Tending Sir Ernest´s Legacy: An Interview with Alexandra Shackleton

Shackleton: Everyone did everything that he was capable of doing, and that´s
the crux. He didn´t ask any man to do more than he ever felt he could do, but
he inspired people to do more than they felt they could do themselves.


NOVA: How did the crew perceive their captain?

Shackleton: Worsley was a brilliant navigator, as we know, but he was also
regarded as rather eccentric and even sometimes irresponsible. He came into
his own in a crisis: when the ship was in distress but above all in the two
boat journeys-the journey of the three boats to Elephant Island and the
single boat journey to South Georgia. I would say quite simply, he was a geniu
s as a navigator. If the little James Caird had missed South Georgia, they
would have gone out into the Atlantic and never been heard of again. As the
men on the expedition realized what he could achieve, they began having more
respect for him.


NOVA: How about (Frank Wild)? What did your grandfather think of him?


Shackleton: Frank Wild was his second-in-command, totally devoted, totally
able. He was probably one of the smallest men in the expedition, but he was
very, very strong. He´d explored with my grandfather on the Nimrod
Expedition, and he was utterly, utterly reliable. My grandfather described
him once as "my other self."


They had very different personalities, but Wild was an absolutely ideal
second-in-command, because he was capable of running things if necessary on
his own, as he did on Elephant Island. For several months he kept the men
together. Every day they´d "pack up the stow, boys, because the boss might
come today." He was aware of the vital importance of a routine. Members of
previous expeditions had met with alcoholism and suicide and insanity. But
this expedition´s members were all kept together pretty well, and that´s
leadership.


NOVA: How about difficult personalities like (Thomas Orde-Lees)? How did your
grandfather feel about him?


Shackleton: Orde-Lees was extremely eccentric, and I think my grandfather
found him quite irritating. He also had abilities that no other member of the
expedition had; he was an expert skier, for instance. He himself had a lot of
admiration for my grandfather.


In lots of ways Orde-Lees was the most unpopular member of the expedition,
though he had this amazing imperviousness. He didn´t really mind. When he
heard the story, which was probably apocryphal, that they´d voted if they
ever had to eat one another that it would have been him first, he just noted
in his diary "no doubt this is because I´m the fittest member of the
expedition."


NOVA: How about the carpenter (Henry McNeish)? How did your grandfather
handle his attempted mutiny?