I’m rowing 950miles to Antarctic to right a wrong
In honour of the hero who saved Shackleton’s men, Jamie DouglasHamilton goes to polar extremes
ASCOTTISH adventurer recovering from a heart op will row 950 miles across Antarctica to right a historical injustice. Jamie Douglas-Hamilton, 42, is part of a six-person crew taking part in the exploration in honour of a Scots carpenter who saved the lives of the crew of the ill-fated Ernest Shackleton Antarctic expedition.
Shackleton and his crew sailed on the James Caird, which was built by Harry McNish and which ultimately saved them all after their main expedition ship, the Endurance, was sunk by pack ice in October 1915.
But Harry, from Port Glasgow, died destitute after Shackleton branded him a mutineer because he questioned the wisdom of dragging the boats across ragged ice, causing them irreparable damage.
Now Jamie, from Edinburgh, is campaigning for Harry, who died in 1930, to be awarded a posthumous Polar Medal.
The Polar Medal is awarded by the United Kingdom’s king or queen to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research.
Jamie said: “One of the greatest injustices done in polar exploration is what happened to Harry McNish.
“He was the true hero of that expedition, but he was portrayed as a mutineer. He was not awarded the Polar Medal when they all survived thanks to him.
“His frostbite injuries were so bad he couldn’t shake anyone’s hand. After he came back he emigrated to New Zealand. He couldn’t work and he died absolutely destitute down by the docks. It is such a sad story.
“He was a phenomenal carpenter. He realised the damage being caused to the hulls of the boat he was having to repair was so bad they were going to lose one of the boats.
“They were using an enormous amount of calories and energy to track these heavy boats across rocky ice that wasn’t flat.
“He told Shackleton this and it was portrayed as a mutiny, but if he hadn’t done that all of them would have died.
“Shackleton made McNish carry them for another day trying to show his authority.”
Jamie said: “Later, in his diary, Shackleton admitted that McNish was
right. It was McNish who did the work to make the boat watertight and that’s what got them through. I’m doing this in honour of someone that was forgotten and correcting an injustice by telling that story.”
The row, in January, will take place in treacherous seas from Antarctica to South Georgia. Their boat has been named Mrs Chippy after Harry’s cat, which Shackleton had shot.
It will be the first time the Scotia Sea, known as the “most dreaded ocean on the planet” has ever been rowed.
It comes only five months after lifesaving surgery which happened after Jamie contracted Covid.
He said: “My operation was a big one. By the time I went in, my heart was double the size and I was no more than six to 12 months away from heart failure because my aorta would have ruptured.
“They had to replace the aortic valve. I was under anaesthetic for 30 hours. I woke up after the operation feeling like I’d been hit by a bus.
“I feel so lucky I had Covid. I’m the only person in the country who is enormously grateful because I wouldn’t have got it checked otherwise.” Jamie said his recuperation was tough going but the row has given him a focus. He said: “It is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.” Other members of the team include Austrian Lisa Farthofer, who will be the first woman to have ever rowed in the Antarctic, American Mike Matson and Brian Krauskopf, who holds world records for rowing the Atlantic, and Bulgarian Stefan Ivanov, who rowed the Atlantic and has won awards for completing endurance events. On completion, the crew will will three world first records – first to row from the Antarctic continent, first to row the Scotia Sea by human power alone and first to row the Southern Ocean from south to north. Jamie said: “The boat will have six of us with two hatches on either side. There is very little space. “When we go into a storm, not everyone will be able to get into the hatches no matter how severe the storm, even if it is hurricane strength. Someone will have to be on deck.” The team will row in 90-minute shifts around the clock, for around three weeks in freezing conditions. John McNish, Harry McNish’s great-nephew, said: “Our family are incredibly touched that Jamie is rowing the treacherous seas of the Antarctic which my great-uncle sailed in the early 1900s and that the journey will be made in honour of him. “Our family is incredibly proud of my great uncle, and we have always believed it to be very unjust that Chippy wasn’t given the Polar Medal.”
Expeditions and exploring run in Jamie’s family. He set two of his seven Guinness World Records, by rowing 5000 miles across the vast Indian Ocean, all the way from Australia to Africa.
He said: “My grandad was the first man to fly over Mount Everest. I’ve always wished that we lived in that age where not everything had been done.
“This is a great feeling to actually go beyond adventuring and into exploration.
“Exploration is when it is a world first.”
One of the greatest injustices in exploration is what happened to harry McNish