In late 1914, polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton set off for Antarctica aboard the Endurance with a crew of 27 men. (Well, technically 26 crew plus a stowaway.)
The goal of Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was to be the first to cross the Antarctic by land, traveling from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea via the South Poll. (Roald Amundsen had become the first to reach the South Pole several years earlier.)
The expedition didn’t go as planned, though.
The Endurance became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea. It was crushed and sank in late 1915.
In April of 1916, Shackleton and five crew members set out on a daring 800-mile journey in a 22-foot lifeboat to the island South Georgia. They reached the island after an arduous 16 days, then trekked across the island to find help.
The remaining men were finally rescued in late August. Impressively, everyone survived.
The 28 men of the Endurance shared a total of 20 first names:
- Alexander (2)
- Alfred
- Charles
- Ernest (2)
- Frank (3)
- George
- Henry
- Hubert
- James (2)
- John
- Leonard
- Lewis
- Lionel
- Perce
- Reginald
- Robert
- Timothy
- Thomas (3)
- Walter
- William (2)
Which of these names do you like best? Why?
Update, March 2022: The Endurance22 Expedition has located the wreck of Endurance — sitting upright and “in a brilliant state of preservation” — on the floor of the Weddell Sea.