In 1916, British explorer , stranded in the Antarctic on remote Elephant Island with his crew from the shipwrecked Endurance, led five men on a desperate crossing of the Southern Ocean in a lifeboat. It took them 17 days to reach South Georgia Island, some 800 miles to the northeast. Then it was another day and a half of nonstop overland trekking across glaciers to reach a whaling station, from which Shackleton would eventually mount a successful rescue of the rest of his crew. Among the greatest survival epics of all time, it鈥檚 not the kind of journey anyone would want to repeat. Or so you鈥檇 think.
This month, Tim Jarvis, 46, of Australia, and a five-man team will attempt to reenact Shackleton鈥檚 legendary save, sailing a replica of his 22.5-foot lifeboat, the James Caird, carrying only sextants and chronometers, wearing period polar garb made of wool and fur, and eating pemmican and biscuits. The expedition is an ambitious bid for historical authenticity that could easily end up getting Jarvis into some very cold water. Like the James Caird, Jarvis鈥 boat doesn鈥檛 have a ballast keel and thus cannot sail into the wind, making passage through the rock-studded inlet where Shackleton made landfall on South Georgia Island all the more treacherous. And while the team is carrying an emergency beacon and will be followed by a motorized support vessel at some distance, there鈥檚 no guarantee of rescue if a violent Southern Ocean upends the smaller boat.
鈥淚f something happens at night and we鈥檙e eight miles from our support vessel, it won鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 there or not,鈥 says Jarvis. 鈥淔or Shackleton it was a journey into the unknown. For us it won鈥檛 be that different.鈥
Jarvis should know. Five years ago, he spent 43 days trekking across Antarctica to re-create the saga of Australian Sir Douglas Mawson, the lone survivor of a three-man geological expedition in 1912. Jarvis went so far as to scrape by on starvation rations to test whether Mawson, who was accused of cannibalism, would have been forced to eat one of his fallen colleagues. His conclusion: the explorer could have made it by consuming his packed food and sled dogs.
Jarvis isn鈥檛 the first to try following Shackleton鈥檚 heroic path. In 1997, a crew of Irishmen tried to duplicate the James Caird voyage but gave up after capsizing three times in 24 hours. A few years later, mountaineers Conrad Anker, Reinhold Messner, and Stephen Venables retraced Shackleton鈥檚 South Georgia Island trek for an Imax film. The 22-mile traverse has since become a high-profile (if rarely taken) trip for adventure-travel outfitters. Veteran Antarctica guide , who has led five groups across the land route, has watched others attempt it in period garb and turn back. 鈥淭hey wisely realized it wasn鈥檛 going to work,鈥 Hahn says. 鈥淚鈥檝e been in some of the worst weather of my life in that crossing.鈥
To prepare, Jarvis鈥 crew trained extensively in ocean survival off the south coast of England, practicing capsize procedures and treading water in heavy woolen clothes. Still, he鈥檚 not giving himself great odds of finishing: 鈥淚鈥檇 say there鈥檚 no more than a 50/50 chance on this whole thing.鈥 听听听听听听听