Endurance in the background. The dogs housed in “dogloos” are fed by expedition members (Credit: Library of Congress)
“As ice pushed from three different directions converging at one point, which happened to be where Endurance sat, the ship shuddered as she was twisted. And then she began to take on water. If they wanted to save Endurance, the crew would have to move fast. The water was pumped out, but try as they might, saving Endurance was a lost cause. An evacuation that took place three days later was well managed though. The dogs and other supplies were taken off as well as three lifeboats which would later be used to sail for land. In temperatures that plunged below zero (-18°C) and where 29°F (-2°C) was a heat wave, the group disembarked. For those who had called the little ship home for so many months, it was a sorry thing to see her go.”
This is an excerpt from a post I wrote for a website chocked full of information, itshistorypodcasts.com. If you would like to read the rest of it, click here. As always your feedback is welcomed and if you have the time to leave a comment I’d love to hear what you thought about the article.
And here’s a little trivia for you – Sir Ernest Shackleton, who headed the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, was one of the witnesses who provided his testimony at the Titanic British Inquiry in 1912. Yeah, I really NEEDED to throw that one in there.
