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My name is Frankie Wild and my hut's on Elephant Isle./The wall's without a single brick and the roof's without a tile/But nevertheless, I must confess, by many and many a mile/It's the most palatial dwelling place you'll find on Elephant Isle. |
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| The next day the seas began to kick up somewhat and the Captain decided to take us on a tour of some of the icebergs near the islands. | We first visited B-15, one of the largest icebergs in the world. It is 30 MILES wide by 10 miles deep and about 100 feet high. This makes it larger than many of the Antarctic islands. | |
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| We sailed past Clarence Island, but the seas were too rough to attempt a landing. | We then entered a field of large tabular icebergs which had been sculpted into fascinating shapes by the wind and the waves. | |
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| Our next destination was Elephant Island, where we explored the coast by zodiac. | ||
| Elephant Island is well-known to students of Antarctic history. In 1916 Ernest Shackelton's ship, the Endurance, was crushed in the Antarctic ice. The 28 crew had to take to the sea in three small boats. They made it as far as Elephant Island, where 29 of them stayed for 4 winter months living under two of the boats, under the command of Frank Wild. Meanwhile, Shackelton and the other five sailed in an open boat across 800 miles of open sea to a whaling station, where they arranged for a rescue ship. Amazingly, all 32 men survived. | |
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| This monument marks the spot where the 29 men spent the winter of 1916. | ||
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| Because of the large number of penguins and the rough surf, it was not possible to land. In fact, it is unusual to even have seas calm enough to allow a zodiac cruise. | As we cruised by, the penguins kept a watchful eye on everything happening in the water and the air. | |
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| Some of the penguins also stayed on floating icebergs. | The bergs were large enough to almost cover the ship. | |
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| As the sun broke through again, the sky and the sea made a wonderful contrast with the snow and rock. |