Race to save Shackleton and Tom Crean’s South Georgia refuge from collapse

A race is under way to restore a building used by Irish polar explorers Tom Crean and Ernest Shackleton during their epic mission to rescue the crew of their ship, Endurance.

The vessel became trapped in pack ice in February 1915 during Shackleton’s ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, leaving its 28-strong crew stranded aboard the three-masted schooner barque for nine months before it finally sank.

Led by Shackleton, the crew survived for more than six months living on sheets of floating ice before landing on Elephant Island.

From there, Kildare-born Shackleton and Kerry-born Crean, the expedition’s second officer, along with four other crew members, set out on an epic journey in a 20ft lifeboat to seek help, while the remaining crew sheltered on the uninhabited island.

After reaching South Georgia — a remote, mountainous island 800 miles away in the South Atlantic Ocean — three of the rescue party fell ill.

Stromness Whaling Station, South Georgia. Picture: South Georgia Heritage Trust/PA Wire

Shackleton, Crean, and one other crew member then set out to cross 32 miles of South Georgia, an island notorious for its extremely harsh climate.

The three-man team reached the Stromness Whaling Station on May 20, 1916, and from there organised the successful rescue of their remaining 25 crew members.

Their base at the whaling station was the manager’s villa at Stromness, and it is this building that now forms the focus of a €3.5m restoration project.

South Georgia Heritage Trust communications officer Morag Wood told the Irish Examiner: “The work had to begin as it did last November because if it hadn’t it would have fallen down.

“The work is now well underway, thanks to the generous contributions from donors.

“The work will take until March to complete.” 

Dickie Hall, who is managing the Stromness Villa restoration for the South Georgia Heritage Trust. Picture: South Georgia Heritage Trust/PA Wire

The villa is regarded as one of the most important surviving pieces of heritage associated with Ernest Shackleton.

Following the collapse of the whaling industry in the 1960s, the villa and surrounding buildings fell into disrepair.

However, thanks to the work of the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) and the Friends of South Georgia Island in the US (FOSGI), the structures are now being preserved.

With the help of donors who raised the required €3.5m, SGHT commissioned a team of specialist builders and carpenters from Norway and the UK to carry out the work.

The Norwegian team members previously took part in a 2022 survey of South Georgia’s whaling stations and have restored other buildings on the island originally constructed by Norwegian whalers.

Building supplies and equipment arriving at Stromness on South Georgia island. Picture: South Georgia Heritage Trust/PA Wire

Once the work is complete, plans are in place to create a digital ‘twin’ of the villa.

This will produce a detailed 3D version, allowing people to virtually “knock” on the famous door or warm themselves by a digital fireside.

SGHT CEO Alison Neil said: “The Shackleton story is so intrinsically linked with South Georgia and we are delighted that we have been able to raise the funds to stabilise this important building that played such a significant part in the rescue of the entire Endurance crew.

“The subsequent creation of a digital version of the Villa will have many possible uses in terms of telling the Shackleton story as well as providing access to a global audience.

“We look forward to working on that in due course.

“This project is a continuation of our work on South Georgia over the last twenty years and we look forward to the next twenty as we strive to shine a light on and support the environmental recovery and cultural heritage of this wonderful island.”