Images(3)

The ENDURANCE keeling over

Photographer Captain Frank Hurley (1885 - 1962)

Date18 October 1915

Object number00034265

NamePhotograph

MediumSilver gelatin print

DimensionsImage: 281 × 406 mm
Sheet: 405 × 505 mm
Overall: 405 × 505 mm
Mount / Matt size (C Fini Mount): 522 × 717 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionPhotograph by Frank Hurley of ship ENDURANCE listing to port by thirty degrees and surrounded by ice. Figure visible leaning over the aft rail is Shackleton.HistoryShackleton wrote of this event in his account 'South': "The next attack of the ice came on the afternoon of October 18th. The two floes began to move laterally, exerting great pressure on the ship. Suddenly the floe on the port side cracked and huge pieces of ice shot up from under the port bilge. Within a few seconds the ship heeled over until she had a list of thirty degrees to port, being held under the starboard bilge by the opposing floe. The lee boats were now almost resting on the floe. The midship dog-kennels broke away and crashed down on to the lee kennels, and the howls and barks of the frightened dogs assisted to create a perfect pandemonium. Everything movable on deck and below fell to the lee side, and for a few minutes it looked as if the ENDURANCE would be thrown upon her beam ends. Order was soon restored. I had all fires put out and battens nailed on the deck to give the dogs a foothold and enable people to get about. Then the crew lashed all the movable gear. If the ship had heeled any farther it would have been necessary to release the lee boats and pull them clear, and Worsley was watching to give the alarm. Hurley meanwhile descended to the floe and took some photographs of the ship in her unusual position."SignificanceAntarctica is a place where one mistake can make the difference between life and death. A continent of extremes: it is the highest, driest, windiest and coldest place on the planet. It has also produced some of the world’s most heroic explorers.

The early 20th century saw the most amazing Antarctic journeys with names like Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen and Mawson being forever linked with endurance, heroism and tragedy. The expeditions of Scott and Shackleton in particular remain among the most popular and remembered around the world. They epitomise the heroism associated with Antarctic adventure.