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24th April marks the anniversary of the day Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions embarked on the now legendary voyage of the tiny James Caird, crossing 800 miles of storm-tossed Southern Ocean from Elephant Island to South Georgia. There they climbed the unknown mountainous interior of the island and eventually rescued Shackleton's men from Elephant Island.
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The South Australian Polar adventurer also recently completed with a colleague the first unsupported crossing of Australia's largest desert, the remote Great Victoria Desert, spanning an area of almost 350,000km². The ABC and Channel 4 film Mawson: Life and Death in Antarctica won film awards following Tim and colleague John Stoukalo's expedition to re-enact the polar survival journey of Sir Douglas Mawson using the same 1912 clothing, equipment and starvation rations as Mawson would have had. He has navigated through sub-zero Arctic temperatures on Spitzbergen and at the North Pole.
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Meanwhile the Shackleton Epic Expedition's plans are well advanced. A replica of the James Caird is presently being built. Tim's aim is to "do the double", i.e. complete both Shackleton's boat journey and Shackleton, Worsley and Crean's arduous 36-hour trek across the (then uncharted) mountains of South Georgia. There have been several not entirely successful attempts in the past to complete both undertakings exactly and in rapid succession.
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The Patrons of the Expedition are the Master of Dulwich College, Graham Able MA, and The Hon. Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of Sir Ernest and President of the James Caird Society.
Tickets to this special launch event are available and cost £25 (please makes cheques payable to The Shackleton Epic Expedition) and can be obtained from Anna Thomsen, 54 Bendermeer Road, Putney, London SW15 1JU. Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope. (Donations are also welcome.)
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