Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. Job 38:29-30
September 4- Temperature, -14.1° Fahr. Light easterly breeze, blue sky, and stratus clouds. During forenoon notice a distant terracotta or biscuit color in the stratus clouds to the north. This traveled from east to west and could have conceivably come from the Graham Land volcanoes, now about 300 miles distance to the northwest. The upper current of air probably would come from that direction. Heavy rime. Pack unbroken and unchanged as far as visible. No land for 22 miles. No animal life observed. -Ernest Shackleton
Despite the fact that the ice held Endurance fast, there was little struggle with pressure through most of September. Indeed, the whole ice pack itself was largely still. Occasionally the men would hear a the grinding and crashing of ice from far off, and would spot pressure ridges from the crow's nest. The routines of work and play that had been initially constructed carried on as usual. The supply of meat for the dogs was running low, and the seals and penguins which could have cushioned the supply had all but disappeared. Still they were able to kill an occasional seal for meat and also for blubber to use as fuel for the stove. On September 23rd, Wild, Hurley, Macklin, and McIlroy took their dog teams to the most notable landmark, the Stained Berg. An iceberg so named due to the streaks of dust and sand on it. From the top of the berg, at 110 feet, they could sight no land. On the 26th, the men initiated a daylight-savings system by setting the clock forward one hour. Shackleton summed up mankind's struggle with daylight savings when he wrote "this is really pandering to the base but universal passion that men, especially seafarers, have for getting up late, otherwise we would be honest and make our routine earlier instead of flogging the clock."
September 30 was a bad day. It had started off well enough, as the party was able to add the meat of two penguins and five seals to their supply. In the afternoon, cracks in the ice that had opened alongside the ship began to work laterally and squeeze the ship. Heavy pressure was sustained to the hull on the forward port side. The decks shuddered and jumped, while beams groaned and buckled. Shackleton ordered all hands to stand by for whatever situation might arise. But the ship resisted as she always had, and when it was thought her limit had been reached and it was all over, the large floe that was bearing down on her cracked across and the pressure abated. In describing how many times the ship had come to the breaking point and still managed to withstand the pressure of the ice, Worsley wrote "It will be sad if such a brave little craft should be finally crushed in the remorseless, slowly strangling grip of the Weddell pack after ten months of the bravest and most gallant fight ever put up by a ship."
Indeed, shipwrights had never done finer work than on Endurance, and most other ships would have succumbed within the first few days or weeks. But she could not keep up the fight forever. Humanity can only build and prepare so much against the naked edge of the natural world. It has been said before that nature howls at us through the bars that man has built. Times like this would cause one to question on which side of the bars mankind sits. Inside our buildings are we perhaps the ones in the cage?
Endurance was about to meet her fate. She was headed for the worst part of the worst sea on earth. The Weddell Sea is constantly churned by the Weddel Gyre, a current that spins clockwise to carry all the ice around to grind and push and pile against the western shore. In the first days of October, bergs that had not moved for months began changing position; the ice was moving. The current season's ice was now about 230 days old, and was 4 feet, 5 inches thick under 7 or 8 inches of snow. The ice had been slightly thicker in September, so Shackleton theorized some melting had occurred underneath. Clark had recorded above freezing water temperatures at depths of 150 to 200 fathoms, so that corroborated melting from below. The air temperature, however, was still -25.4 F.
On October 10, an unexpected thaw made things uncomfortable for everyone. The temperature rose from -10 ° F to +29.8 ° F, the warmest they had experienced since January. Rather like the Arctic thaw we recently had on December 30, 2015 when the temperature was 50 degress above average at 30 ° at the North Pole. The decks of the ship were clear of ice and snow, and between decks got dripping wet due to the melting. This was a definite sign winter was over, and Shackleton gave orders for reoccupying the cabins and preparing to sail the ship as soon as she got clear. On the evening of the 13th, the ship broke free of the floe she had been resting against and came upright. The rudder was free, but the propeller was found to be off to one side, having been forced into that position by the ice. Meals were served again in the wardroom that day for the first time since March.
Wind from the south rose to a gale on the 14th, and the temperature dropped from +31° F to -1° F. During the night, the ship broke free of the ice and drifted quickly astern until she lay almost at right angles to the open lead in the ice. This was a very dangerous position for the rudder and the propeller, as they could easily be smashed as the ice moved. Fortunately, the weight of the wind on the ship drove the ice further open and Endurance swung around and moved 100 yards along the lead. By 3 a.m., the ice closed again and they were held fast. Although the pack had closed again, it was still loose, and on the 17th, topsails and headsails were set in an attempt to force the ship out to open water a few miles away, but she was still stuck. Later the same day, heavy pressure developed again. Loud crashes, groans, and hammering sounds were heard in the engine room, and the iron plates on the floor began to buckle. After an hour of torment, to everyone's relief, the ship rose, lifting out of the ice ten inches and three feet, four inches aft. Unfortunately, Endurance was also heeled over six degrees to port. Still, she was free, for now.
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| Crew members working to free the ship from ice |
Another onslaught of ice came the afternoon of the next day. The two floes began to move laterally, putting great pressure on the ship. In seconds, she heeled over to one side, until she was listing 30 degrees to port. The boats on the lee side were almost touching the ice, dog kennels amidships broke free and crashed into the lee kennels, while everything movable on deck fell to the lee side. Shackleton had all fires put out, and battens were nailed to the deck to give dogs and people a foothold. Hurley, meanwhile, descended to the ice to take pictures of Endurance in her unusual position (thankfully the selfie stick had not yet been invented). At 8 p.m. that evening the ice opened and the ship righted herself again.
The following days were not as dire, but certainly there was no delusion that they were out of danger. The next day, the boiler was started in preparation to steam ahead and break through ice again if need arose. The engines were tested, and everything was in working order, despite being frozen solid for eight months. The men began thinking about trying to move the ship, getting the engines running, and possibly breaking out of the ice. But it would be to no avail.
Sunday, October 24 would be the beginning of the end for Endurance. With the twenty-two and a half hours of daylight available, they had watched the floes advance until 6:45 p.m. when the ship sustained pressure from three sides, Starboard, Port Forward, and Port Aft. The force was irresistible. Endurance groaned and shook as the ice moved forward as well as laterally, actually bending and twisting the ship. She began leaking at once. Quickly, ice was knocked off the pumps, which were then started up to push out the water that was rushing in. By 8 p.m., the pressure had relaxed. Over the next two days they had to pump almost constantly while repairing leaks, while the ice pressed in and then released several more times. Pressure from the ice would help close a few of the leaks in the following days.
At last, the dreaded day that everyone knew eventually would come, dawned: Wednesday, October 27, 1915. Under clear skies and calm weather, the pressure on the ship increased steadily, By 4 p.m. the ship was stern-up, letting the ice split the rudder, and tear out the stern and rudder posts. Water began pouring in below decks. An hour later, Shackleton ordered all hands on the ice as the ship was breaking up under their feet. Before leaving, they doused the boilers so they would not explode when near-freezing seawater hit them. Essential supplies had already been moved about 100 yards from the ship, and all men and dogs made it safely to an unbroken portion of the ice. After having to move once due to breaking ice, final camp was pitched around 8 p.m. with five tents.
Shackleton was not unprepared for this moment. He knew this was coming and had made plans and contingencies hundreds of times in advance. He knew that an ordered mind and a clear plan were essential to survive. The next morning he, Wild, and Hurley went back to the ship to retrieve some tins of petrol for the stove. Endurance was even worse off than the previous evening, all starboard cabins were demolished, and the whole aft section of the ship had been crushed concertina style. The forecastle and Ritz were underwater, while the wardroom was three-quarters full of ice.
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| Dogs watching Endurance in its final stages of her sinking, by Frank Hurley |
This first camp would be known as Dump Camp because the men left behind more things than they carried. They would have to reach land primarily on foot, so nothing unnecessary could be carried, and a rule of two pounds per man was made. Unfortunately, the animals were deemed unnecessary, and a drain on the food supply, an event that is even more grievous than the loss of the ship. On October 29, three days after Endurance was evacuated, the three youngest puppies and Mrs. Chippy, the carpenter's cat, were shot. They kept the sled dogs for now, to help pull supplies, but even they would be unnecessary in the days to come.
When one can only carry two pounds, what to keep and what to leave behind is a difficult decision. Letters and other personal belongings of much sentimental value but little intrinsic, were buried in the ice and consigned to oblivion, although often money was thrown away while letters and photographs kept. Shackleton tore a flyleaf from the Bible that Queen Alexandra had given the ship with her handwriting on it, and a page from the Book of Job containing the quote above. Alexandra had given another bible for the shore party, but it was now lost in the twisted remains of Endurance. The two boats were loaded with gear not carried by men and fixed with sledges. Once loaded and outfitted for ice travel, each boat weighed over a ton. The boats would be pulled by men, the remaining sleds by dogs. Once that was done, everyone gathered themselves for the journey on foot across the frozen sea in hope to eventually reach land.
