"To
My Comrades
Who fell in the White Warfare
Of the South and on the
Red fields of France
and Flanders"
Sir Ernest Shackleton, C.V.O
While Western Civilization was facing the beginning of the end in the summer of 1914, another noteworthy event was also well on its way. Sir Ernest Shackleton, that seasoned Arctic explorer was, with fifty-six other men, about to head south to be the first people to cross the Antarctic Continent.
The turn of the 20th century was the Heroic Age, when man's drive to explore every inch of his world peaked, and men sought that last, almost forbidden frontier, the poles. Literally, the very ends of the earth. Many countries were involved in the race to see who would be the first to reach the north and south poles, much like America and the Soviet Union racing for the moon some 60 years later. America won the race to the North Pole in 1909, Britain, an empire in decline, lost the race South to Norway in 1911.
Shackleton, a qualified master mariner, had an abiding love for the cold, extreme edges of our world and was a veteran of polar exploration. He had been a part of Robert Falcon Scott's 1901 to 1903 Antarctic expedition. From 1907 to 1909 he led his own expedition to reach the South Pole, known as the Nimrod Expedition. Their ship , the Nimrod, made it to within 97 miles of the pole when it got stuck in pack ice and had to turn back. At that time, it was the furthest south anyone had been and Shackleton was knighted for his efforts.
Having lost the race to the Norwegians, Shackleton then devised the last great explorer's quest, to traverse the continent of Antarctica in its entire. Charting, exploring, and crossing the whole continent on foot was indeed nothing anyone had ever tried before. Years in planning the expedition was to be in two parts. One part, in the ship Endurance was to disembark at the Weddell Sea* and head for the pole, taking magnetic and meteorological observations, geological survey, and samples of Antarctic flora and fauna. The other part was to bring another ship, the Aurora, to the Ross Sea, on the opposite side of Antarctica. Their party was to go about halfway to the pole from their side and wait for the Endurance party to meet them, also taking scientific observations.
The Endurance set sail August 1, 1914, but she almost never left at all. Once she was fitted out and ready to go, she was to be inspected by His Majesty King George V on the Monday of Cowes Week before setting sail. Cowes week was and still is the conclusion of the Season. Let me pause and explain the Season. The Season is the social calendar of the elite in England and was also for a time in America. It began in the 17th and 18th centuries and was at its peak in the 19th. At this time the aristocrats and landed gentry would leave their country houses and come to London to socialize and engage in politics, as it coincided with the seating of Parliament every year. This was also when young ladies were presented to society (and often to the Royal Court) and expected to find a husband as soon as possible. Once the Season was over, everyone would return to their country houses at the beginning of hunting season to shoot birds in Autumn and hunt foxes in Winter.
When Jane Austen was writing about Mr. Fitzwiliam Darcy and Miss Marianne Dashwood, the season ran from sometime after Christmas until the end of June. By the late Victorian Era, the Season was standardized as running from April to August. After the end of the Great War, the Season fell into decline because many great families had to give up their London mansions. The Season is still preserved to this day, but the venues such as the Proms, the Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon, and so on are now more public venues. However, most events have a dress code where men and women are often required to dress in a more traditional way that resembles their Edwardian predecessors. It is a desiccated mummy, a last relic of a time gone by.
Where was I? Ah yes Cowes Week. Cowes week is one of the largest sailboat races in the world, takes place the first week of August, and is one of the last events of the Season. Cowes week in 1914 was the last real Season before the world blew apart. The Friday before that Monday Shackleton received a message saying the King would not be able to go to Cowes. The date was July 31, Archduke Ferdinand had been assassinated a month prior, and Austria was at war with Serbia. Germany was threatening to attack France, and Britain had just warned Germany that if they declared war on France, Britain would declare war on Germany. This last summer, this last Season before the world was turned on its head, was about to see off the last explorers of their kind.
Endurance left London Saturday August 1, but stayed anchored off the coast through Sunday, anticipating to be called up for war. Shackleton sent a telegram to the Admiralty offering to cancel his expedition and put himself and his men at the service of the crown. The Admiralty replied simply "Proceed." Two hours later, Mr. Winston Churchill sent a longer telegram to Shackleton, thanking him and his party for their offer and stating the authorities desired the expedition to continue as planned. Tuesday, August 4th, the King did arrive and gave Shackleton the Union Jack to carry on the expedition. War finally erupted at midnight on that same day.
Shackleton took a lot of criticism later on for leaving when he did, without consulting the donors of the expedition. But the Admiralty had told him to continue as planned, and no one expected the war to last more than a few months. Indeed most expected it to be over by Christmas. This tiny capsule of the preserved Edwardian world was about to leave the civilized world to its own un-civilizing, and undergo a conflict against the elements of nature that was no less dangerous or strenuous than men shooting bullets and driving tanks at each other back home. They made it to Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 26, and from there sailed to South Georgia, a small island south of the Falklands which was the southernmost outpost of the British Empire, and indeed the very edge of civilization itself. From there was the unknown.
* The land and sea area from the Falkland Islands extending to the South Pole was considered British territory at this time.
Shackleton, a qualified master mariner, had an abiding love for the cold, extreme edges of our world and was a veteran of polar exploration. He had been a part of Robert Falcon Scott's 1901 to 1903 Antarctic expedition. From 1907 to 1909 he led his own expedition to reach the South Pole, known as the Nimrod Expedition. Their ship , the Nimrod, made it to within 97 miles of the pole when it got stuck in pack ice and had to turn back. At that time, it was the furthest south anyone had been and Shackleton was knighted for his efforts.
Having lost the race to the Norwegians, Shackleton then devised the last great explorer's quest, to traverse the continent of Antarctica in its entire. Charting, exploring, and crossing the whole continent on foot was indeed nothing anyone had ever tried before. Years in planning the expedition was to be in two parts. One part, in the ship Endurance was to disembark at the Weddell Sea* and head for the pole, taking magnetic and meteorological observations, geological survey, and samples of Antarctic flora and fauna. The other part was to bring another ship, the Aurora, to the Ross Sea, on the opposite side of Antarctica. Their party was to go about halfway to the pole from their side and wait for the Endurance party to meet them, also taking scientific observations.
The Endurance set sail August 1, 1914, but she almost never left at all. Once she was fitted out and ready to go, she was to be inspected by His Majesty King George V on the Monday of Cowes Week before setting sail. Cowes week was and still is the conclusion of the Season. Let me pause and explain the Season. The Season is the social calendar of the elite in England and was also for a time in America. It began in the 17th and 18th centuries and was at its peak in the 19th. At this time the aristocrats and landed gentry would leave their country houses and come to London to socialize and engage in politics, as it coincided with the seating of Parliament every year. This was also when young ladies were presented to society (and often to the Royal Court) and expected to find a husband as soon as possible. Once the Season was over, everyone would return to their country houses at the beginning of hunting season to shoot birds in Autumn and hunt foxes in Winter.
When Jane Austen was writing about Mr. Fitzwiliam Darcy and Miss Marianne Dashwood, the season ran from sometime after Christmas until the end of June. By the late Victorian Era, the Season was standardized as running from April to August. After the end of the Great War, the Season fell into decline because many great families had to give up their London mansions. The Season is still preserved to this day, but the venues such as the Proms, the Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon, and so on are now more public venues. However, most events have a dress code where men and women are often required to dress in a more traditional way that resembles their Edwardian predecessors. It is a desiccated mummy, a last relic of a time gone by.
Where was I? Ah yes Cowes Week. Cowes week is one of the largest sailboat races in the world, takes place the first week of August, and is one of the last events of the Season. Cowes week in 1914 was the last real Season before the world blew apart. The Friday before that Monday Shackleton received a message saying the King would not be able to go to Cowes. The date was July 31, Archduke Ferdinand had been assassinated a month prior, and Austria was at war with Serbia. Germany was threatening to attack France, and Britain had just warned Germany that if they declared war on France, Britain would declare war on Germany. This last summer, this last Season before the world was turned on its head, was about to see off the last explorers of their kind.
Endurance left London Saturday August 1, but stayed anchored off the coast through Sunday, anticipating to be called up for war. Shackleton sent a telegram to the Admiralty offering to cancel his expedition and put himself and his men at the service of the crown. The Admiralty replied simply "Proceed." Two hours later, Mr. Winston Churchill sent a longer telegram to Shackleton, thanking him and his party for their offer and stating the authorities desired the expedition to continue as planned. Tuesday, August 4th, the King did arrive and gave Shackleton the Union Jack to carry on the expedition. War finally erupted at midnight on that same day.
Shackleton took a lot of criticism later on for leaving when he did, without consulting the donors of the expedition. But the Admiralty had told him to continue as planned, and no one expected the war to last more than a few months. Indeed most expected it to be over by Christmas. This tiny capsule of the preserved Edwardian world was about to leave the civilized world to its own un-civilizing, and undergo a conflict against the elements of nature that was no less dangerous or strenuous than men shooting bullets and driving tanks at each other back home. They made it to Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 26, and from there sailed to South Georgia, a small island south of the Falklands which was the southernmost outpost of the British Empire, and indeed the very edge of civilization itself. From there was the unknown.
* The land and sea area from the Falkland Islands extending to the South Pole was considered British territory at this time.
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