Frank Worsley

Frank Worsley (1872, Akaroa - 1943) was a sailor and exploring New Zealand.

Biography

After having exerted its talents of sailor in the Pacifique he united with the Expédition Endurance of Shackleton, as captain of the boat the Endurance . The goal of forwarding was to cross the the Antarctic, but the ship was the prey of the ices and ends by being crushed and sinking. The 28 men derived on the pack until, thanks to the talents of navigation of Worsley, they can accost on board three lifeboats on the island of the Elephant.

Worsley, Shackleton and four another men sailed in a lifeboat 7 meters length called the James Caird on the unchained ocean of the South Atlantic and succeeded in joining the South Georgia. It was there an incredible feat of ingenuity on behalf of Worsley, which could be used for to hold the course only of a Sextant in a small boat in the middle of storms and of hollow of twenty meters. Once on the island and always with Shackleton and the sailor Tom Crean, they managed in 36 hours to rejoin the station whale-boat of Stromness. Thanks to this double exploit, they could help the men remained on the island of the Elephant.

During the First World War, Worsley was the captain of a Q ship secret and succeeds in running a German Sous-marin during a remarkable operation. He died of a Lung cancer in 1943.

Anecdote

According to Worsley (he tells it in its book p.34), the men pronounced Elephant Island (the island of the Elephant) with “you dumb and a “H” aspired in front of, which gave Hell-off-year-Island (“blasted island”).

Work

F.A. Worsley, Shackleton' S Boat Journey

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