Stories of Survival

Endurance at night.

When reading the story of the sinking of the whaleship Essex, I was instantly reminded of a story I read in middle school. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, a book by Alfred Lansing, tells the story of the entire expedition, from its beginnings in England to the loss of the ship. Sir Ernest Shackleton, the leader of the voyage, was an adventurer on one of his many trips to the antarctic. The race to get to the South Pole was in full swing when the Endurance cast off from England in 1914. 6 crew members navigated the Endurance to South American where they met the rest of the crew and began to prepare for the expedition to Antarctica.

The stranded Endurance.

In January of 1915, the Endurance became frozen in the pack ice surrounding the ship. The crew drifted with the pack throughout the winter, hoping that with spring, the ice would melt and the ship would be freed. Unfortunately, the pressure of the ice surrounding the ship damaged the hull significantly. On October 24, 1915, when the ice melted, water began pouring in to the ship. The crew removed all three small boats, the sled dogs, and the equipment and began to camp on the ice floes surrounding the ship. On November 21, 1915, Shackleton announced that the ship was going down, and the crew was stranded with the three small boats on a large, flat ice floe.

Moving one of the lifeboats.

After two months of camping on the floe, separated from Paulet Island by impassable pack ice, Shackleton decided to move camp to a larger floe, creating what is known as Patience Camp. The men had to use the sled dogs to drag 3 of the small boats, which was no small feat, across the ice onto the new floe. Shackleton and his men trusted the ice to flow in a direction leading them closer to a safe landing spot. Shackleton decided to risk the voyage across the ice when on April 9, 1916 their ice floe broke in half. After 5 days in the open water, they landed their small boats on Elephant Island. They had not stood on solid land in 497 days.

The crew by the Endurance.

Elephant Island was an inhospitable place. Shackleton ended up taking the strongest of the lifeboats on a dangerous journey to South Georgia. He chose 5 men to accompany him on the trip, leaving the rest of the crew behind on Elephant Island. The James Caird launched April 24, 1916, and landed on South Georgia on May 8, 1916. Shackleton and two of the men crossed South Georgia using only 50 feet of rope and a carpenter's adze, in order to reach the whaling station at Stromness. Immediately upon reaching the whaling station, he sent a ship to retrieve his men from the other side of the island and set to work trying to rescue the men on Elephant Island. Shackleton's first three attempts were blocked by the pack ice surrounding the island. Eventually he appealed to the Chilean government who loaned him the tugboat Yelcho. On August 30, 1916, the Yelcho reached Elephant Island. and all 27 men were evactuated.

The launching of the James Caird.

Shackleton

Shackleton's men endured more than most people can even imagine. The bitter cold led to frostbite. Some men on Elephant Island had toes, fingers, even feet amputated, while on the island. The sled dogs who started the expedition with the men ended up becoming food for the men throughout the journey, despite the crew becoming very attached to them. Sometimes they ended up going days without finding a new source of food. The only incoming food they had was penguins, seals, and the occasional sea leopard. The blubber of these animals was saved and used to fuel lamps as well as cook. While on Elephant Island, the men converted the two lifeboats left behind into a makeshift hut, living there for four months until they were rescued.

The crew by the hut on Elephant Island.

The crew of the Essex faced similar challenges. The lack of food and water supplies, combined with the harsh weather created a living environment that was almost unlivable: "Their physical torments had  reached a terrible crescendo.  It was almost as if they were being poisoned by the combined effects of thirst and hunger.  A glutinous and bitter saliva collected in their mouths that was "intolerable beyond expression."  Their hair falling out in clumps.  Their skin was so burned and covered with sores that a splash of seawater felt like acid burning on their flesh.  Strangest of all, as their eyes sunk into their skulls and their cheekbones projected, they all began to look alike, their identities obliterated by dehydration and starvation" (Philbrick 133).

It is not easy to imagine how any of these men survived. Was it on the part of the skill of their captains, whether it was Shackleton or Pollard and Chase? Or were they merely extremely lucky? Perhaps we will never know. In the case of Shackleton, I think his incredible skill at navigation and survival in harsh weather as well as his previous experience in the Antarctic helped the entire crew immensely. Captain Pollard and first mate Chase did not seem to be nearly as in control of such an impossible situation as Shackleton.

As a survivor of a situation with harsh odds, I find both of these survival stories fascinating. When I was seven, I was diagnosed with large cell lymphoma. My original diagnosis was Ewing's Sarcoma, a cancer that is nearly impossible to beat even with amputation, chemotherapy, and radiation. The cancer relapses frequently, making it almost impossible for the patient to get healthy. While I was in surgery getting a central line put in, lab technicians noticed the cells they were observing changing in a way that did not indicate Ewing's. I was rediagnosed with large cell lymphoma, a type of cancer only requiring a short round of chemo. I ended up on staying in the hospital for four months before my cancer was gone. Was it luck or the skill of my doctors that cured my cancer? An answer to my mom's prayers? Some combination of both perhaps. Beating the odds makes you appreciate life even more than you did before, because it can be gone in a second, whether it be cancer or a giant sperm whale that ends the journey.