24th April 1916: Ernest Shackleton and crew sail to South Georgia in the lifeboat James Caird

APR 23 2022 · 12:00

The crew had been forced to make their way to Elephant Island after Endurance sank due to pack ice in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica the previous October. Having made their way off the ice in Endeavour’s lifeboats at the start of April, Shackleton decided to kit out the strongest lifeboat, James Caird, for a perilous 720-nautical-mile voyage across the Southern Ocean to South Georgia. Their mission was to organize a rescue party for the shipwrecked crew of Endurance. Despite all th