Based on the following essay I have to answer these questions;

Section 1 what specifically is the problem you will address and what specifically is the solution you are offering? Your solution is your position statement and is similar to the idea of the thesis or purpose statement you should be familiar with from other types of writing.

The key here is focus on the one main issue that you will address. Often the cases have many issues. We are not looking for a restating of the case. Instead, we want you to zero in on the key issue you see and then provide a specific recommendation/solution.

Section 2 here you should provide details from the case which relate to your position statement. Too often the tendency is to retell the case narrative. This is not MBA work and is not an efficient use of your time. Instead, the listing of details should move beyond the obvious. Here you should demonstrate your analysis at work. What meaning are you making from the details? How are you interpreting the relevant facts to support your position statement?

Section 3: in the final section you will be expected to provide a specific action plan including an assessment of potential risks. This is the key case skill as demonstrated by a written case. The action plan steps should be specific and realistic for the given case scenario. Any potential risks should also be acknowledged and incorporated into your overall plan of action.

EASSAY

Leadership In Crisis

On January 18, 1915, the ship Endurance, carrying a highly celebrated British polar expedition, froze into the icy waters off the coast of Antarctica. The leader of the expedition, Sir Ernest Shackleton, had planned to sail his boat to the coast through the Weddell Sea, which bounded Antarctica to the north, and then march a crew of six men, supported by dogs and sledges, to the Ross Sea on the opposite side of the continent. Deep in the southern hemisphere, it was early in the summer, and the Endurance was within sight of land, so Shackleton still had reason to anticipate reaching shore. The ice, however, was unusually thick for the ships latitude, and an unexpected southern wind froze it solid around the ship. Within hours the Endurance was completely beset, a wooden island in a sea of ice.

More than eight months later, the ice still held the vessel. Instead of melting and allowing the crew to proceed on its mission, the ice, moving with ocean currents, had carried the boat over 670 miles north. As it moved, the ice slowly began to soften, and the tremendous force of distant currents alternately broke apart the floeswide plateaus made of thousands of tons of iceand pressed them back together, creating rift lines with huge piles of broken ice slabs. For months the wooden timbers of the Endurance, held between three of these floes, creaked and moaned under the immense pressure of the moving ice. It seemed only a matter of time before she would succumb, crack, and sink.

On October 28, 1915, the ice mill, as expedition photographer Frank Hurley called the floes, snapped the hull of the Endurance. Shackleton ordered all hands to abandon ship and take refuge on the ice. That night, as his men settled into tents and sleeping bags salvaged from the sinking ship, Shackleton wrote in his diary, A man must shape himself to a new mark directly the old one goes to ground. . . . I pray God I can manage to get the whole party to civilization.

Shackletons Early Life

The Endurance expedition was Shackletons third Antarctic journey and his second as commander. He began, like most English polar explorers of his time, with no knowledge of frozen landscapes and almost no experience on ice. Born in 1874 in County Kildare, Ireland to an Anglo-Irish father and Catholic mother, Shackleton grew up in a solidly middle-class family whose ambitions for him focused primarily on his becoming a doctor. In his youth, Shackleton developed a fascination with the sea and English poetry. He was an avid reader of The Boys Own Paper, a British weekly published on Saturdays that promised escapism, practical advice, [and] moral uplift and was full of stories of naval lore.4 Later, he admired the work of the 19th-century poet Robert Browning, memorizing verses about manhood and heroism. From adolescence onward, he was enthralled by the idea of man mastering nature.

At 16, he convinced his father to allow him to go to sea. The elder Shackleton found his son a position on a merchant vessel at the rank of boy, which the explorer later described as a scheme to draw him back to school: My father thought to cure me of my predilection for the sea by letting me go in the most primitive manner possible as a boy on board a sailing ship at a shilling [about $6 today] a month!5 As the lowest-ranking member of the crew, Shackleton began his maritime career by scrubbing decks and polishing brass railing. He was attentive and observant, absorbing every bit of information about life at sea that came his way.6

Shackleton flourished in the merchant marine.7 By age 24, he attained the rank of full master, which qualified him to command a commercial vessel. Unlike in school, where his performance was consistently below average, at sea he was considered more intelligent than the average officer by a supervisor, who noted that his brother officers considered him to be a very good fellow.8

In the marine, Shackleton quickly displayed a self-confidence that alienated some men but won over more. After his first voyage, his captain wrote that Shackleton was the most pig-headed, obstinate boy I have ever come across.9 Still, Shackletons audacity earned him respect and even promotions. Shortly after receiving certification as an officer, he astonished a ships master by refusing the fourth mates position he was offered, saying he had been to see the ship and he did not like the 4th mates quarters but would go as third [mate].10 Rather than dismissing Shackleton, the master concluded that he rather liked the chap and gave him the post requested.11

Despite rapid advancement, Shackleton developed a reputation for not flaunting his rank over the regular sailors. One of them later wrote an admiring description, saying he was a departure from our usual type of young officer . . . he never stood aloof in any way, but was eager to talkto argue as sailors do . . . he was very human, very sensitive.12

As Shackleton scaled the maritime ladder, he became restless and complained to shipmates that he needed an opportunity of breaking away from the monotony of method and routinefrom an existence that might eventually strangle his individuality.13 In 1896, at age 22, he met and fell in love with Emily Dorman, the woman he would marry six years later. He told a fellow sailor that he wanted to make a name for myself and her.14

In December 1899, Shackleton was assigned to a ship that would carry troops to South Africa, where Britain was fighting the Afrikaner-controlled South African Republic and Orange Free State in the Boer War. In March 1900, on his second transport mission, Shackleton befriended a young lieutenant named Cedric Longstaff, son of Llewellyn Longstaff, the principal benefactor of a proposed British Antarctic expedition. Shackleton convinced Cedric to write him an introduction to his father. After interviews with Longstaff; Sir Clements Markam, the president of the Royal Geographical Society; and Albert Armitage, the proposed second in command, Shackleton received an appointment as a member of the National Antarctic Expedition (NAE), which was set to sail in 1901.

The Exploration Industry

Founded in London in 1830, the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) encouraged the advancement of geographic and scientific knowledge by promoting and funding expeditions to Africa, Asia, the Arctic, and the Antarctic. As one society member explained in a history of the organization published in 1917: . . . the main function of the [RGS] was to accumulate the fullest possible information about the great unexplored and little-known areas of the Earths surfaceprobably covering more than half[and the RGS] never lost sight of the fact that exploration ought to be conducted on scientific methods; that the results of a thorough knowledge of the surface and all that it sustains furnish the data for many problems, not only of scientific interest, but of great practical value to humanity; and that geography was of high value to education both as a branch of knowledge and as a mental discipline.15

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the quest for scientific knowledge drove many explorers and their supporters to mount elaborate polar expeditions (see Exhibit 2). So, too, did the powerful forces of patriotism and adventure. Explorers from a range of countries who succeeded in mapping new territory or reaching previously undiscovered areas were hailed as heroes. The islands, bays, and mountains they reached were often named after their respective monarchs or sometimes even after themselves. And for the most accomplished explorers, scientific and geographic discoveries in far-off lands led to professional success, fame, and fortune at home.

Because the physical risks associated with polar exploration were enormous, many missions resulted in devastating loss. During a 19021903 expedition to Antarctica, Swedish scientist Otto Nordenskjolds ship was crushed by pack ice, marooning the party for two frigid winters before it was rescued. On the 1912 Australian Antarctic Expedition, explorer Douglas Mawson lost his two trekking companions and barely survived the return trip to base camp. Canadian Vilhjalmur Stefanssons 1913 northern Arctic voyage was a lengthy ordeal in which the teams ship was lost and 11 men died.16 The costs of such exploration were high, often exceedingly so, but these ventures were considered successful whenever new lands were discovered and at least some men returned alive. Despite clear dangers, the field of polar exploration was crowded with adventurers eager to embark on new missions in the north and south.

Race to the South Pole

At the time of Shackletons appointment to the NAE in 1901, Britain was one of many nations engaged in a fierce competition to be the first to reach the South Pole and claim it under the nations flag. In 1895, the Sixth International Geographical Congress had convened in London and declared developing a better understanding of Antarctica to be the most urgent scientific issue of the era. And since the late 18th-century voyages of the explorer James Cook, Britain had held records for the northernmost and southernmost points reached by boat. By 1900, however, it faced intense international rivalry. In 1898, Norwegian Roald Amundsen had led the first ski and sled expeditions in Antarctica, and the following year his fellow countryman Carsten Borchgrevink became the first to spend a winter on the continent. Explorers from Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, and other nations were also determined to pursue Antarctic exploration in the interests of science and nationalism. Within this context, the NAEs commission included not only collecting scientific samples but also attempting to claim the South Pole in the name of England.

Shackletons appointment to the NAE linked him to an adventure that many, if not most, contemporaries considered heroic. As one expedition patron wrote in 1912, polar explorers have to possess . . . the very highest qualities in manphysical and moral courage, endurance under terrible privations in terrible climates.17 Moreover, some journalists and promoters contended that polar explorers endured this suffering for the noble cause of sciencefor the discovery of new lands, species, and climates.

But in the intensifying international competition to reach the South Pole during the early 20th century, Britain suffered from several disadvantages. None of the members of the National Antarctic Expeditionincluding the commander, Major Robert Scott of the Royal Navyhad previous polar experience. Although he was a skilled seaman, Scott had never seen pack ice before he arrived in Antarctica with the NAE.18 As important, although successful Norwegian expeditions had used dog teams and skis to move over ice, few British explorers were practiced at either form of transport. Scotts crewmen on the NAE would not learn to ski until their arrival in Antarctica and would ultimately abandon both skis and dog teams later in the expedition.

Previous British expeditions also had a record of costly and dangerous mistakes. Earlier trips demonstrated that the country lacked skilled manufacturers of equipment that could withstand extreme weather conditions and subzero temperatures. Proper nutrition had also proven to be a serious problem on past polar ventures, when leaders rationed food inadequately and relied mostly on a diet of canned and salted meat. Without fresh meat or produce, many British explorers suffered from scurvy, a condition caused by vitamin deficiency that resulted in bleeding gums, swollen joints, and skin tissue damage.19

These and other obstacles burdened the 19011902 voyage. Scott and Shackleton failed to reach the South Pole, but they did succeed in pushing farther south, and thus getting closer to their objective, than any previous expedition. It was a tremendously dangerous undertaking, however, made more perilous by frequent clashes between Scott and Shackleton over supplies, routes, and traveling speed. With average daily temperatures no higher than 4o Fahrenheit (F) (-15o Centigrade [C]), there was simply no margin for error or any other factor that compromised the efficient functioning of the expedition. Dogged by disagreements, harsh storms, and ill health, the two men and their teammate Edward Wilson almost died on the return trek northward.

Three years later, in 1905, Scott published an account of the trip titled Voyage of the Discovery. Scotts book reinvigorated Shackletons Antarctic ambitions, for it portrayed Shackleton in a profoundly unflattering light, referring to him as the invalid and virtually blaming him for the expeditions failure to reach the pole. Shortly thereafter, Shackleton began planning an expedition of his own.

To launch a journey to the South Pole, Shackleton would need both aristocratic patronage and scientific support. The expenses of an expedition would be at least 30,000 (almost $3 million today) but could easily run much higher. In 1901, the Royal Geographical Society and another funder had paid 45,000 (about $5.2 million) for Scotts custom-built Discovery, more than twice what most polar ships of the era cost.20 Knowing he needed to secure as much backing as possible, Shackleton solicited a list of 70 leading businesspeople and philanthropists, appealed to the RGS to gain scientific legitimacy, and used family connections to gain access to London elites. To emphasize the uniqueness of his mission, he promised to attempt using a car and a motorized sledge on the ice and to forgo the use of sled dogs in favor of ponies.

By 1907, Shackleton had raised the necessary funds and secured important scientific endorsements, and the Nimrod set sail. The journey south took two years and made Shackleton a national hero. With three companions, the explorer succeeded in trudging to within 100 miles of the South Pole, beating Scotts record of farthest south by more than 350 miles. Shackleton and his three men were debilitated by hunger and frostbite, however, and the commander realized that if they pushed on to the pole, they would probably not survive the return trip. Knowing that another explorer would likely reach the pole before he had a chance to try again, Shackleton made the wrenchingly difficult decision to turn back. Still, the new record for farthest south set by the Nimrod expedition was enough to earn Shackleton a knighthood when he returned to Britain in 1909.

Two years later, in December 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen finally won the race to the South Pole. Just a month later, Robert Scotts second expedition also reached the pole, but the leader and his four-man team perished during the return trek, doomed by poor planning, severe hunger, and utter dejection at having lost the claim to the Norwegians. When news of Amundsens feat reached Europe in May 1912, Shackleton, too, was dismayed. Both he and his country had been eclipsed in the important race for the pole.

But it would not be long before Shackleton set his sights on another mission. The adventurer soon began publicizing a new plan: The discovery of the South Pole will not be the end of Antarctic exploration. The next work [is] a transcontinental journey from sea to sea, crossing the Pole.21 I have had some hard knocks, he wrote to a patron, but I let the past rest, and am now looking forward to carrying out the last big thing to be done in the South.22

Preparing for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Over the next two years, Shackleton pushed ahead with preparations for crossing Antarctica. His plan called for a ship to travel into the Weddell Sea and deposit a crew of six men who would then journey overland across the continent to the Ross Sea on the other side (see Exhibit 1). A second ship would sail directly to the Ross Sea and dispatch several men to lay supply depots for the second half of the overland partys trek. That ship would then await the overland partys arrival on the Ross Sea coast.

Both the sea and land portions of Shackletons transcontinental plan involved significant risks. The Weddell Sea, infamous for its large and unpredictable ice floes, posed initial dangers. Several well-known expeditions to the area had failed in the past because of impenetrable ice and swirling currents. And while the sailing leg of Shackletons plan posed major perils, the overland journey seemed nearly impossible. Crossing Antarctica required a march of 1,500 miles, which Shackleton calculated could be made at a rate of 15 miles a dayonly one mile a day slower than the impressive pace set by Amundsen, the finest and fastest polar explorer of the era, on his last Antarctic trip.23 Amundsens team relied heavily on skis and sled dogs during that historic trip, but Shackleton was not highly skilled at either of these forms of ice travel.

Furthermore, much of the route Shackleton selected had never before been explored. To avoid the hazards of the Weddell Sea, previous expeditions had gone back and forth toward the South Pole from a boat anchored at the Ross Sea coast. But Shackleton aimed to lead the first-ever overland crossing of Antarctica. He would begin his trek at the Weddell Sea coast, chart a new path to the pole, then proceed to the Ross Sea coast on the opposite side of the continent. And unlike any previous expedition, Shackletons plan called for the deployment of two polar vessels: one to launch the expedition from the Weddell Sea and another to meet the transcontinental trekkers at the Ross Sea. The massive logistical complexity of organizing two crews and equipping two polar ships apparently daunted even Shackleton, for he toyed with the desperately unlikely idea of using just one ship to deposit the overland party, half-circumnavigate the continent, and deposit the relief party. Shackletons plans drew criticism from the Royal Geographical Society, which held the scientific credibility and political power to either raise or cripple any proposed expedition. The explorer knew the importance of an endorsement from the respected institutionwithout it, potential donors might be reluctant to support a venture as risky as the transcontinental venture. Although the societys members complained of the impossibility of getting any clear answers out of Shackleton about his plans, they elected to grant him a small symbolic donation of 1,000 (about $88,000 today).24

Funding

Shackleton spent enormous time trying to secure funding for his expedition. It was tough going. At the very least, he would need 50,000 ($4.4 million today), but the amount could run as high as 80,000 ($7 million) given the complex nature of his two-ship plan.25 As Britain and other European nations prepared for war, public and private investors were leery of all kinds of private ventures, even those they had once financed. For example, in 1910, the British government had granted Scott 20,000 (almost $1.9 million) for his second Antarctic voyage. But in 1913, the state offered Shackleton just 10,000 ($880,000), to be paid only if he raised more than 30,000 ($2.6 million) himself. Some of Shackletons friends considered the mission too dangerous and declined to support it financially.

Rumors about the leader created another major obstacle to funding the expedition. Since the Discovery voyage, Shackleton had developed a reputation for being somewhat weak physically. As explorer Eric Marshall, who trekked south with Shackleton on the Nimrod expedition, observed about the trans-Antarctic plan, Shackleton [knew] that he was physically incapable of severe strain at 11,000 ft.26 Marshall continued, I therefore considered the chances of crossing the Antarctic plateau were too remote to be considered seriously, and . . . any work I put in for that object was a waste of time.27

Shackleton complained repeatedly that no man should be required to both raise the funds and plan the logistics for the same expedition. He approached fund-raising, however, with the creativity and verve of a determined entrepreneur. He hired a photographer and sold shares of whatever photos might be taken of the Antarctic journey and of any publications that might result. He cultivated friendships with members of the press, who promoted his journey as a chance to re- establish the prestige of Great Britain in . . . Polar exploration and described the leader as one more proof of the dogged nature of British courage.28 With the help of Ernest Perris, editor of the London newspaper Daily Chronicle and a friend of Shackletons wife, he created a list of several hundred of the wealthiest and most likely donors in Britain. He sent each individual a personal letter and a copy of an expedition prospectus he had commissioned in the form of a large quarto pamphlet.29 Dame Janet Stancomb Wills, sole heiress to a tobacco fortune, donated funds and became a lifelong friend, even writing admiring poems to the explorer.30 Another important gift came from Sir James Key Caird, a Scottish magnate who was struck by Shackletons determination and confidence and promised him 24,000 (about $2.1 million today), the largest single donation received.

With Shackletons persistence, money came in. By late 1913, he had raised just over 51,500 (about $4.5 million today) through a combination of grants and loans.31 While continuing his fund-raising efforts, Shackleton turned to the challenge of finding men and gear for the voyage. Ships equipped to make polar expeditions required special construction and, like Scotts Discovery, were often commissioned by sponsoring organizations or governments. In an era when most shipwrights built with steel and iron, polar vessels needed reinforced wood hulls to resist the relentless pressure of ice floes. Moreover, Shackletons voyage demanded particular features such as darkrooms for a photographer and berths for sled dogs. As a private agent, Shackleton searched throughout Europe for not one, but two, boats that fit these criteria.

In a Norwegian shipyard, he found a craft named Polaris, built by a partnership of would-be polar safari directors whose business had failed. The Polaris was a wooden ship of 300 tons, equipped with extra cabin space and a darkroom for the expected amateur photographers and huntsmenperfect for Shackletons purposes. Later, the explorer admitted having reservations about the Polaris, particularly about the large and seemingly overweight stern, but at 11,600 (about $1 million today) it was a bargain, and he bought it on credit. He renamed the vessel Endurance after his family motto, By Endurance We Conquer. This was the ship that would travel through the Weddell Sea. For the other part of the expedition, on the Ross Sea side, he bought the old Aurora, a tried and tested Antarctic vessel owned by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson. Since the Aurora was already docked in the South Pacific, using it eliminated the expense of moving a ship 12,000 miles from Britain to Australia, the point of departure for many expeditions because of its relative proximity to Antarctica.32 The Endurance would have to be moved from Norway to England, where crew members and provisions would come aboard. From there, it would proceed to South America, another common point of departure for Antarctic missions, where final additions to the staff and stores could be made.

Supplies

Shackleton also needed to prepare the expeditions equipment, including food, clothing, and camping and traveling gear (see Exhibit 4). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the question of nourishing a crew properly in subzero conditions presented key challenges to every polar expedition. If the men did not eat enough, they would die; if they did not eat the right combinations of food, they would grow ill, often fatally so. But what amounts and varieties of food constituted proper nourishment? In the years when the science of nutrition was still in its infancy, opinion among polar explorers varied widely.

Most polar expeditions, including Scotts last venture in 19101912, probably saw severe cases of scurvy, a condition caused by a lack of certain vitamins. In response to theories that the vitamin C in citrus fruit could prevent scurvy but tended to be destroyed by evaporation, Shackleton commissioned sealed pills of lime juice for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. He consulted with British Major General Wilfred Beveridge, an expert in chemical research, and together they devised the composition cake, a compact version of a days food for one man.33 The explorer vividly recalled that on his last polar trip, hiking rations had been too small and nutritionally inadequate. By contrast, the composition cakes developed for the Endurance crew supplied nearly 3,000 calories apiece and were made from a variety of ingredients. Shackleton paid similarly strict attention to the quality of equipment and clothing for the journey, buying only the latest technology in polar wear: windproof Burberry coats, fur-lined sleeping bags, and sturdy tents. Equipping the Endurance with such customized rations and high-end materials added at least 2,400 (about $210,000) to the expedition expenses.

Crew

In December 1913, Shackleton made his first public announcement of the expedition in a published advertisement for volunteers. The notice for crewmen reportedly read: 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.34 According to Shackletons friend Hugh Robert Mill, the initial notices elicited responses from 5,000 applicants. Shackleton divided the candidates into the categories Mad, Hopeless, and Possible.35 He met briefly with those in the Possible category and relied largely on his instinct for judging character in evaluating them.

Bridges Adams, an acquaintance who directed an acting company, remembered a conversation in which the commander explained his views on hiring. Adams recalled that Shackleton was fascinated when I described the formation of a repertory company, and how character and temperament mattered quite as much as acting ability; just his problem, he saidhe had to balance his types too, and their science or seamanship weighed little against the kind of chaps they were.36

Shackleton looked for qualities he associated with optimism, a personal trait he felt was essential for men undertaking a potentially dangerous and difficult mission. Those who displayed cheerfulness and a sense of humor tended to fare well in interviews with him. Dr. Alexander Macklin (see Exhibit 3), a Scottish physician, apparently won a place in the medical crew of the Endurance because of his quick wit. During the interview, Shackleton asked, Is your eyesight all right? . . . Why are you wearing spectacles? and Macklin answered, Many a wise face would look foolish without spectacles. All right, Shackleton responded with a laugh, Ill take you.37

When the explorer reviewed the qualifications of veteran Antarctic officers, he placed a premium on demonstrated perseverance. For example, Tom Crean (see Exhibit 3), a sinewy Irishman with a reputation for alcoholism, received an invitation to join the expedition when Shackleton learned Crean had saved two lives on Scotts last expedition. It had not been an easy rescue. Without stopping to eat or sleep, Crean had hauled the weakened men in a sled across 20 miles of Antarctic ice, making the journey to safety and a depot in two days.

In hiring crew hands, Shackleton gave preference to men who had worked on fishing trawlers in the frigid North Sea between Britain and Norway. The leader knew these sailors were accustomed to spending long hours on frozen, windswept decks and believed they would be able to tolerate the harsh conditions off Antarctica.

The expedition leaders most important hire, however, did not interview for the job at all. Frank Wild, one of Shackletons compatriots on the southern march of the Nimrod expedition in 1909, volunteered immediately following the explorers announcement. Having trekked to within 100 miles of the South Pole together, both men had unshakable confidence in the others ability to survive the most difficult mental and physical trials. Shackleton appointed Wild as his second in command for the Endurance expedition.

Heading South

In July 1914, the Endurance sat docked in the Thames, preparing to depart for the Antarctic. Shackleton mused that he and his crew were ready to carry on our white warfare against the snow, ice, and cold of the frozen continent.38 Another war, however, was about to intercede.39 Two weeks later, Shackleton went ashore from the dock and read in newspapers that the British government had declared war against Germany. He immediately sent a telegram offering to turn the entire expedition over to the military effort. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, issued a laconic reply by telegram: Proceed. Churchill followed with a longer letter explaining that too much effort and capital had been invested in Shackletons expedition to forgo it.40

Despite the Admiraltys official approval, Shackleton and his crew could not help but be troubled by the moral ambiguity of departing their country on the eve of war. In a letter to his wife, Shackleton reassured himself that the expedition was indispensable to the nation: there are hundreds of thousands of young men who could go to the war and there are not any I think who could do my job.41 Yet, as the ship left for the South, Shackletons final dispatch promised our thoughts and prayers will be with our brothers fighting at the front.42

On August 8, the Endurance departed for Buenos Aires ahead of Shackleton, who stayed behind to attend to last-minute details. When the leader finally reached Argentina in October by separate vessel, he found that his expedition was far from ready for its voyage south. Frank Worsley (see Exhibit 3), appointed by Shackleton as captain of the Endurance, had proved largely incapable of keeping discipline on board during the journey to South America. In response, Shackleton decided to re-structure the ships command in order to reduce the captains discretionary authority. Further changes to the composition of the crew were needed when three sailors were dismissed for drunk and disorderly conduct. Meanwhile, 69 sled dogs arrived from Canada but, because of a contract dispute, the selected dog trainer never appeared. Shackleton finally chose to embark without one. Another significant challenge involved Shackletons credit, which was all but ruined by over- extended loans he had taken for the expedition and by rumors that his brother had been involved in criminal scandals. The commander decided to proceed to South Georgia Island, the location of Britains southernmost whaling village. He suspected that in the remote settlement there, where captains might not know of his poor credit reputation, he had the best chance of obtaining the remaining supplies he needed.

At South Georgia, Shackleton confronted new, unexpected obstacles. Noting that the ice floes were the farthest north they had seen in living memory, local seamen warned that his ship might get trapped and advised him to postpone his mission until the following year.43 Shackleton decided to hole up in South Georgia for several weeks, watching for any change in the ice. A month later, with conditions unchanged, the Endurance departed the whaling outpost for Antarctica.

First Weeks On Board

As the ship headed south, Shackleton and his crew took measure of each other. Shackleton afloat was a more likeable character than Shackleton ashore, the expeditions physicist, Reginald James (see Exhibit 3), later remembered.44 Most of the men knew the commander only from the short job interview. Once on board, they were surprised and pleased by how their leader interacted with them, and the crew gave him the good-natured nickname of Boss. When [Shackleton] came across you by yourself, Dr. Macklin remembered, he would get into conversation and talk to you in an intimate sort of way, asking you little things about yourselfhow you were getting on, how you liked it, what particular side of the work you were enjoying most. The commander even brought his love of poetry into conversations on deck. One found it rather flattering at the time, to have him discussing Thackeray, for instance, or asking you if youd ever read Browning, Macklin noted. I never had, and he would tell me what I was missing.45

But for all his congeniality with the men, Shackleton ran a tight ship. He demanded unquestioning loyalty and responsiveness to his orders, avoiding direct arguments or negotiations with his men. Wild, Shackletons second in command and most trusted mate, became, as Macklin put it, a sort of foreman. When we wanted things, the doctor recalled, instead of going to Shackleton we went to Wild.46 Whenever one member of the expedition complained to Wild about a problem with another, the lieutenant listened patiently to the complaints. Often, he noticed, the opportunity to vent frustration was enough to dissipate whatever tensions had arisen.47 In addition to smoothing over disagreements, Wilds approachability and overall geniality helped Shackleton to preserve some distance from the crew and maintain an aura of authority.

On December 7, 1914, the men spotted the first pack ice. It was a surprising and ominous sight given that the Endurance was still a good distance north of Antarctica and that it was then mid- summer in the southern hemisphere. The expedition members, largely unaware of the warnings the South Georgia whaling captains had given Shackleton, were captivated by the views of the frozen sea. In these first days heading toward Antarctica, the men seemed giddy with anticipation.

The pace slowed, however, as the boat continued south through thickening ice. By Christmas Eve, a strong wind closed the pack around the ship. The Boss ordered a celebration for the holiday, and the men decorated the mess room, feasting on soup, mince pies, plum pudding, and canned goods such as herring and rabbit.48 On New Years Eve, the Endurance jammed between two floes, which upended the boat six degrees and threatened to sink her. The crew hauled her out using an ice anchor and chain.

On January 10, 1915, after weeks of dodging floes, the crew spotted Antarctic land. Five days later, they saw a good bay with an apparently smooth path to the interior, which Shackleton named the Dawson-Lambton Glacier, after a British patron of the Nimrod expedition. The commander did not stop there, however, hoping instead to land at Vahsel Bay, about 200 miles southwest, which would shorten the distance of the overland crossing (see Exhibit 1).49 The Endurance approached Shackletons destination, skirting the coast until icebergs forced it to draw back from shore. The wind and moving ice soon froze the ship 80 miles offshore, within sight of the desired landing point.

Wintering on the Endurance

The ice proved unrelenting. On January 27, after nine days in the grip of the pack, Shackleton ordered the boiler fires put out and began to prepare for a long wait. Journal entries from the time reveal that the leader dreaded the effects of idleness and boredom on a crew with no responsibilities or routine. Consequently, he insisted that every man maintain his ordinary duties as closely as possible on an immobile ship. These included swabbing the decks and hulls, organizing and rationing supplies, keeping the anchor chains free of rust, and watching for navigable breaks in the ice. Shackleton also appointed individuals to hunt for seal and penguin whenever supplies of fresh meat ran low. He ordered Henry Chippy McNeish, the ships carpenter, to start making furniture for his cabin and for a hut to be located at a future base camp. The scientists were to begin collecting specimens from the ice and taking meteorological observations.50 Meals and entertainment were to be continued on a strict schedule.

To some expedition members, the prospect of waiting out the winter aboard an inert ship was, as Hurley wrote, extremely unpleasant. The photographer anticipated both physical and psychological discomfort during the long months in the ice, owing to the . . . cramping of the work and the forced association with the ships partywho, although being an amiable crowd are not altogether partial to the scientific staff.51 As they reconciled themselves to their shared situation, tensions occasionally flared among men of different specialties: officers who directed the expedition, scientists who conducted experiments, and sailors who kept the vessel running. (See Exhibit 3.) The passing of time intensified these interpersonal stresses. Confined to tight quarters in an immobilized ship, the mens personality quirks and differences of habit caused irritation, though most crew members kept their complaints about one another private. For example, in his diary, motor expert Thomas Orde-Lees sniffed at McNeishs rough table manners. The carpenter, in turn, wrote disapprovingly of the coarse language used by members of the trekking party.52

From the beginning, the men had perceived social and professional disparities among themselves. But in the circumstances of early 1915, Shackleton did not wish to amplify these distinctions. In a deviation from military and maritime norms, he ordered officers, scientists, and sailors to share the manual drudgery on ship equally. Orde-Lees, who held a majors commission in the British Army, struggled to put aside pride of caste. Though he thought scrubbing floors is not fair work for people who have been brought up in refinement, he admitted that sharing labor worked well to extinguish jealousies among the crew. As a disciplinary measure, he wrote, it humbles one and knocks out of one any last remnants of false pride.53

In mid-February 1915, a crack appeared in the ice ahead of the ship, creating a 200-yard vein of waterway in which the ship might move. The men jumped from the deck with picks and shovels in hopes of extending the opening toward shore. After a full day of heavy digging with virtually no progress, they gave up. The Boss presented the overall situation as one of delay rather than disaster, altering his plans to prepare for a landing the following summer. Privately, he worried that the unpredictable circular currents of the Weddell Sea would carry the Endurance to a position that would make the transcontinental trek all but impossible.

Nevertheless, Shackleton was determined to use the winter months productively and keep his men occupied. For example, the long wait provided a much-needed opportunity to drill the sled dogs. The Canadian mutts brought on board in Buenos Aires had an inborn tolerance for severe cold. But they were unruly and had never been trained to pull supply-laden sledges.54 Shackleton divided the dogs into six teams for such work, assigning specific men to lead each group. The men and dog teams later competed in a dog derby that inspired lively competition among the crew members.55

In addition to sufficient activity, Shackletons own demeanor was essential to maintaining morale during the long stay on the boat. One day, for example, the Boss surprised and entertained his men by waltzing across the pack ice with Captain Worsley to a whistled tune. Orde-Lees wrote that the display typified Shackletons positive outlook:

That is Sir Ernest all over. . . . He is always able to keep his troubles under and show a bold front. His unfailing cheeriness means a lot to a band of disappointed explorers like ourselves. In spite of his own great disappointment and we all know that is disasterous [sic] enough, he never appears to be anything but the acme of good humor and hopefulness. He is one of the greatest optimists living.56

But the days became weeks, and the weeks became months, and still the ice held the ship. As April passed, daylight hours became fewer and fewer until, by early May, the men found themselves in the complete darkness of the Antarctic winter. Before the light faded fully, the crew had hunted aggressively for seals, stockpiling 5,000 pounds of meat and blubber.57 Now, with daylight gone, outside temperatures averaged -17o F (-27o C). The men converted the main hold of the ship into communal living quarters kept comfortable with the heat of a coal stove and the light of a paraffin lamp hung from the ceiling.58 There was little work to be done outside in the dark, so the men passed the time by writing in diaries, reading, listening to music from a hand-crank phonograph, and playing cards and chess. Once a month, they would gather to hear photographer Hurley tell stories and show lantern slides of the many exotic places he had visited over the years.

Midwinter storms in June stirred increasingly tempestuous currents beneath the ice. While winds and skies above the ship appeared relatively calm, distant storms began shoving the floes against, past, and under the boat, making the timbers groan and occasionally shifting the angle of the hull. Inside, the men decorated their living quarters for a feast to celebrate Midwinters Day, when the sun began its gradual reappearance on the Antarctic horizon. The crew continued the celebration by mounting a variety show that included humorous songs, skits, and poems.59

On July 13, 1915, with the outside temperature hovering at -30o F (-34o C), Shackleton called Worsley into his quarters for a conversation that he never forgot. Until then, the mission of the crew had been to wait out the winter and hope to move the following summer. But during those winter months, millions of tons of shifting pack ice had pressed against the Endurance on all sides, weakening the timbers that held it together. The structure could not withstand the enormous pressure of the floes for much longer. It had never occurred to me that we should lose our ship, remembered Worsley. Shackleton broke the news: The ship cant live in this, Skipper. . . . You had better make up your mind that it is only a matter of time. It may be a few months, and it may be only a question of weeks, or even days. Wild and I know how you feel about the Endurance, but what the ice gets . . . the ice keeps.60

For the next five monthsmore than 150 daysthe crew waited anxiously, each night expecting the ice to swallow the ship. During late October, the men suffered constant jolts from the shifting of the floes. Since January, the Endurance had drifted 685 miles northward (see Exhibit 1), toward softer but also more dangerous ice capable of either opening a path to survival or swallowing the ship into a watery abyss. On October 17, the ice rose and fell, as if moved by one enormous wave, and drove the Endurance to a 30-degree tilt, where it froze again. The men ate dinner with their legs against the sides of the hull, Worsley wrote, feet against a batten & plates on their knees.61

Abandoning Ship

On October 24, the ice began its final attack on the Endurance. Three pressure ridges, which had been torturing the vessel throughout its drift northward, converged at the back end of the boat, suddenly ripping away the rudder. Gallons of water spilled in. Shackleton directed the men to pump the water out while the carpenter worked furiously to build a dam. These efforts held the boat intact for four days, but by October 27, 1915, the stout little ship, as Hurley poetically put it, that bride of the sea, finally gave in.62 The decks warped under the immense pressure of the ice. The timbers of the boat creaked and groaned loudly. Finally, the keela strip of wood on the exterior used to reduce rockingtore away, and water rushed in.

Shackleton ordered the crew to abandon ship, and the men spent the night camped on the thick ice nearby as the temperature fell to -15o F (-26o C). Early the next morning, Shackleton dragged petrol cans from the wreck of the boat and began preparing hot powdered milk for breakfast. His first thought, Third Mate Greenstreet explained, was for the men under him. He didnt care if he went without a shirt on his back so long as the men he was leading had sufficient clothing. He was a wonderful man that way; you felt that the party mattered more than anything else.63 Hurley meanwhile remembered feeling reassured by Shackletons presence during the first night on the ice:

Sir Ernest was ever on the watch, and as I took refuge in one of the tents from the stabbing wind, the last sight I had that night was of a sombre figure pacing slowly up and down in the dark. I could not fail to admire the calm poise that disguised his anxiety, as he pondered on the next move. What was the best thing to do? How should he shape his tactics in the next round of the fight with death, with the lives of twenty-eight men at stake? I realised the loneliness and penalty of leadership.64

Shackleton quickly decided to march the men across the ice in the hopes of reaching Paulet Island, 350 miles northwest (see Exhibit 1), where a storehouse from a 1903 expedition still stood and was believed to contain significant rations. The Boss intended the crew to drag two of the three whaleboats salvaged from the Endurance to the edge of the ice and then launch them for an open-boat journey through the remaining nautical distance to the island. Shackleton recognized that this plan presented several grave dangers. First, most members of the party were completely inexperienced at trekking in polar conditionsonly six of the men had been slated to participate in the original transcontinental march. The rest were capable scientists and sailors, but Shackleton could not predict how they would perform at crossing such unpredictable terrain. At any moment during the march, the ice underfoot might crack and split, separating the men or dropping them into the water. Furthermore, dragging the lifeboats over rough ice could damage the small ships beyond repair. Without boats, there would be no hope of escape from the floes, even if the group managed to reach the edge of the pack.65 The alternative plan suggested by Worsleycamping on the nearest floe and waiting for the ice drift to carry them north to the islandmight have been safer. But, Shackleton thought, the right thing to do was to attempt a march. It would be, I considered, so much better for the men to feel that they were progressingeven if the progress was slowtowards land and safety, than simply to sit down and wait for the tardy north-westerly drift to take us from the cruel waste of ice.66

The march proved much more difficult than Shackleton or any of the crew expected. Estimating that the party could manage to drag two of the three whaleboatseach named for an important donor to the expeditioncrew members left the Stancomb Wills behind and pulled the Dudley Docker and James Caird across the ice. Filled with supplies, each boat weighed nearly a ton, and soft ice made the work of pulling the boats even more backbreaking. The sledge runners kept sinking, allowing the bottoms of the boats to drag on the jagged surface of the floe. By the end of the first afternoon, they had marched a little over a mile.

The following day, heavy snow and melting ice kept the men from resuming their march until afternoon. A few hours later, Shackleton halted travel as another heavy snowfall began. On the third day, the men found themselves hip-high in soft snow as they moved. After only a quarter of a mile, Shackleton stopped to confer with Wild, Worsley, and Hurley. Although Hurley was not trained as an officer, he possessed the survival skills of a pioneer and a blustery, independent spirit that made his commander wary.67 By keeping Hurley close by and informed, Shackleton aimed to keep him in check. The advisory group concurred that there was little choice but to call off the grueling trek and hunker down on the floe. They would wait for the ice around them to break up a bit and seize the first opportunity to launch the lifeboats toward Paulet Island. From there, Shackleton hoped that a small party of men would march to Wilhelmina Bay, where they would be able to make contact with a whaling ship (see Exhibit 1).

Life on the Ice

On November 1, 1915, Shackleton ordered a more or less permanent camp established approximately four miles from the Endurance, on a 20-foot-thick ice floe. The men named the site Ocean Camp. Shackleton divided the crew into five tents, choosing one strong head for each. With energetic leadership in each small group, he hoped to keep morale high and discipline intact.68 To his own tent he assigned two of the more controversial members of the expedition: James, the physicist, whose clumsiness, academic demeanor, and general unfamiliarity with shipboard life had made him the focus of much teasing, and Hurley, whose tremendous energy and ingenuity sometimes manifested themselves as arrogance.69

As always, Shackleton ordered the crew to keep busy. Days began with an early breakfast of seal steak or canned provisions, after which each man set about his chores.70 While the cook prepared the next meal, others melted ice into drinking water, repaired equipment, tended the dogs, or helped the carpenter strengthen the lifeboats.71 Most of the men spent long hours each day hunting seals, whose meat was the mainstay of the teams diet and whose blubber fueled the camp stove. The hunters consulted the expeditions doctors to find the most efficient way to kill their prey. Using knives, pickaxes, and any other weapons that could be improvised, they experimented with various techniques. In the evenings, the men played cards or talked until what they called lights out at 8:30 p.m.in fact, November in the Antarctic Circle meant nearly 16 hours of sunlight each day, so the crew often crawled into their tents before dark.72 By 10 p.m., the only movement in camp was that of the designated night watchman making his rounds.73

Despite this quickly fashioned routine, the iceberg settlement was vulnerable to the constantly changing conditions of life on the ice. During the first night at Ocean Camp, for example, Shackleton pacedlistening, he later remembered, to the groans and crashes that told of the death-agony of the Endurance, still audible four miles away. While pacing, Shackleton spotted a crack running across our floe right through the camp. The alarm whistle brought all hands tumbling out, and we moved everything from what was now the smaller portion of the floe to the larger portion. Even after their long march and the ordeal of shipwreck, the ice would not allow the men a solid nights rest. The men turned in again, Shackleton noted, but there was little sleep.74

Over the next few weeks, the officers and crew retraced their steps across the ice to the wreck of the Endurancenow dubbed Dump Campto recover valuable food, the third lifeboat, and other supplies. This adventure was liberally spiced with danger, according to Hurley, owing to the fact that the Endurance was suspended above 2060 fathoms [approximately 12,000 feet] of ocean by the great tongues of ice that were thrust though her ribs.75 Nevertheless, he noted, the men took to their task with characteristic good humor: A great cheer arose whenever a case of high food-value came to light. I arrived on the scene just in time to see a keg of sodium bicarbonate greeted with groans.76 In total, the crew recovered more than three tons of stores from the wreck of the Endurance, including valuable boxes of flour, sugar, rice, walnuts, barley, lentils, canned vegetables, and jam.77 They pulled wood from the ice and pried nails from planks to deliver to the carpenter, who needed them to reinforce the whaleboats for the long open-boat journey that the party assumed it would soon be making.

After most of the foodstuffs had been recovered, Hurley recalled that he went down to the wreck, unknown to the leader, with one of the sailors, to make a determined effort to rescue my films and negatives. The photographer and sailor hacked their way through the spears of ice and the broken pieces of the ship. Hurley located his darkroom and decided to plumb the water-filled compartment for his photographs. The sailor lowered Hurley by the legs into the semi-darkness of the ships bowels.78 As Hurley emerged with three tins of negatives, Shackleton discovered the two and gave them a tongue-lashing for having risked another venture into the ship, which could sink at any moment.

Hurley convinced the expedition leader to include 120 of the best negatives in the supplies to be hauled back to civilization. Still, Hurley remembered that Shackletons insistence on decisiveness in the selection of plates caused him a painful hour. Sir Ernest and I went over the plates together, and as a negative was rejected, I would smash it on the ice to obviate all temptation to change my mind.79

The Endurance Sinks

On November 21, 1915, nearly four weeks after the men had abandoned the Endurance, Shackleton stood examining the ship in the distance. One member of the expedition wrote in his diary: This evening, as we were lying in our tents, we heard the Boss call out, Shes going, boys! . . . And, sure enough, there was our poor ship a mile and a half away, struggling in her death agony. She went down bows first, her stern raised in the air. She then gave one quick dive and the ice closed over her forever. . . . Without her, our destitution seemed more emphasized, our desolation more complete.80

Within minutes, the dark spot of water into which the Endurance sunk froze over, blending into the white ice that extended endlessly in all directions. Since abandoning the ship, the team had expected it to sink. But the vessels loss nevertheless dealt a very powerful blow to the mens morale. Shackleton himself was stunned. He recorded the event briefly in his diary and added: I cannot write about it.81

Alone on the Ice

In the weeks that followed, an acute episode of sciaticaa painful condition caused by compression of a spinal nerveconfined Shackleton to his waterlogged sleeping bag. As he lay in his tent, he debated how to keep control over his men. James recalled that despite poor health and limited mobility during these weeks, Shackleton was constantly on the watch for any break in morale, or any discontent, so that he could deal with it at once.82

Using navigational devices salvaged from the Endurance, the men closely monitored the movement of the ice floe they were camped on, hoping that winds and currents would carry them north to Paulet Island (see Exhibit 1).83 But mid-December calculations revealed that they were drifting alternately northwest and east, in an overall direction away from land.84 Shackleton consulted with Wild and Hurley about attempting a second march westward toward land to counteract both the eastward drift of the floe and the sense of idleness and helplessness that was beginning to settle over the men. It was believed that the edge of the pack iceand thus an opportunity to launch the boatslay between 150 and 180 miles to the west.85 Reaction to the news that the team would be moving again was mixed; many felt that because of slightly warmer temperatures, the ice would be too soft to traverse. Shackleton determined that the group would travel at night to capitalize on colder temperatures and thus more solid ice underfoot. After an early Christmas feast at which the men were treated to unlimited helpings of food, the entire party set out at 3:30 a.m. on December 23, 1915.

The march west proved exhausting and discouraging. Men in harnesses pulled the boats and supply-laden sledges over slushy, uneven ice for hours at a time, but the effort gained them little ground. The team covered only a mile and a half per day, making an extended trek seem all but impossible given the wet conditions, constant hunger, and total fatigue they experienced. On the fourth day of the march, Shackleton set out with a small party to scout ahead. When he returned to the group, McNeish declared his refusal to continue with the march. Angry, exhausted, and plagued by foot pain, the carpenter openly challenged Shackletons authority, contending that his duty to follow the leaders orders had officially ended with the sinking of the Endurance.86 After a bitter confrontation with McNeish, Shackleton gathered the group together and reviewed the ships articles, making one significant change. Although he was not legally obligated to pay the team for their time after the ship was lost, Shackleton declared that every man would be paid in full for each day until they reached safety.87 The Bosss address and revisions to the articles quieted the situation, but McNeishs near-mutiny had given voice to what each member of the team knew: that continued struggle over soft ice would be fruitless. Two days later, Shackleton halted the trek on the following grounds:

We had been on the march for seven days. . . . We had marched seven and a half miles in a direct line, and at this rate it would have taken us over 300 days to reach the land away to the west. As we had food for only forty-two days there was no alternative but to camp once more on the floe and to possess our souls in patience until conditions appeared more favorable for a renewal of the attempt to escape.88

The team dubbed their new location Patience Camp and settled in to wait for the currents they hoped would carry them to Paulet Island. The ice surrounding the camp was too wet and broken to allow another attempt at marching with the sledges, yet it remained too thick to allow launching of the three boats.89 As the supply of foodstuffs from the Endurance dwindled, the men relied increasingly on seal, penguin, and occasionally sea lion for nourishment. By mid-January, food could no longer be spared for the dog teams. Shackleton ordered that most of the animals be shot, an event that was deeply disturbing to all.

Harsh weather frequently confined the men to their tents. But rest was difficult even there, as the sleeping bags, often wet by day, froze solid in the cold of night.90 In the evenings, Shackleton divided his time among the tents, reciting poetry or playing cards with the men.91 Days, then weeks, then months passed in this manner.

At daybreak on April 7, 1916, Shackleton and several members of the crew spotted Clarence Island, a small speck of land due east of the slightly larger Elephant Island (see Exhibit 1) in the distance, indicating that strong currents were carrying the floe toward land. As Shackleton wrote in his diary that day:

The swell is more marked today, and I feel sure that we are on the verge of the floe-ice. One strong gale followed by a calm would scatter the pack [ice], I think, and then we could push through. I have been thinking much of our prospects. . . . The island is the last outpost of the south and our final chance of a landing-place. Beyond it lies the broad Atlantic. Our little boats may be compelled any day now to sail unsheltered over the open sea, with a thousand leagues of ocean separating them from land to the north and east. It seems vital that we should land on Clarence Island or its neighbour, Elephant Island.92

After further deliberation, Shackleton decided that when the floe broke up and the boats could be launched, the crew would set sail for Deception Island, west of Clarence and Elephant Islands (see Exhibit 1). At Deception Island, the Boss expected to find stores left for use by shipwrecked sailors, as well as a small church for passing whalers. The team hoped to fortify itself with provisions there and use wood from the church to build a sturdier boat if necessary.93

Into the Boats

On April 9, 1916, 15 months after the Endurance had first lodged in the ice, Shackleton gave the order to launch the lifeboats in search of land. The Boss divided the men into three groups; he would command the James Caird, and he appointed Worsley to lead the Dudley Docker and navigator Hubert Hudson to steer the smallest boat, the Stancomb Wills.94 William Bakewell, one of the men assigned to the Stancomb, wrote about the first day at sea: Our first day in the water was one of the coldest and most dangerous of the expedition. The ice was running riot. It was a hard race to keep our boats in the open leads. . . . [W]e had many narrow escapes from being crushed when the larger masses of the pack [ice] would come together.95

The first night of the journey brought further upheaval. The team camped on a flat ice floe, only to be rocked awake in the middle of the night as an ocean swell cracked open the ice beneath them, throwing one man still encased in his sleeping bag into the frozen waters below. The man was pulled to safety, but there would be no more rest that evening. Following the incident, Shackleton ordered hot milk and a small ration of food for all the men. For the rest of the night, they huddled around the blubber-fired stove, anxiously awaiting the morning and listening to the calls of killer whales.96 During their time at Patience Camp, the men had witnessed killer whales bursting from beneath the surface of the water with enough power to shatter ice floes above.97 Now, they waited and hoped that the floe they stood on would not attract the whales that encircled them.

The days that followed in the boats were equally terrifying and painful. The men faced powerful squalls of ice and snow, frostbite, intense thirst, and waves that threatened to overturn the boats. Sleep was virtually impossible. Night temperatures fell to -7F (-22o C), creating layers of ice inside and outside the boats.98 After several days, the weather cleared enough for Worsley to attempt a reading of their longitude and latitude using a sextant, an optical navigation device. The men estimated their progress thus far as anywhere from 30 to 60 miles toward their target. The reading, however, delivered what the captain privately called a terrible disappointment: far from progressing northwest toward their destination, the three boats had actually drifted 30 miles east and 11 miles south of their departure point.99

The expedition leader announced that because they had not made as much progress as hoped for, a change in pla