Comments on: Faithful James Caird replica to sail from Elephant to South Georgia

By: anne

anne — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:49:12 +0000

Gavin Atkin wondered where Trevor Potts’ replica of Shackleton cutter is… It’s on a boat trailer at Trevor’s “Ardnamurchan Campsite & Study Centre” in NW Scotland: see http://www.trevorpotts.com/ Looked in good nick in 2009

By: Maritime Monday 137

Maritime Monday 137 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:43:26 +0000

[...] has “Faithful James Caird replica to sail from Elephant to South Georgia” following in the wake of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 [...]

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:11:50 +0000

Without doubt the voyage of the James Caird is one of the supreme feats of endurance, courage and seamanship. But like Chris and Steve I wonder if Tim Jarvis’ replica journey helps us comprehend the scale of the achievement—or whether it belittles it. There is, however, a part of me (not a small part) that would love to be involved in this adventure.

Will they be landing through surf on the wrong side of South Georgia and making the gruelling 36 hour overland march to Stromness Station? I believe they took screws out of the James Caird and fixed them on their boot soles for traction.
Ben

By: Steve Taylor

Steve Taylor — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:55:55 +0000

I agree with Chris’s comments. I have also often questioned whether the activities of Thor Heyerdal, Tim Severin et al have added much to the body of knowledge around early navigation. After all, if I cross the North Sea in a bathtub using an astolabe it doesn’t prove that the Vikings did it – or anyone else for that matter…

Steve

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:56:19 +0000

To be honest I am not sure what to think of this. We know that the voyage can be done – Shackleton and crew proved that, so there is no sense that this re-enactment can be justified as research. I don’t want to seem harsh but part of me feels that it in some way trivialises a truly desperate voyage carried out by courageous men in order to save an entire crew, really a last roll of the dice. Or perhaps I am just being crotchety! Best of luck to them in any case – from the original account they are going to need every last bit of it.

Chris

By: Gavin Atkin

Gavin Atkin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:27:27 +0000

Well remembered Steve.

I’ve just found this link – scroll down and there’s some stuff about that expedition in 1994. http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/expediti.php

The photo at the top alone is more than enough to put me off doing anything remotely like this!

I wonder what happened to the McNulty boat?

Gav

By: Steve Taylor

Steve Taylor — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:33:42 +0000

You’ll remember that the Boat Journey was re-enacted by Trevor Potts in 1993/4. The boat used was (if memory serves) a loose-ish replica built using strip planking (by McNulty?). It will be interesting to see if the latest one is closer to the original. You would certainly need to be very hardy and possibly a little mad to undertake a trip like this. I look forward to reading more about the voyage.