#EPICVoyage - A crew of five led by British-Australian adventurer, Tim Jarvis, are attempting to become the first to authentically re-enact Sir Ernest Shackleton's Epic 800nm rescue mission across the Southern Ocean from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
The team, are on their 11th day onboard the Alexandra Shackleton which is heading for South Georgia, some 23 nautical miles away. The purpose built 22ft vessel is an exact replica of the lifeboat, James Caird, which made the same journey across the perilous ocean to reach the rugged peaks of the island.
Alexandra Shackleton was named after the Kildare born, polar explorer's only grand-daughter, who as previously reported on Afloat.ie was at the launch of the Shackleton Endurance Exhibition in Dun Laoghaire last September. The exhibition has a wonderful collection of photographs taken by Frank Hurley which relives the abandoning of the exploration ship Endurance, which became crushed in the pack ice, and the subsequent lifeboat rescue mission which can be read HERE in greater detail.
At only 22.5 ft/6.9m, Alexandra Shackleton, is a purpose built exact replica of the lifeboat, James Caird, which made the same journey across the perilous ocean to reach the rugged peaks of South Georgia.
The re-enactment of Shackleton's 'double' journey across sea and land using traditional gear will be according to Jarvis (46), a veteran of multiple polar expeditions, the most challenging expedition of his life.
Shackleton Epic has been in development since 2008, when Shackleton approached Jarvis with the idea of an expedition to honour one of the greatest leadership and survival stories of all time. To keep abreast of news of the re-enactment team, there's a BLOG and to track the vessel's progress, click HERE
