REVISTA DAP AVENTURA 2015-2016

Aventura al fin del mundo 2015 - 2016
Immediately, a rescue mission was organized
for those left back at Elephant Island. After
two failed attempts, Ernest Shackleton,
Captain Frank Worsley and sailor Tom Crean
arrived in Punta Arenas in July of 1916 from
Falkland Islands. The British Club (Banco de
Chile, today) was their center of operations.
A crowd received them with a long ovation
at the Municipal Theatre. Shackleton began
the conference thanking the community,
the Chilean government and the British
Association of Magallanes. “I am only too
sorry that I did not realize before that from
Punta Arenas there was an opportunity of
making a journey to rescue my comrades”,
he said. In less than three days, the British
Association of Magallanes had gathered
1.500 pounds for operational expenses of
the third rescue expedition. Shackleton,
Worsley and Crean sailed from Punta Arenas
towards the South Shetland Islands on board
“Emma”. But the ice stopped them cold,
and they had to return to Punta Arenas to
organize a new rescue.
Shackleton then asked for help from Chilean
Navy, which put cutter “Yelcho” to the mission,
commanded by pilot Luis Pardo Villalón.
Before taking off into this dangerous mission
into Antarctica, in the middle of winter, Pilot
Pardo wrote a letter to his father: “The task is
great, but I don’t fear anything: I’m Chilean.
Two considerations are on my mind before
these dangers: saving the explorers and
bringing glory to Chile. I will be happy if I can
achieve what others couldn’t. If I fail and die,
you will have to take care of my Laura and my
children, who would be left with no support
at all, unless they have yours. If I succeed,
I will have accomplished my humanitarian
duty as a navy member and Chilean. When
you read this letter, I will either be dead, or
back in Punta Arenas with the shipwreck
survivors. I will not come back on my own.”
On August 30th, after going through a deep
bank of sea fog, the 22 survivors were
rescued from Elephant Island, little before
their food reserves were exhausted. On
the morning of September 3rd of 1916,
cutter “Yelcho” arrived at Río Seco’s dock.
From there, Shackleton called his friends
at the British Association of Magallanes on
the phone, as well as Governor Fernando
Edwards, announcing the success of the
Chilean mission, and preparing the mood
for their triumphant return. Local British
newspaper “The Magellan Times” portraits
the city’s awakening after this announcement:
Retrato de Sir Ernest Shackleton. /
Portrait of Sir Ernest Shackleton.
“The news spread like wild-fire; the firebells
rang out to advise the populace; flags
were hoisted, and the townspeople of all
nationalities, hurried to the mole to give a
Punta Arenas welcome to the intrepid men
who have suffered so much in the cause
of science and knowledge. Never before,
in the history of Magallanes, has a crowd
been seen such as that which gathered to
witness the entrance of the Yelcho.”
At noon, Shackleton and his men were
welcomed at the harbor by Governor
Edwards and they marched together in a
joyful community procession including a
band, up to “Royal” Hotel (where “Celebrity”
pub is located today). That night, the British
Club (third floor of today’s Banco de Chile)
offered a reception where the survivors sang
tunes of Elephant Island, joined by the banjo
of meteorologist Leonard Hussey. Frank Wild
and Shackleton, with brilliant oratory, closed
the greetings to the Chilean Navy and Pilot
Pardo. A second banquet was held at the
Club a few days later, with attendance of
Navy and Army officials, British local citizens
and elegant Magellan ladies, with whom the
survivors showed that after two years, they
still had some dance moves. A popular picnic
was held at the Club Hípico, where roughly
5.000 people attended. Only Frank Hurley,
expedition photographer, was missing from
part of the celebrations, as he would rather
stay confined at local photographer Cándido
Veiga’s dark room, where he learned most
of the negatives and films of the tragedy of
the “Endurance” had survived and could be
printed. So Hurley was able to put together
the first film about Shackleton’s expedition
odyssey, which was exhibited during a
conference by Frank Wild, in an exclusive
world premiere at Punta Arenas’ Municipal
Theatre.
Little rest could Shackleton and his men enjoy,
as they immediately listed themselves to fight
in the First World War. On 1992, the explored
decides to return to the South Georgia with
the intention of travelling to Antarctica again,
but he dies of a heart attack while he was
sleeping, after visiting the Norwegian whalers
that helped him years before. As requested
by his widow, Shackleton is buried there, as
close as possible to the Polar lands he loved
so dearly. In the case of Pilot Pardo Villalón,
word is he rejected a gift of 25.000 pounds by
the British Government, responding that as a
sailor, he had merely done his duty. Chilean
Government named him consul for Liverpool.
He passed away in 1935 at 54 years old
in Santiago, due to a broncopneumonia.
Chile named the easternmost islands of
the South Shetland as “Pilot Pardo islands”.
The ship’s keel is found as a monument in
Puerto Williams, and a statue in its honour
was erected where the “Endurance”’s crew
camped in Elephant Island.
Punta Arenas remembers Ernest Shackleton
and his men with two private initiatives. The
Nao Victoria Museum has an exact replica
of the “James Caird” lifeboat, on which
Shackleton and five men sailed from Elephant
Island in search of help. And Hotel Nogueira
has a “Shackleton Bar”, decorated with
watercolour paintings by Harley Benavente
portrait the contretemps of the “Endurance”.
The bar was inaugurated in 2005 with the
presence of Lady Alexandra Shackleton,
granddaughter of the Irish explorer, who
met grandsons of Pilot Pardo, Jaime and
Fernando Pardo Huerta. By publishing this
story, DAP means to commemorate this
amazing tale of courage, loyalty and facing
adversity. An episode that on 2016 turns a
hundred years old and of which Magallanes
was a privileged witness. Without a doubt,
this story is an eternal part of our local history.
Sources:
- “Las 22 vidas de Shackleton” (José
Berguño, Douglas Nazar Publicaciones,
2012).
- Research by Rosamaría Robertson for
the Chilean Antarctic Institute (2013).
Adventure at the End of the World
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