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PUNTA ARENAS, THE CITY IN CHILE WHERE SHACKLETON PLANNED TWO BIDS TO RESCUE HIS TRAPPED MEN
Having made their terrifying 800 mile sea crossing aboard the James Caird and already made one attempt from the Falkland Islands to rescue the marooned men, Shackleton, Worsley and Crean arrived in Punta Arenas (see map below) in the summer of 1916. Their signatures are preserved with honour (see photos below) in the book of the British Club in the town, where they were made welcome and entertained on 4 July 1916.
Punta Arenas, located just above the 'tail' of South America, is the furthest south city in the world (although the towns of Puerto Williams in Chile and Ushuaia in Argentina lie to the south of it). The city itself has grown and changed dramatically since Shackleton, Worsley and Crean were there, but it still contains many of the old buildings from the period early in the 20th Century.
One of these, now with a Shackleton connection, is the former Braun Palace, a substantial mansion built on Punta Arenas's main square in 1890 for the well-to-do Portugese tradesman and businessman José Nogueira, and his wife Sara Braun, then the finest building in the city, which has been declared a National Monument. A century later (since 1992) it is now the accommodating José Nogueira Hotel, Bories 959, Punta Arenas 'with 23 rooms, including five suites, exquisitely decorated with all services and comfort of a grand hotel. The available spaces were adapted so that the structure of the building would not be changed, and therefore some rooms are bigger than others, but each one acquiring their own personality and characteristics, and all having a high level of comfort.' The José Nogueira hotel has two dining rooms and the winter garden "Pergola "dining room. 'The first two contain the original furniture, lamps, and curtains of the mansion, and in the Pergola you can dine enjoying the long summer days, whith day light until 11 PM. The quality of the meals has received praised commentaries in specialized magazines. Here you can taste the typical Patagonian and international foods.' Most importantly, however, it houses the thriving "Bar Shackleton".
Punta Arenas is a city of some importance in Chilean history, and one that Shackleton will surely have got to know well as he strove to arrange for the recovery of his marooned men, first on the Emma and finally on the Yelcho. For visiting ships, as the southern most city in the world located in the Straits of Magellan, its proved a safe harnour and welcome stopover point. However its climate, terrain and clientele did not always make for hospitable living conditions. For years (recalls the website Greatwhitefleet.com) it was established as a penal colony, collecting the criminals, fugitives, ranchers, and sheep herders who made their money from smuggling goods into the port for northern cities. With little wood for construction, houses and businesses were built from mortar and rock, with corrugated iron for roofs. This was not to say that the inhabitants were necessarily poor, on the contrary: many had made fortunes in trade and imports.
Punta Arenas was also home for the world's spies. Because of its strategic location to shipping, nations of the world maintained spies to observe the comings-and-goings of the various navies of the world. During a U.S. fleet visit shortly before World War I, it was noted that there were four Japanese spies observing the Fleet from high positions in the hills; and also two Russian spies, who were incensed that there were not allowed aboard the ships to examine the design! Even Britain had sent a cruiser, the Sappho, to observe the condition of the U. S. fleet in transit.
Panoramic views such as these give both some sense of the feel of the lively modern town and a tantalising glimpse of the magnificent wild hinterland not far from the city, including, not least, the incredibly beautiful Parque Nacional of Torres del Paine, just up the Pacific coast from Punta Arenas.
The mountain and lake views in the National Park are (with the Atacama Desert and High Andes) some of the most celebrated in all Chile, and many tour companies vie to take travellers there to see the wildlife and revel in Chile's natural scenic beauty.
In the colder seasons much of the area is bathed in snow and ice, bringing a distinctly Antarctic look to the region, which (with Ushuaia over the border in Argentina) provides a natural leaping off point for the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula.
It was next door to the Naval Institute in Punta Arenas that Shackleton made announcement of his next Antarctic Plans, and was a celebrated and sought after speaker.
Indeed the Chilean reverence for Shackleton is as ardent as for some of their own national heroes, although some have claimed, perhaps justly, that his book South, while honouring the country that did most to help him effect the rescue, does insufficient justice to the part paid by Lt. Pardo in command (it might be noted that Shackleton chartered the Emma with help from a fundraising effort by the expatriots, notably the British Association of Magallanes, founded in 1899) and supportive citizens of Punta Arenas and beyond, with the Yelcho in an attendant role; whereas on the fourth and final occasion the Yelcho was supplied to him by the Chilean Admiralty complete with crew and captain).
Visit the website of the Antarctic Institute of Chile (INACH)
The British Association's website recalls: 'In the late 1800 there arrived in Patagonia, in Magallanes (Magellan) province and specially in Punta Arenas, British sailors, missionaries, scholars, farmers, engineers and tradesmen. The Bishop of Falkland Islands, in consideration of the missionary work done in the South and of how advanced the British Colony in Sourthern Chile was, decided in 1895 to send Rev. John Williams and his family to establish a congregation in Punta Arenas. This Chaplainship exists to this date.'
The English School in Punta Arenas, founded in 1896, has always been unique in many ways. Apart from being the southernmost English-speaking school in the world, it is 700 miles (as the crow flies) remote from any similar school, and serves a region larger in area than that of Great Britain. It was born of the frequently-expressed wish of a British Community, largely composed of Scottish sheepfarmers and shepherds, most of very modest means, who wished for their children an environment of English Language, culture and educational methods. Eager to share in these advantages have flocked the Chilean children, largely of parents of the professional groups of the region.
At the British Club website it is possible to read the pages listing early visitors to the club. This includes the actual page with the signatures of Shackleton, who visited the Club on 4 July 1916 while planning the next rescue bid.
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