Retracing the steps of Ernest Shackleton

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Explorer Tim Jarvis and his crew have just set off on the exact route across the Antarctic taken by Irishman Ernest Shackleton in 1916, right down to a replica boat and equipment, he tells Danielle McGrane

THE outlook is bleak, the weather is abysmal and the economy is not getting much better. It’s at times like this the world needs a hero.

Someone who is willing to step outside of the every day, eschew the mundane and show us there’s much, much more to life.

As if on cue, in steps an Ernest Shackleton for the modern age: Tim Jarvis, a fearless adventurer who puts Bear Grylls to shame.

The Australian has already recorded the fastest unsupported journey to the South Pole, has completed the longest unsupported journey in Antarctica and now, for his next feat, he will follow in the footsteps of greatness.

In 1916, Ernest Shackleton, born in Kildare, attempted to cross the Antarctic from the Weddell Sea coast to the Ross Sea coast, or, from sea to sea, by boat and then on foot.

The original plan was to use two boats, the Endurance to carry Shackleton and his men on the first part of the journey, and then a second ship, the Aurora, would leave Tasmania and arrive at McMurdo Sound, in order have a second crew with supplies ready for Shackleton’s last march across the continent, via the South Pole.

However, on the Weddell Sea, the Endurance ran into difficulty and was crushed by ice, leaving Shackleton and his crew with little hope of survival.

But the explorer and five men, realising they would die if they didn’t pursue the journey to a whaling station 800 miles away, left Elephant Island — where they had eventually drifted.

In a small wooden lifeboat, they went across the Southern Ocean for 17 days. They battled treacherous weather conditions and choppy seas in a 22½-foot lifeboat and managed to land on the small island of South Georgia.

But it wasn’t over yet, from there Shackleton and two of the crew climbed over the heavily glaciated mountains of South Georgia to reach the whaling station on Stromness on the other side. Nobody has tried to recreate the journey using traditional gear ... until now.

“Shackleton was a real guru of change management, which is a message for now — the need to be flexible in the modern era. He was a master of that,” Jarvis says, from a Polish base at King George Island, just days before he and a crew of five men, attempt to recreate the epic journey.

So last week, with authenticity in mind, the men began the journey in a replica 22-foot lifeboat, the Alexandra Shackleton (named after Shackleton’s granddaughter), using original tools such as sextants to navigate — keen to recreate the journey as Shackleton did.

“We won’t be wearing Gore-Tex or any other modern day endurance clothing, we’ll be wearing what Shackleton and his crew wore nearly 100 years ago. And along with the sextant, we have a nautical almanac — which will tell us where the sun, moon and planets are at different days,” he says.

Jarvis has two goals on this trip: to promote leadership in a changing world and to spread awareness of climate change and its affect on the world.

“Shackleton pursued each new goal he was faced with as much as his original. Let’s not forget, his original goal was to cross Antarctica on foot, then Endurance sunk. The rest of this expedition was to save himself, and his crew,” Jarvis says.

On the issue of climate change, Jarvis explains that the crew are not out to make any scientific discoveries. For one thing, they don’t have any modern day equipment with which to record or measure any changes, but he does wish to create the awareness.

“When we go to politicians and the corporate sector, we can use the expedition like a Trojan horse — with an adventure story, we can use it to get their attention,” he says.

It’s an old expedition, but the message is very much a modern one. “Shackleton was trying to save himself and his crew, to save man from the Antarctic, but now we’re trying to save the Antarctic from man,” he says.

“There’s been a lot of warming since his time, temperatures have gone up 3½ to 4 degrees in the last 50 years.”

Jarvis says they expect to see some of the results of global warming along the way.

“The route across South Georgia has changed quite significantly. There are more open crevasses to fall into and we’re expecting different winds from what Shackleton experienced.

“In 100 years, what’s happened in the Antarctic is the westerly winds have gotten stronger, which is bringing warmer air from the Pacific which melts ice on the western part, where we start from.

“There may also be stronger winds, and they may be warmer, but that remains to be seen.”

The six-man British and Australian crew are Barry Gray, Nick Bubb, Paul Larsen, Seb Coulthard, and Paul Swain, led by Jarvis. The group combines mountaineers with sailors, who have been training each other and swapping skills from the base at King George Island.

Cameraman Edward Wardle will follow the crew so the journey can be shown on the Discovery Channel. “We’ve been running the boat through its paces and putting it out through reasonably strong winds and we’ve just been trialling everything, to see how we physically cope,” says Jarvis.

“We’re still playing around with the boat,” Jarvis says, just days before he leaves, about his keelless vessel which would be very difficult to turn around even if someone falls in to the water. “Shackleton had years of experience with this technology but our boat has only actually been finished in the last six months.

“It’s just a little rowing boat and a big wave can tip it upside down. We do have a backup vessel, but if we need rescuing in the Southern Ocean, there’s only 10 minutes of survival time when the sea temperature is 1½ degrees. Even if a boat is 10 miles away from you, you won’t make it. So we’re reliant on people not falling in.”

Physical training aside, a journey like this takes enormous mental preparation. When Jarvis met with Shackleton’s granddaughter, Alexandra, six years ago and agreed to do this expedition, it was before his two young sons had been born. It’s a factor he admits has coloured his decision making.

“The difficulty is the oldest one is four-years-old and the little one is 18-months-old and I committed to this before they were around,” he says. “If somebody had asked me to do this after they were here, I may have given a different response.”

One of the few luxuries Jarvis and his men will bring is a modern version of Shackleton’s whiskey. The explorer’s original tipple was discovered in 2010, in crates buried under his hut in Antarctica. Whiskey makers Whyte & Mackay have recreated the original.

It all forms part of Jarvis’s intention to do justice to Shackleton’s memory. “I think the world is ready for a bit more of the Shackleton magic,” he says. “His message was about individuals putting aside their differences to work on obstacles together. If that’s not a message for today with the environment and the global financial crisis, I don’t know what is.”

*Jarvis and his crew are currently out at sea, having left from Elephant Island on Jan 24. See www.shackletonepic.com Home