Endurance (boat)

Design and construction

The ship, designed by Ole Aanderud Larsen, was produced by the Shipyard Framnæs with Sandefjord, Norway. Its construction was supervised by the master carpenter Christian Jacobsen who was known to employ only men not only qualified in Naval construction but also marine tested Baleinier S or sailing ships.

It was launched on December 17th, 1912 and was initially baptized Polaris of the name of the Pole star. Length 43,9 7,6 meters meters and broad the ship had a displacement of 356 barrels. Although its black hull resembled that of any other ship of similar size, it was actually an outgoing ship of the ordinary one. Its skittle consisted of four pieces of Chêne superimposed a total thickness of two meters, while its Membrure S had a thickness ranging between 45 and 75 cm; the frame was twice thicker than on a ship of this size. The stem, whose role was critical for the progression in the ice, had been conceived in a particularly neat way: each part was cut in a oak chosen for its natural form which reproduced the desired curve. Once assembled the stem had a thickness of 1,3 meter.

The ship comprised 3 Mât S of which only the first carried a gréement square while the two others received a gréement fore-and-aft. The Endurance also had an Engine steam of a power of 350 horses (260 kw), which enabled him to sail with 10,2 nodes (19 km/h). When it was launched, on December 17th, 1912, the Endurance was undoubtedly the most solid ship of the wood ever built, put aside perhaps the Fram , ship of Fridtjof Nansen then later of Roald Amundsen. The design of these two ships comprised however an important difference: the Fram had a round hull. When the pack was closed again on it, the compression of the ice on the hull pushed back this one to the top what enabled him to escape crushing. But as the Endurance had, according to its initial program, to sail in a not very thick pack, it had not been conceived to resist such important pressures.

Owners

The ship had been built initially for Adrien de Gerlache and Lars Christensen. Those intended it for polar cruisings for tourists amateurs of hunting for the Ours. Financial problems encountered by Gerlache reflect fine with this association and Christiensen was happy to be able to sell the ship in Ernest Shackelton for 11.600 £, a low price at the cost of construction. It is reported that he would have said “to be happy that this loss is done with the profit of an explorer of the stature of Shackleton”. After the repurchase by Shackelton the ship was renamed Endurance according to the currency of its family “ Fortitudine vincimus ” (we conquer by the endurance).

The last voyage

See also: Forwarding Endurance

Shackelton embarked on board the Endurance to Plymouth (England) on August 6th, 1914 and set sail towards Buenos Aires in Argentine. It was the first great crossing of the Endurance since its construction and this one proved not very pleasant. The crossing of the Atlantique took two months. Built for navigation in the ices, the hull, according to the opinion of most of the crew, was too round to face an open sea.

The Endurance left Buenos Aires for a last stopover at the station whale-boat of Grytviken in the island of South Georgia located in the South Atlantic, that the ship reaches on November 5th. It set out again of Grytviken on December 5th, 1914 for its last voyage towards the southern borders of the Sea of Weddell.

Two days after having left the South Georgia, the Endurance met the ice and reduced its speed. During several weeks the Endurance cut through its path in the pack of ices by making turnings. The ship continued to advance but traversed a distance lower than 30 miles per day. About on January 15th, the Endurance was with less than 200 miles of its destination, the bay of Vahsel. Unfortunately, the day following the thickness of the ice increased and a storm rose. Under these conditions the ship which cannot more progress, it was put safe from a mountain located on the coast.

January 18th, the storm started to be calmed and the Endurance not being more that at one day of his final destination, one hoisted the veils and one put to it walk the engine of slow speed. The pack having been dispersed, the progression could begin again slowly until a few hours later, the Endurance met again the pack. It, despite everything, was decided to advance by cutting through a path through the pack and at 5 a.m. of after midday the Endurance started to walk on in the thick pack. It was noticed whereas the ice was of a nature different from that met until now. The ship was surrounded by blocks of thick ice then completely blocked soon. The storm began again in intensity and blew during 6 days since north towards the ground. January 24th the wind had pushed back towards the ground the ice of the sea of Weddell. From now on the Endurance was enclosed in a cocoon of the ice. The crew could not any more but wait than a storm come from the South relieves the pressure and opens a channel by pushing back the ice in another direction. But the days passed and the pack did not move any more.

The Endurance derived during months with the ice-barrier from the sea from Weddell enclosed by the blocks from ice. The ice continued to compress the hull of the Endurance until this one cannot any more support it and starts to yield on October 27th, 1915. The ship ran on November 21st, 1915.

The Endurance was the last ship of this type.

The crew

For his last voyage, the crew of the Endurance was composed of 28 men:

Blackborrow, whose candidature had been refused because of sound too young age and its lack of experience, embarked clandestinely thanks to the complicity of William Blakewell, her friend, and of Walter How. He was discovered after a certain time but, the voyage being already quite advanced, Shackleton, which then did not have any more the choice, had to accept it as steward. Thereafter Blackborrow proved its value: it accepted the Polar Médaille bronze and was the first man to pose the foot on the island of the Elephant. Its exact name is prone to controversies, it is sometimes fore-mentioned Percy or named Blackboro.

the Endurance today

Alfred Lansing wrote one entitled book Endurance: the incredible voyage of Shackleton on the tests lived by Shackelton and his/her companions. The work became a best-seller as of its publication in 1959. Successive republications confirmed this best-seller. The last republication (in English language) date of the end of the year 1990.

Two boats of the Royal Navy sailing in the Antarctic received the name of Endurance in the honor of the ship of Shackleton. First, the HMS Endurance , in 1967 (at the origin Anita daN ) was launched in May 1956. Until 1986 it patrolled in the ices and ensured of the hydrographic missions . The second, called the red plum is a ship Brise-glaces class 1A1 bought with the Norway in 1992 and which carried at the time the name of MV Whodunnit Circle . This last ship is based with Portsmouth but takes part in annual campaigns in the Antarctic where it can cut through a path in a thick ice of 0,9 meter at the speed of 3 knots. Its crew is of 126 men and it has two helicopters Lynx.

External bonds

site of Royal Geographic Society which has a broad collection of photographs of the Endurance .
American Museum off Natural History Extracted the newspaper of Frank Hurley: has edge of the Endurance .
the transantarticque forwarding of 1914 - 1917
Crew of the Endurance

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