Why didn't Shackleton head for the Falklands?

[Dipper]

poo I have just looked at the photos as I have attached them and you cant zoom in enough on here to see anything. If anyone is interested I can email them in higher res and you can zoom right in. I also have loads from that flight and many more in the south atlantic. regards.

no longer in ownership of a contessa contessaman.

I manage to them bigger than my screen. I opened the picture, clicked on it and waited a couple of seconds. The now enlarged picture came up with the magnify + symbol as the mouse cursor. Clicking again made it even bigger. It worked on the sperm whale photo.

 

[Little Rascal]

Or click here...

It's a very cool pic!

 

[KAL]

poo I have just looked at the photos as I have attached them and you cant zoom in enough on here to see anything. If anyone is interested I can email them in higher res and you can zoom right in. I also have loads from that flight and many more in the south atlantic. regards.

no longer in ownership of a contessa contessaman.

No - the photos are fine. I can make out the sperm whales really clearly. Amazing. Thanks.

 

[misterg]

....Somebody told me that the climb he and tom crean did across georgia with nothing but some old rope was attempted by modern climbers + kit and they couldn't do it any quicker. He did not loose a single man on that expidition. ...

anyway, enjoy the pics guys. be thankful for the warmth and food you have!

There's a good book about Tom Crean, too (a serial voluteer for several polar expeditions who served under Scott and Shakleton) - "Tom Crean - Unsung Hero" (In case you didn't know about it)

http://website.lineone.net/~polar.publishing/tomcreanunsunghero.htm

Thanks very much for the photos, contessaman - superb!

Off at a slight tangent - One thing that was brought home to me by Joshua Slocum's book "Sailing Alone Around the World" is an impression that seafarers at that time (up to the 1900's say) were very widely travelled - arguably more so than today where ships steam along established routes between established ports. Because of the uncertainties of wind power, and the vagueries of non electronic navigation they made it their business to know every tiny island or reef that might offer water or landfall (or shipwreck) - witness the Admiralty Directions for which islands have food caches on, etc. I don't think it's unrealistic to think that seafarers kept in the back of their minds some sort of rolling 'contingency plan' of where to head to should disaster befall them.

What hit me between the eyes was that Slocum's undertaking wasn't a voyage of discovery (as I see many contemporary RTW accounts), more a leisurely re-visiting of previous haunts via the scenic route in a home made boat. At one point, somewhere in the Pacific I think, he remarks on a wave pattern that was so distinctive as to make him sure of his position - you need to see a lot of the world before you can come out with statements like that!

Sorry, rambling on - thanks for the pics!

Andy

 

[Greenheart]

Excellent posts, thanks very much.

I wonder if those elements of time and vulnerability and adventurous approach are what limits our voyaging ambitions today...we seem to think 'safety first', where a century back, the skipper appears to have thought mainly in terms of a journey's significance.

Actually I'd still be vastly impressed by a British yacht's crew visiting Tristan da Cunha, or going up the Amazon, or even to Honolulu.

Maybe it's the humorous nonchalance that the early 1900s explorers showed, that makes their accounts so readable. Compared with the ease we enjoy, and the reliability and durability of our equipment and systems, their contentment with what was available then, seems rather Monty Python.

I wonder how much more secure we'll be at sea, a century from now?

...Can you believe it? Back in 2011, those nutters used to cross the Channel, not in convoy!! Brave souls...

 

[LittleSister]

Compared with the ease we enjoy, and the reliability and durability of our equipment and systems, their contentment with what was available then, seems rather Monty Python.

Our systems may be more reliable and durable, but a key difference is that they are much more complex and interdependent. When almost everything on a ship/boat was variations on wood and rope nailed or tied together, and repairs and maintenance (inlcuding making replacements from scratch) were daily routine, all the skills, tools and knowldge were on board. Now we have almost every component purpose made, and a failure needs specialist made parts, and often knowledge and tools, to resolve.

This is not just electronics, but think of a traditional gaff sail strung (literally) from a spar of wood, in turn held against the wood of the mast by rope and with a bit of leather as a bearing surface, compared to the plastic and aluminium mouldings, metal/plastic precision bearings, and goodness knows what else involved in, say, a modern high tension rig (even just the blocks, or sliders for fully battened sails).

 

[Greenheart]

Quite true, I'm sure, and rather sad. For all our systems' improved efficiency, we ourselves have diminished versatility and skills.

 

[Poignard]

Maybe it's the humorous nonchalance that the early 1900s explorers showed, that makes their accounts so readable. Compared with the ease we enjoy, and the reliability and durability of our equipment and systems, their contentment with what was available then, seems rather Monty Python.

One thing Shackleton did have in his favour was that he did not have equipment manufactures and advertisers (aided and abetted by some yachting journalists) continually trying to convince him that he would be foolhardy going to sea without their products onboard.

 

[Greenheart]

Amen to that.

But, Shackleton did have to sell the rights to the photographic coverage of the Endurance's trip, didn't he? Though I loved the brisk, blithe way he'd argue and agree terms with the people involved. At least, as Kenneth Branagh's part portrayed him.

 

[Poignard]

Amen to that.

But, Shackleton did have to sell the rights to the photographic coverage of the Endurance's trip, didn't he? Though I loved the brisk, blithe way he'd argue and agree terms with the people involved. At least, as Kenneth Branagh's part portrayed him.

I got the impression that he was also a good manager - able to persuade people and bring out the best in them, rather than simply ordering them around.

 

[contessaman]

Actually I'd still be vastly impressed by a British yacht's crew visiting Tristan da Cunha, or going up the Amazon, or even to Honolulu.

people do get about -there were a couple of cruising yachts moored in port stanley when I was there. both steel construction, rust streaked, all manner of aerogens (whizzing in the full gale winds that seem to blow continously there) astrodomes, antenna goal posts, home made self steering etc. you get the picture? I cant remember the home ports but they were definatley visiting yachts. wheather they were going to explore the falklands/ s.georgia or using it as a launching point for the cape I dont know.

There was also a locally owned fisher motor sailer! I wonder if northshore have the monopoly there like landrover - there is only one type of car in the falklands. I suppose if landrover made a yacht it would look something like a fisher..

I even managed to banter a young 2nd Lt in the senior service to lending me one of a handful of laser pico dinghys they had in a lock up. hadn't sailed a dinghy in a while... like riding a bike surely? they are only little like a topper. I still had to reef it down a lot though! but had a great day sailing there until my my lips went blue and my body hurt.