Someone is Trying to Relive Shackleton’s Antarctic Epic
By Rocky Thompson on January 17th, 2013
You know the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton: His ship the Endurance is trapped in ice, so he takes one of its lifeboats to sail across the Drake Passage to Elephant Island where he makes contact with a whaling community and returns to Antarctica to save his entire crew.
Well, now another Brit is trying to relive his expedition by sailing across the Drake in an open boat and then hiking across Elephant Island. The hike is not a big deal, at least compared to the ocean crossing. With no landmass to impede wind, it whips through the Drake kicking up massive seas. It’s brutal for cruise ships, and could be deadly for a tiny lifeboat. The boat they’re using is an exact replica of Shackleton’s, a 22.5-foot whaler. The only difference is that this one will have emergency equipment, and we can assume food better than Shackleton’s water-sea-water-and-reindeer energy smoothies.
Good luck sir, you are a long way from rescue.
via Adventure Blog
Tags: antarctica, shackleton