FROZEN IN TIME
REMEMBERED Stunning images rescued from icy waters tell story of Shackleton’s ill-fated but inspirational Antarctic crossing
It was a mission to restore British pride that owed its very being to Scotland.
When Sir Ernest Shackleton set off on his Endurance expedition in 1914 he called it the “last great Polar journey that can be made”. His plan was to cross the Antarctic continent from coast to coast.
After being beaten to the conquests of both Poles, he was determined to make the crossing, saying: “I feel it is up to the British nation to accomplish this.”
But the ship may never have sailed had Dundonian jute baron Sir James Caird not contributed almost half the cost, more than £2m in today’s money. And Scots peppered the crew of the Endurance which was to come to grief, caught and then crushed by the unforgiving Antarctic ice floes.
Now an exhibition at the National Library of Scotland is marking the centenary of Shackleton’s return to the UK following the expedition, which was ill-fated but filled with remarkable heroism and dedication.
Early in 1915, the Endurance became trapped in the ice and sank ten months later.
The crew had already abandoned the ship to live on the floating ice and, in April 1916, set off in three small boats. They eventually reached Elephant Island and Shackleton and five of the crew went to find help, spending 16 days crossing 800 miles of ocean to reach South Georgia. Not one soul was lost on Shackleton’s Weddell Sea voyage as he and the men aboard all battled back to safety.
Enduring Eye shows their struggles to survive through newly-digitised images processed from the 100-year-old glass plate and celluloid negatives of celebrated photographer Frank Hurley. He dived into the freezing waters as the ship was sinking in the ice to rescue them and they’ve been stored at the Royal Geographical Society for more than 80 years.
Paula Williams, National Library of Scotland curator, said: “The stunning photographs in this exhibition tell an amazing story of human daring in the most hostile of circumstances.”
Enduring Eye: The Antarctic legacy of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Hurley is at the National Library of Scotland until November 12.
Here, historian Meredith Hooper, who has researched and curated the exhibition, tells us the amazing stories behind one of the pictures, called A Winter afternoon in the Ritz.