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"MEN WANTED: FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES,
BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER,
SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS.
SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON"
Who would answer such an ad, which Shackleton placed in a London
newspaper seeking recruits for his 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic
Expedition? The 28 men above, that's who. Here, meet each member
of the team by clicking on his name, and find out what credentials you
would have had to bring to the table to gain the respect of Sir
Ernest Shackleton—and a berth on the Endurance.
Missing from the photo: Thomas Orde-Lees, Ski Expert and Storekeeper |
Perce Blackborow, Steward |
John Vincent, Boatswain |
Alfred Kerr, Engineer |
Timothy McCarthy, Seaman |
Thomas McLeod, Seaman
Pictured in the photo: Sir Ernest Shackleton, Expedition Leader |
Frank Worsley, Captain |
Frank Wild, Second-in-Command |
Lionel Greenstreet, First Officer |
Tom Crean, Second Officer |
Alfred Cheetham, Third Officer |
Frank Hurley, Photographer |
George Marston, Artist |
Robert Clark, Biologist |
Leonard Hussey, Meteorologist |
Reginald James, Physicist |
James Wordie, Geologist |
Alexander Macklin, Surgeon |
James McIlroy, Surgeon |
Huberht Hudson, Navigator |
Charles Green, Cook |
Henry McNeish, Carpenter |
Louis Rickinson, Engineer |
Ernest Holness, Stoker |
William Stephenson, Stoker |
William Bakewell, Seaman |
Walter How, Seaman |
Sir Daniel Gooch
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Sir Ernest Shackleton Expedition Leader
An Irish-born polar expedition veteran, Shackleton approached to within 745
miles of the South Pole with Robert Scott on the 1901 Discovery expedition,
then pressed to within 97 miles on his own Nimrod expedition of 1908.
Imperious, single-minded, ferociously loyal to his men,
he once said "Optimism is true moral courage," a tenet he lived by until his
death on South Georgia Island in 1922.
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Frank Worsley Captain
A New Zealander, Worsley ran away to sea at 16, apprenticing on a wool clipper,
and went on to become an expert sailor with the Royal Naval Reserve in England.
Despite some eccentricities - claiming that his cabin was too stuffy, for
instance, he slept every night on the passageway floor - he was respected and
would truly earn his salt when he navigated Shackleton's lifeboat the
James Caird across 800 miles of dangerous seas to South Georgia
Island.
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Frank Wild Second-in-Command
A veteran of Scott's Discovery, Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic, and Shackleton's
Nimrod expeditions and utterly
loyal to Shackleton, Wild had "a rare tact," wrote Orde-Lees,
"and the happy knack of saying nothing and yet getting people to do things just
as he requires them..."
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Lionel Greenstreet First Officer
Drawn from the merchant service, Greenstreet had joined Shackleton's
expedition just 24 hours before it left Plymouth, England, when the original
first officer quit to lend his services to the war effort. On the expedition,
he ended up befriending two quite different fish: the proud Hurley and
the reserved Clark.
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Tom Crean Second Officer
Born one of ten children in County Kerry, Ireland, Crean was tall and tough as
an oak. At 16, he joined the Royal Navy and eventually joined Robert Scott on
both the Discovery and Terra Nova expeditions, receiving the
Albert Medal for saving two companions during the latter journey.
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Alfred Cheetham Third Officer
An old Antarctic hand with three trips into the Deep South under his belt,
including a stint as third officer on Shackleton's Nimrod
expedition, Cheetham was a small man with a gung-ho attitude.
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Frank Hurley Photographer
An independent-minded Australian, Hurley ran away from home at age 13, working
in an ironworks and the Sydney dockyards before becoming a photographer.
Nicknamed "the Prince" on the expedition for his susceptibility to flattery, he
quickly gained a reputation for stopping at nothing to secure a memorable
photograph.
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George Marston Artist
Physically robust, Marston joined three sledging journeys while accompanying
Shackleton on the Nimrod.
Graduate of a London art school, he
was friends with Shackleton's two sisters, who prodded him to put his
name in for expedition artist. He was said to have the best voice in the ship's
company.
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Robert Clark Biologist
A taciturn man, Clark engendered respect from the crew. He could usually be found
out for a bit of exercise on his skis, skinning penguins for scientific study,
or using his dredging nets to bring up biological specimens from the deep
Antarctic seas.
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Leonard Hussey Meteorologist
Odd as it may seem, Hussey worked as an archeologist in the Sudan before
joining the Endurance. Perhaps that's one reason why his meteorological
skills came up a tad short in the Antarctic. As Orde-Lees observed,
"The vagaries of the climate quite bewilder Hussey. For just when he thinks it
is going to do one thing the precise opposite happens."
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Reginald James Physicist
The expedition's magnetician and physicist, the studious academic "Gentle
Jimmy" owned "some wonderful electrical machines which none of us understood,"
wrote Macklin, "and a joke of ours that annoyed him very much was that
he did not either."
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James Wordie Geologist
A bearded, bespectacled Scot from Glasgow, jocular "Jock" Wordie was one of the
most popular members of the expedition. Before the journey, he advanced
Shackleton some of his own funds to help buy fuel for the ship.
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Alexander Macklin Surgeon
As with McIlroy,
Shackleton assigned Macklin a team of sledge
dogs to drive, and also the duty of caring for the ship's canines. Son of a
doctor from Scotland's Scilly Isles, Macklin, according to his son Sandy
Macklin, had intended to remove his glasses for his initial interview with
Shackleton, for fear the great man would not hire him as surgeon, but
he forgot. When Shackleton asked him if he required glasses, Macklin
replied with the first thought that came to his mind: "Many a wise face would
look foolish without glasses." Shackleton hired him on the spot.
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James McIlroy Surgeon
Before joining Shackleton,
McIlroy had been both a practicing surgeon
in Japan, Malaysia, and Egypt, and a ship's doctor aboard passenger ships in
the East Indies. Like Macklin,
he was appointed kennel commander and
sledge-team driver.
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Huberht Hudson Navigator
"One never quite knows whether he is on the brink of a mental breakdown or
bubbling over with suppressed intellectuality," wrote Orde-Lees of this
son of a London minister, who was a mate in the merchant service when he signed
on. He turned out to be the expedition's most accomplished penguin-catcher.
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Thomas Orde-Lees Ski Expert and Storekeeper
A captain in the Royal Marines, Orde-Lees was in charge of the motor-sledges
that would have helped carry Shackleton's team across the continent. A
graduate of the English public-school system, he was a bit of a prima donna and
generally disliked, though his diary is one of the more perceptive kept by
Shackleton's crew.
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Charles Green Cook
The son of a master baker, Green went to sea at the age of 21, becoming a cook
in the Merchant Navy. With Blackborow's help, he worked in the galley -
both aboard ship and on the ice—from early morning till evening, preparing
meals for 28 mouths.
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Perce Blackborow Steward
When Shackleton
refused him a job, Blackborow, with the help of
Bakewell and
How, slipped aboard the Endurance and hid
in a locker until the ship was at sea. Stuck with him, Shackleton made
Blackborow steward and eventually came to appreciate the conscientiousness of
this 20-year-old Welshman. In an operation on Elephant Island, Blackborow had
all the toes on his left foot removed due to severe frostbite.
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Henry McNeish Carpenter
One of the oldest members of the expedition, McNeish was a rugged Scot whom
Shackleton
claimed was "the only man I'm not dead certain of." Known as
"Chippy," he was a slightly odd, but much-respected shipwright and old-time
sailor with the Royal Naval Reserve. He reportedly never forgave
Shackleton for having his cat, "Mrs. Chippy," shot when many of the
dogs were also put down.
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John Vincent Boatswain
A former navy sailor and trawlerhand, Vincent was the strongest man aboard, and
he used his brawniness at times in a bullying way—until Shackleton
put him in his place. Shackleton chose him for the journey to South
Georgia, very likely both for his strength and to keep an eye on him. Note: No photo is available of Vincent.
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Alfred Kerr Engineer
A reticent man in his early 20s, Kerr had some experience working on oil tank
steamers before joining the Endurance. Like his mate Rickinson,
he kept largely to himself and did his job well.
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Louis Rickinson Engineer
Why someone with a particular aversion to cold would join an expedition to the
Antarctic is a mystery, but Louis Rickinson did. His condition might have had a
medical basis, for it is believed he suffered a heart attack while on Elephant
Island. Rickinson was deemed a solid engineer who had a knack with internal
combustion engines.
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Ernest Holness Stoker
Orde-Lees
considered Holness, who hailed from Yorkshire, "the most
loyal to the expedition." Holness was so desperate to smoke during the long
wait on Elephant Island that, according to Orde-Lees, he "sits up in
the cold every night after everyone else has turned in, gazing intently at
Wild &
McIlroy
in the hopes that one of them will give him
the unsmokeable part of a toilet-paper cigarette."
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William Stephenson Stoker
The senior stoker, Stephenson was a former officer's servant and Royal Marine.
When the ice crushed the Endurance, his job as tender of the marine
steam boiler came to an abrupt end, as did that of his mate Holness.
For some reason, he and Holness were two of only four people (the other
two were Vincent and McNeish),
whom Shackleton did not
recommend for Polar Medal after the crew's return to England.
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William Bakewell Seaman
The only American on the expedition, Bakewell posed as a Canadian when applying
for a position aboard the Endurance. He had quite the roamer's resume,
having been a farm worker, logger, railwayman, and ranch hand before going to
sea. He helped his pal Blackborow
stow away on the ship at Buenos
Aires.
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Walter How Seaman
Though Marston was the expedition's official artist, one reason the
publicity-minded Shackleton may have chosen How was for his
capabilities as an amateur artist. How also had experience in cold climates,
having worked in the sub-Arctic with the Canadian Auxiliary Survey Ship.
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Timothy McCarthy Seaman
"[He] is the most irrepressable [sic] optimist I've ever met," Worsley
wrote about this Irishman from the merchant service, who joined him,
Shackleton, and
three others on the James Caird journey to South
Georgia. "When I relieve him at the helm, boat iced and seas [pouring] down yr
[sic] neck, he informs me with a happy grin, `It's a grand day, sir.'" Note: No
photo is available of McCarthy.
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Thomas McLeod Seaman
When he joined the crew of the Endurance, McLeod had a full 27 years of
experience as a sailor, having adopted a life at sea at the tender age of 14.
He had been to the Antarctic twice, once with Scott on Terra Nova and
again with Shackleton
aboard Nimrod.
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Sir Daniel Gooch
Gooch, who helped tend to the sledge dogs, traveled only as far as South
Georgia.
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