Frank Worsley
local hero
Frank Arthur Worsley DSO and Bar, OBE, RD (February 22, 1872, in Akaroa – February 1, 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer.
as a boy in Akoroa
After serving in the Pacific, and especially in the New Zealand Post Office's
South Pacific service (where he became renowned for his ability to navigate to
tiny, remote islands) he joined Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic
Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of the Endurance. The aim was to cross the
Antarctic continent, but the ship became frozen in ice, and was eventually
crushed. All 28 men from the expedition floated on the ice until they put to
sea. Then they sailed in three lifeboats until, thanks to Worsley's navigational
skills, they reached Elephant Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula.
Worsley, Shackleton and four other men then sailed the 22-foot (6.7 m) lifeboat
James Caird some 800 miles across the stormy South Atlantic Ocean, eventually
arriving at their intended destination, South Georgia. This was an astounding
feat of navigation by Worsley, who used a sextant in a tiny boat that
encountered 50-foot (15 m) waves and storms.
Shackleton, Worsley and seaman Tom Crean then walked across South Georgia in a 36-hour march to fetch help from Stromness whaling station. All men were rescued from Elephant Island. Worsley has become almost a maritime legend due to the epic feats of navigation he performed during the famous expedition; the journey of the James Caird is one of the greatest, most astonishing sea journeys in human history. He is respected by sailors and seafarers worldwide. In 1931 he published his account in the book Endurance which remains popular and in print to this day.
During the First World War, Worsley captained a secret 'Q ship' and was
responsible for the ramming and sinking of a German submarine in a skillful
maneuver. He died from lung cancer in 1943.
* According to Worsley, the men pronounced Elephant Island with a silent 't' and
an 'h' prefixed, which makes it sound like Hell-of-an-Island.
* Mount Worsley on South Georgia is named for Frank Worsley
Bibliography:
* Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure, 1931, W.W. Norton & Company, 1999.
* Shackleton's Boat Journey, 1933, W.W. Norton & Company, 1998.
Text from Wikipedia, Photos from Akaroa Museum
