Shackleton's Ship Endurance

The following article from The Queenslander of Saturday 19 September 1914 is a physical description of the ship Endurance, used by Ernest Shackleton for his trans-Antarctic expedition along with a summary of the crews for both the Endurance and the 'pick up' vessel the Aurora. 

The article starts with announcing the arrival of the Endurance in the Thames, however by the time of publication in The Queenslander, Shackleton and his team had departed  both London and subsequently Plymouth (on 8th August) bound for Buenos Aires. The gap between the event and the reportage is probably a result of how long news took to travel around the world in 1914, even though telegram was available in many parts of the world.

The article names sixteen people for the Endurance party, but in reality there were twenty-eight persons who travelled to Antarctica aboard the Endurance. Wikipedia has a list of 28, but this does not align with this published list. Some departed the expedition prior to leaving England, or at Buenos Aires in order to answer a call to war. Shackleton offered the whole expedition to the war effort but was instructed to proceed with the endeavour. The people who departed the expedition and do not appear in the Wikipedia list are F. Dobbs, C. Brocklehurst, V. Studd, and Mr Jeffreys. Another Wikipedia article also lists Sir Daniel Gooch, who joined the expedition at Buenos Aires and departed at South Georgia. Gooch was a dog handler and his absence is one of the few absences who absence is recorded as having a negative effect on the expedition.

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

SHACKLETON'S SHIP ENDURANCE. 

The ship Endurance in which Sir Ernest Shackleton is going to make his voyage to the Antarctic recently arrived in the Thames from Norway. The Endurance is a new vessel. She was built under the name of the Polaris by a syndicate of Polar explorers, who proposed to utilise her for pleasure cruising in Polar seas by wealthy people. 

 Mr. Frank Wild, second in command to Sir Ernest Shackleton, who is in charge of the refitting of the ship, has provided additional accommodation for the members of the expedition by erecting a deck house from the main mast aft to the stern for officers, and one from amidships to the foremast containing the mess room for sixteen people, kitchen, and pantry. The roofs of these superstructures, connected by gangways, form a comfortable promenade and bridge deck, which is a novelty in such vessels. A large cabin in the fore part of the main deck forms the men's quarters. Heating throughout by means of steam radiators will prevent the air from becoming vitiated by foul gases, and do away with the collection of dust and dirt inseparable from coal fires. All the internal arrangements have been made with a view to making the "'tween decks" cosy and warm without in any way interfering with a due amount of ventilation. A better designed and stauncher vessel, says Mr. Wild, never left the shipwrights' hands, or one more suited to the purpose for which she is intended. On June 5 the Endurance made a three hours' trip to try her engines and adjust her com passes. She then proved to be an unusually handy craft. 

Her dimensions (builder's measurement) are as follows : Length over all, 144 ft. ; length on water line, 125 ft. ; extreme breadth. 25ft. ; depth moulded, 15ft. 9in. ; gross tonnage. 384 ; net tonnage, 171 ; mean draught loaded, 13ft. ; corresponding displacement 658 tons ; coal consumption per diem, when steaming seven and a half knots, about three tons. 

 

The following list of members of the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition has been officially announced :

— Weddell Sea Party Sir Ernest H. Shackleton, leader of the expedition; Mr. Frank Wild, second in command ; Mr. G. Marston, Mr. T. Crean, Captain Orde Lees, Lieut. F. Dobbs, Lieut. Courtney Brocklehurst, Mr. J. Wordie. geologist ; Mr. R. W. James, physicist and magnetician ; Mr. L. H. Hussey, assistant magnetician and meteorologist ; Mr. F. Hurley, photographer and kinematographer, Mr. V. Studd, geologist ; Lieut. F. A. Worsley, in navigating command of the Endurance on the voyage from London to Buenos Aires and the Weddell Sea, and afterwards to take part in the surveying and exploring of the coast ; Mr. Jeffreys, Mr. Hudson, and Mr. A. Cheetham. 

— Ross Sea Party : Lieut. Aeneas Mackintosh, leader and meteorologist ; Mr. E. Joyce, zoologist ; Mr. H. Ninnis ; Mr. H. Wild ; and Dr. Macklin, surgeon. There only remain two vacancies, and these are to be filled, by another doctor and a biologist. The Ross Sea party will sail in the Aurora.