Worsley, Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party]

Scope and Content

  • MS 733/1;BJ Journal, 1 August to 31 December 1914 [On board Endurance, including crew list, conditions, magazine articles] 1 volume
  • MS 200;D Notes, 10 August 1914 to 15 April 1916 [Biological, soundings and magnetic record of the Weddell Sea] photostat
  • MS 296;BJ Journal, 1 January 1915 to 18 May 1916 [Weddell sea] 1 volume, holograph
  • MS 207/1-4;MSM Charts (4), 1914 to 1915 [Track of Endurance in the Weddell Sea] 4 sheets
  • MS 208/1-4;MSM Charts (4), 1915 [Track of Endurance in the Weddell Sea] 4 sheets
  • MS 733/4;D Notes, [Soundings and bottom deposits Endurance and account of boat journey to Elephant Island] 9 leaves, autograph
  • MS 733/2;BJ & MJ Journal, 24 April 1916 to 25 December 1916 [Voyage of James Caird to South Georgia, 24 April to 20 may 1916, rescue of Elephant Island party, 16 June to 25 December 1916 and retrospective account of the boat journey events] 1 volume, holograph
  • MS 1650/4;D The log and observations of the voyage of James Caird, April to May 1916, typescript
  • MS 297;BJ Log, April to May 1916 [Observations kept during voyage of James Caird, Elephant Island to South Georgia] typescript copy
  • MS 384;BJ Journal, April to 31 December 1916 [Extracts covering boat journey to South Georgia, April to May 1916 then 16 June to 31 December 1916] 55 leaves, typescript copy by Alfred Lansing
  • MS 733/3;MSM Map, undated [Route across South Georgia] 1 sheet
  • MS 1605/12/1;MSM Manuscript tabulation of the track of Endurance, 1914-1916 [Written on reverse of US Navy chart of the South Pacific] holograph
  • MS 1605/12/2;MSM Manuscript of drift of pack ice in Weddell Sea

Administrative / Biographical History

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton) set out to cross the Antarctic continent. When Endurance was beset this goal was abandoned. The ship drifted for ten months before being crushed in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea and sinking in 1915. The entire company spent five months on the ice before escaping in the three lifeboats to Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands. Two of the life boats were made into a shelter for the company while Shackleton, Thomas Crean, Worsley, Timothy McCarthy, Harold McNish and John Vincent sailed 1450Km to South Georgia in the James Caird. Arriving at South Georgia Shackleton, Crean and Worsley made the first major trek across the island to the whaling station at Stromness. The steam tug Yelcho rescued the men on Elephant island in August 1916.

Arrangement

Chronological.

Related Material

The Institute holds over thirty archival collections containing material relating to this expedition see SPRI collection GB 015 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916, for more information.

Bibliography

MS 733/3;MSM Reproduced in South by Ernest Henry Shackleton (1919)

Geographical Names