Men Wanted...

This is the challenging advert which Polar Explorer Ernest Shackleton posted over a hundred years ago in The Times [although there are doubts about the exact wording as no copies remain] But certainly over 5000 men applied for 50 places, on his two ships, the Aurora and the Endurance. 

They sailed to the South Atlantic, in August 1914, and as the rest of the world was caught up in warfare, the Endurance became trapped in the ice, in early 1915. Things became incredibly difficult for the crew - just offshore, they had too much equipment to easily transport across the ice to safety. As the ice melted a little, the ship drifted

- but the refreezing ice compressed the structure and put incredible strain on the hull. By October, Shackleton realised the crew would have to leave the ship and camp on the ice.

On November 21st, movement of the ice floes finally caused the ship to sink. Amazingly, the 28 men travelled miles across the ice to Elephant Island. Finally Shackleton and four men set out in a small boat in terrifyingly stormy seas, to find the whaling station at Stromness, and summon a rescue vessel to go back for the others. They were eventually all rescued safely in August 1916. 

Although they had lost their ship, and been unable to do much of the exploration they had planned, they were hailed as heroes on their return. Their story of determination and survival was held up as an example of courage and optimism to the British troops marching off to fight in the War. 

And to this day, the ship remains somewhere at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. But today, the Algulhas II, a South African research icebreaker, will set off from CapeTown for Antarctica, in an attempt to locate, survey and film the wreck.

In their desperate attempts to survive the men were forced to leave many precious personal items on the ship, along with scientific equipment. It is possible that in the depths of the sea, where the temperature is so cold, and there is less oxygen, things will have decayed more slowly. The expedition could give us a lot more information about the journey.

Shackleton said that he selected men for their "optimism, patience, imagination and courage" These are all great qualities. He was said to be a good leader, brave and selfless, always putting his team first. He inspired friendship and trust.

I hope this expedition is successful. I also hope that we might see more people in positions of leadership, in this 21st century, who share some of Shackleton's qualities!