Top Gear Polar Special
James May comments
Shackleton’s adventure in the Endurance still will make you shiver, even on the hottest day of the year, wrapped in blankets! An incredible man.
Shackleton, simply the best!
A great leader and truly a man of ‘Endurance’.
Many amazing feats.
And fun bits.
Stowaway on Endurance (from wiki):
...saying to Blackborow, “Do you know that on these expeditions we often get very hungry, and if there is a stowaway available he is the first to be eaten?” To which Blackborow replied, “They’d get a lot more meat off you, sir.” Shackleton hid a grin and after chatting with one of the crew members said “Introduce him to the cook first.”
Blackborow proved an asset to the ship as a steward and was eventually signed on, though under the promise that he would be the first eaten should they run out of food or should the men starve.
Following Endurance’s entrapment and crushing, the crew relocated to Elephant Island. On arrival, Shackleton thought to give Blackborow, the youngest of the crew, the honor of being the first to step on the island, forgetting that his feet had been frostbitten. Helped over the gunwale, he fell in the shallows and was quickly carried ashore.
...On 15 June, with Shackleton and the James Caird crew now away for a month, Macklin, assisted by McIlroy, carried out the necessary amputations. Greenstreet described the operation. “Blackborow had … all the toes of his left foot taken off ¼ inch stumps being left … The poor beggar behaved splendidly and it went without a hitch … Time from start to finish 55 minutes. When Blackborow came to he was cheerful as anything and started joking directly.”
