NathanFirst Destination
The ship found its way to the land of Buenos Aires with no such noteworthy incident. It was from here that the Endurance too voyaged to reach the South Pole floating through the uncharted South Atlantic island of South Georgia. And during those times, the island had whaling stations which were kept about 2,000 miles to the closest coast of Antarctica.
A Slight Delay
Shackleton and his group of men could not contain their excitement, waiting to reach their destination. However, the heavy ice conditions resulted in the crew having to make a stop at one of the island’s Norwegian whaling stations for around 4 weeks. By the time they started in England, it was about 4 months passed when the waters cleared up for the Endurance to start the journey again. There was a huge surprise waiting to be discovered.
Imaginable Impediment
Just after 2 days since the voyage started from South Georgia Island, the Endurance met with an unforeseen obstacle. The crew had already assumed the water to have cleared up enough for the sail to proceed towards the south but they quickly encountered a dangerously dense block of floating ice merging together. These are also known as pack ice.
Hopes And Prayers
As weeks passed, the South Pole-bound journey had to endure a lot, as the crew made their way deep into the Weddell Sea. The crew needed to be cautious and smart about how they guided their ship through the impenetrable masses of ice floating in the sea. Shackleton hoped the pack ice soon dismembered for the Endurance to steer on safe and sound. But this was not possible…
Unsteady Progress
The unsettling condition of the sea leads the crew to make some changes. The ship had to go through another course a few times as the Endurance was showing such a slow progress, getting the crew members to feel stressed out and tensed. The vessel had been developed to be able to get through icy waters. But even so, the ship had to stop multiple times due to the unexpectedly large mountain of ice floating on the water.
One Fine Day
As the ship made its way out of the South Georgia Island, weeks passed and still there was little progress made. But finally, the crew saw that the waterways seemed to have opened up and the Endurance could finally set sail with not such hindrance southward. They were starting to lose all their hope but one fine day, a change occurred.