Shackleton’s Delay in South Georgia Island
On November 5th, the Endurance made a mid-ocean stop at the Island of South Georgia, called the “Alps in mid-ocean.” They were greeted by a Norwegian whaling community at the Grytviken whaling station. The Endurance crew planned to spend a few days at the station before moving on. The dogs were in paradise; the crew fed them all the whale meat that otherwise would have gone to waste or fed to the station’s pigs. Instead, they were there for two weeks. The Norwegians informed them that the ice was bad that year, some of the “worst in memory,” a warning the crew was about to experience for themselves.