour polar night life without sun makes their situation almost unbearable he does what he can to provide distractions for the men to entertain his crew he takes an ice bath the temperature is 29 degrees below freezing when he had a naked snow bath the carpenter harry magnesh recorded in his die the poor old skip has gone mad which he played many roles frank wursley doesn't betray the life or death situation he and his crew find themselves in he writes while looking ahead and planning to meet all possible dangers i live comfortably and happy and can truly say that at present i'm enjoying myself far more than in civilization worsely continues to plot the position of endurance even though the ship is trapped in the ice he knows they're moving the weddle c has what they call a gyre and that is a current that rotates clockwise and measuring that gyre was something that captain wesley was doing all the time even though the ship was in the ice he was navigating and keeping a record of where she was the irrepressible worsley is optimistic about their chances and the possibility he might lose his ship doesn't occur to him well these ice floes are so large and yet they are still moving in this in this gyre they're rafting up on top of each other at times pressure just builds and builds and builds they spend months hacking away at the ice and trying to keep the ship clear but six months after being trapped shackleton and first officer wilde informed wesley his ship is likely to be doomed the pressure of the ice is crushing it [Music] worsley writes my ship was being strangled and i could do nothing to save her the weight behind these ice floes was just immense the grip just got too strong of course and gradually started tilting the ship being a wooden ship it eventually started crushing it of course [Music] they could split apart at any time so really really scary finally worsley and the men are forced to face a harsh reality they will soon become castaways on an ocean of ice [Music] i think he would have struggled hugely knowing that he was going to lose it not only from the perspective of a captain losing any vessel but for the situation it was going to put them in and i think he was well aware that if they lost the ship they were likely to perish on october the 27th 1915 almost a year since sailing south the crew are forced to abandon ship [Music] to be suddenly cast out on the ice with the security of the ship no longer there would be a big shock it must have been incredibly hard for them [Music] the possibility they might all die in the freezing polar conditions becomes a stark reality in today's standards it's like being on a space station cut loose and they thought you know there's just no way of salvation they had stepped off the planet despair sets in their equipment is inadequate to keep out the cold and in the winter storms temperatures can plummet to -50 degrees celsius the unstable ice flows they now live on continue to shift and crack imagine you've got 28 men on this this crust of ice this thin crust maybe two or three feet thick lying on top of an ocean 500 5000 feet deep whatever it is but that's not just a smooth plane of ice the ocean currents and waves cause it to buckle and crack and to rear up in great ridges and hummucks just unbelievable for the first time worsely considers the obstacles ahead might be insurmountable there is only faint hope of survival but they don't allow themselves to succumb to despair worsley constantly tries to devise a way out of their predicament he favors waiting for the package to drift to open water and then sail the lifeboats to safety but shackleton has another plan he wants to march to paula island which worsely calculates to be 346 miles to the north to make this incredible journey they can only take absolute essentials mcnish the carpenter had a cat and mcneesh loved this cat very much and it was also a bit of a mascot for the rest of the men and that was the first animal to go because she couldn't play any part in the rescue or just another mouth to feed but i think there was a lot of resentment mcnish never forgave shackleton for issuing the order to kill his cat shackleton's plan requires the lifeboats to be manholed to open water but despite the ruthless culling of their possessions each vessel weighs more than a ton it was back-breaking work they were dragging them through hamake ice they were making maybe one mile a day and then frequently they would have gone a mile forward but the ocean currents might have caused them to drift a mile backwards and it became obvious within a few days that this was achieving nothing other than trashing the sledges trashing the boats and trashing the men shackleton eventually had to admit to himself yes it was a crazy idea we've just got to basically stay put and wait and see where the ocean currents take us shackleton's attempt to reach pawlet island fails and they revert to worsley's original idea ocean camp is established the men settle in to wait for the ice to break up on the ice are miserable the summer thaw creates a quagmire of slushy snow and melting ice their clothing and equipment is constantly sodden they're still within sight of endurance and can only watch helplessly as the ship is crushed [Music] eventually endurance sinks beneath the ice worsley feels great remorse tinged with a slight sense of relief he must felt a little bitter because he probably felt if his advice had been followed they may not have got into that particular situation five weeks later shackleton orders a second attempt to cross the ice to avoid the slushy conditions during daytime they travel at night when the ice is firm it's another slow soul-destroying journey for the first time some of the men begin to question shackleton's command there was something like 300 miles to go and uh mcnish the chippy and for that matter captain worsley really didn't think that was a very good idea the lifeboats which were going to save them could not be damaged and after about a week of that harry magnesh the carpenter the oldest member of the expedition a wily old bird who was always critical of shackles leadership basically staged a museum and said this is crazy this we shouldn't be doing this the children bought out his revolver and threatened to shoot magnesium he didn't do as he's told so the men continue to haul the lifeboats but in seven grueling days they travel less than 10 miles worsely explains to shackleton at this rate their journey will take at least a year continuing will mean certain death once again they stop and wait for the ice to carry them to open water they establish a new home patients camp almost a year has passed since they became trapped there's a growing sense of desperation life on firm land is a distant memory facing starvation they can no longer spare food for the dogs they have no choice but to shoot and eat them it is a decision so distressing it feels worse than anything the men have endured so far worsely continues to plot their position he feels the men hold him responsible for the camp's advancement as if he was in charge of the flow itself finally open water is sighted the ice breaks up they launch their lifeboats and set sail [Music] but 15 months on the ice has cost some of the men their sea legs the temperature is dropping and the lifeboats are under constant threat of being crushed by icebergs it would have been extremely difficult because they weren't yet in open sea they had all the risks of the ice and this is where they had to have faith in captain worsley worsley navigates and steers his own boat the dudley docker leading the other two lifeboats towards their destination shackleton was the big picture man and in terms of small boats worsley had far more experience and of course he knew how to navigate their new destination is the south shetland islands 50 miles to the northeast the men are forced to camp out on icebergs they weakened without sleep and without warmth and very inadequate food and some of them so seasick as well their survival hangs in the balance they depend on captain worsley to guide them but to navigate he needs to take sun sights with his sexton beset by bad weather he makes his calculations based on mere glimpses of the sun yeah it's a little bit of a black art because there's a huge skill to what they call bringing the sun down onto the horizon if you're on a boat that's leaping from wave top to wave top the horizon is all over the place the sun is in your sexton because you see it through a smoky mirror this little green thing is leaping around and you have to take two sites before you can get a complete fix of where you are after three days at sea worsley makes a distressing discovery his calculations indicate that currents have pushed them 30 miles back towards their starting point they change course and head for elephant island it is their only hope but sailing to the tiny island will require navigational genius elephant island is a dot it's like a grain of sand on a beach it's just a lump of rock sticking out of the southern ocean days pass and some of the crew struggled to keep their sanity to test their fragile states of mind even further killer whales cruise beneath the boats [Music] that would have been extremely frightening and the day length's getting shorter obviously every day the temperature is dropping and dropping and dropping and that was doubly scary against the odds all 28 men continue to battle for survival after five days supplies of fresh water are exhausted and the crew are freezing to death to relieve their raging thirst they suck blood from raw seal meat there is a state that you get into when it's completely grim life just doesn't seem that important that's where the leadership was so key captain wesley who was on the helm for 40 hours non-stop they had to bend him back into position to straighten him out so that he could sleep because physically he had just formed into that frozen v shape of clutching the tiller several of the men have given in their spirits broken their future seems bleak and a sense of doom pervades then they catch a glimpse of elephant island but before they can make landfall a gale blows in they lose sight of the land and that's when i think his true seamanship would have come to the fore after 15 months living on the ice and seven grueling days at sea all 28 men make landfall on april the 15th 1916. how they got through without losing anybody was a miracle after their almost unimaginable ordeal this uninhabited desolate lump of rock seems like something straight from heaven shackleton congratulates worsley and they enjoy a brief sense of pure joy but they are still far from safety most of the island is guarded by hundred foot high ice cliffs very steep glaciers come right down into the sea elephant island is an unbelievably violent place [Music] the island is one of the most inhospitable places on earth shackleton worsley and first officer wilde discuss their options their only hope is a rescue mission worsley tries to persuade shackleton to stay behind with the men shackleton declines instead wild will remain worsley had already been planning way back on the ice before the endurance sank he'd been planning contingencies possibilities he's been calculating distances thinking of how they were going to escape from this terrible predicament on the chart the closest settlement is port stanley on the falkland islands but worsley has calculated that the winds favor heading for south georgia 800 miles to the northeast their destination is the whaling station they visited on the way to the antarctic shackleton outlines the plan he is very clear that this journey will be more difficult in testing than anything experienced so far the chances of success are overwhelmingly against them but despite the odds every single man volunteers for the mission four are chosen to join shackleton and worsley mcnish the carpenter john vincent and two irishmen young tim mccarthy and tom crean the fate of all 28 men now lies in the hands of these chosen few shackleton was a great persuader he had this amazing ability to gather around him a group of people and to inspire them to lead them into danger to take colossal risks but somehow to keep them with him the james cared is selected for the voyage at 22 feet and six inches long she is the largest of the three lifeboats first and foremost was the importance of covering in the lifeboat by mcniech the carpenter who'd already fallen out with shackleton and shackleton purposely took him on that voyage to make sure that he didn't cause further trouble for frank wilde he cannibalized the other two smaller boats which was such a sacrifice because it meant that the men left behind the two boats that they had were really not usable and they ballasted her more heavily shackleton wanted very heavy ballast worsely didn't but shackleton's word went out once again worsely's advice is ignored and shackleton's wishes prevail the night before the rescue crew were to set sail worsley shackleton and all the men celebrate with wine made from ginger sugar and methylated spirits it's a tough farewell worsley knows he will be tested to the limit i think frank wursley knew that it was a very risky thing to do in terms of the odds maybe a 10 chance but i think they knew it was the only chance fate now lies with worsley and this unlikely rescue mission [Music] but they also know it is more than likely they will never see each other again on the 24th of april 1916 the james caird is launched the men left behind on the desolate elephant island are condemned to wait and hope with no way of knowing the rescue's progress first officer wilde has a difficult task his role could ultimately amount to a suicide watch worsely notes i was aware that no matter what adversity we would face we were embarking on an adventure [Music] i think they had a pretty good idea of what was ahead um 800 miles of the world's worst ocean in winter a lot of ice at first to work their way through a lot of overcast weather which meant difficulty in getting sites and knowing where they were and after 800 miles an island only a hundred miles long um which isn't that big a target by nightfall they are clear of the ice surrounding elephant island but conditions on the james cared are far worse than expected the extra ballast shackleton had ordered causes the care to ride low in the swell and the icc crashes over the tiny boat soaking the crew according to wesley below deck any hopes of sheltering from the wet and freezing conditions were dashed the cramped space forced us to lie on the ballast rocks and conditions affirmed this would be an arduous journey at this crucial point shackleton admits his lack of experience in small boats it is up to worsley to get them there shackleton confessed to worsely i don't know anything about small boats i've never been in this situation before i'm counting on you well i think worsley probably knew that their lives depend entirely on worsley as the southern ocean throws everything against the crew and their tiny ship for three days worsley is unable to take a sun sight on the fourth day he snatches a glimpse of the sun and shouts the results to shackleton below and then to go down below and sit on these moving rocks of ballast with water swelling about the place and do his calculations to make sure that he was on track um was yeah very very crucial to the whole thing worsely had four sites in 16 days but he seemed to have a unique instinct for dead reckoning which is the siemens term for finding out where you are without relying on celestial navigation so he knew which way the currents were going he felt what the speed of the boats was and this they were stopping and starting and changing course because of the winds but he had in his brain some kind of a map that he could say at the end of the day well we've made about 56 miles in a northeasterly direction or whatever it should be and to do all of that in his head it's it's um it's a gift far more than a science the temperature plummets ice builds up on the james cad it becomes so heavy that it threatens to sink them their misery is made complete by hopelessly inadequate equipment they didn't have any sailing clothes they didn't have any sea boots they didn't have any waterproof gloves this is on a boat that's being thrown around 20 feet in the air so they very easily could have lost a man overboard conditions are so bitter each man can only bear to work on deck for a few minutes at a time those bodies must have been aching they were getting no rest and what rest they were getting was lying on rocks frank said the only good part of the day was when they were served hot hooch it was a hot milk mixed with something called pemmican which is a high fat compressed meat for combating hypothermia because of the fat content even that was difficult because they had to try and keep the primus upright and they were bent double underneath this canopy unable to sit upright the men suffer stomach cramps by the second week wesley's concerns for his crew are growing their hands and knees are raw from crawling over the ballast rocks and their limbs are swollen shackleton nurses his companions admirably but it is worsely as navigational and sailing skills they depend on their reindeer sleeping bags had become so sodden with salt water that the hairs of the reindeer skin were disintegrating they were in their food in their hair in their mouths their discomfort was just extraordinary not to mention the cold they were never warm the whole time it was exacerbated badly when one of the casks of what they thought was fresh water was found to have leaked and was not fresh water anymore it was a salty mess everything was counting against them mcnish is suffering from severe frostbite and exposure vincent seems to have lost the will to live altogether to be in a boat like the james cared which would have been hard to hard to steer the ballast was shifting all the time and they were hit by rogue waves that could have finished them in seconds in 16 days worsely has only managed to make four sunsites with the sextant but he is confident they are nearing their destination [Music] he's calculated south georgia lies only 15 miles ahead and on the 7th of may tim mccarthy finally spots the peaks of south georgia but yet again fate plays against them the weather turns for two days they battle the storm fearing they will be smashed against the coast they have fought so hard to reach in that same storm there was a hurricane force blow that sank a 500 ton steamer who was on her way to south georgia with coal and she disappeared without trace for two long days worsely and his crew struggled to survive the storm it sucks every last bit of strength from their bones if they were swept past south georgia that was it and they knew that they knew that from the outset but they had to make landfall as quickly as they possibly could and they landed at a place that they called cape cove [Music] frank's 20-plus years under sale and operating small boats around new zealand that was crucial to the whole deal it was a masterpiece of navigation no question [Music] they had set their feet on real land not elephant islands rocky icy little shingley beach they had to spend a few days just building up their strength because they knew they still had to save 22 other men so even in that moment of absolute joy it wasn't the end of the story the storm forces them to make landfall on the west coast of south georgia but the closest whaling station is at stromness bay on the island's eastern side sailing to stromness means a 150-mile voyage around the island's blustery coast but the storm has severely damaged the james cared vincent and mcnish are near death going back to sea is simply not possible their only chance lies in a gruelling march across the island's uncharted interior shackleton tom crean and worsley will attempt to find help at the whaling station on the other side of south georgia mccarthy will remain behind to care for mcnish and vincent they waited for calm weather they knew they were their strength was running out um they needed to be able to see more than anything because they the outline of the map of the island had nothing no one had been into the interior once again they rely on worsley to guide them across the perilous alpine terrain nine days after arriving in south georgia the three men are ready emaciated starving and poorly equipped for an alpine expedition they depart in the middle of the night [Music] they had a 90-foot rope with them but they didn't have any ice axes they had a rough carpenter's ads which they could chop a few steps every so often perhaps but [Music] they had screwed brass screws from the lifeboat through the soles of their shoes so they had rudimentary crampons to grip the ice but not being mountaineers pretty damn frightening root finding in these conditions is demanding no one has ever crossed the island before and the mountains ahead rise above 9000 feet by worsley's reckoning the whaling station lies between 25 and 30 miles due east it means a grueling march across uncharted virgin territory not knowing the terrain ahead means the exhausted men are often forced to retrace their steps each time it is a devastating blow that tests their resolve to continue [Music] the terrain is demanding they have to stop to rest every 20 minutes but they can't allow themselves to sleep in their exhausted state they might never wake [Music] they were so tired that at one point shackleton told them he'd give them half an hour [Music] and let them sleep for five minutes and woke them up and said they'd had their half-hour because he was scared that they would not wake up at all [Music] so they kept on going [Music] and what normally happens when you're traversing a glacier roped up is people don't keep quite the same speed and then you trip up on the rope and you curse and swear at each other and worsely actually mentions this and says how they were so careful not to lose their temper still to maintain that that sort of calm cheerfulness sixteen long hours after setting out they reached the edge of a precipice short of time and unable to turn back they make a hard choice with no idea what lies below they decide to use their rope as a sledge and throw themselves into the void [Music] [Music] [Music] yet again the men somehow managed to cheat death [Music] by then of course they were utterly driven they still had another range to cross they ran out of kerosene halfway across the crossing so they had their last hush time is running out for the rescuers and shackleton heard the sound of the station whistle at stromness he thought he wasn't sure that was at 6 30 at seven o'clock they all listened [Music] and there it was again the whistle to turn two to go to work this was the first sound that they'd heard for 17 months that hadn't been generated by themselves after a 36 hour march across the mountains half frozen and barely conscious they reached the wailing station and the sight of men and buildings and all of those things that they'd been without for so long and it meant safety and it meant more than anything else rescue and safety for the other 22 men which the burden of carrying them their lives with them is what kept shackleton worsely and queen going that very night he didn't stop to rest he didn't stop to you know revel in the fact that he you know had made this journey and it was complete he turned around and went straight back to pick up his three james care chipmates and as soon as they can organize a rescue attempt for the men left on elephant island wesleyan shackleton set off again but conditions forced them to abandon three separate attempts it was a gigantic frustration for shackleton the boats or ships were either too small or unsafe to take into icy waters he was trying to get some help out from britain nobody wanted to offer him any help at all shackleton knows that the men stranded on elephant island must be in a terrible condition and he fears should they die he will be accused of having abandoned them they launch a fourth attempt this time in a small chilean boat the yelco this time the ice yields and they drop anchor off the island it's been 128 days since they left its shores after four months of winter on a god forsaken lump of rock in the middle of the southern ocean it seems unlikely all of their shipmates will have survived the whole spit could have been totally swept clear of everything during winter storms uh no question there could have been nobody alive at all they see men gathering on the beach emerging one by one from their makeshift shelters shackleton and worsley count anxiously incredibly against all odds they're all there all alive [Music] frank never lost hope somebody said once he was not born to be drowned getting everybody home was shackledon's responsibility as a leader but without frank wersley i don't think he'd have managed it all the credit went to shackled and that was the sort of man that he was but without question the journey could not have been achieved without frank wersley's contribution [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, endurance, ernest shackleton, ernest shackleton documentary, hms endurance, explorer documentary, arctic expeditionary forces, artic explorers, history of britain, story of survival, survival documentary, survival stories, elephant island

Id: 5OBsHnS5S4U

Length: 52min 11sec (3131 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 28 2021