Chasing Shackleton TV Series

[Steam Flyer]

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The worst part is, they don't have a clue how to sail. The director shows the same wave hitting the boat broadside over & over to illustrate how rough it was; yet they never mention heaving-to or using a sea anchor. Most of the sailing shots show the boat zig-zagging and sails flapping or overtrimmed, two sequences show them looking up at the sails in annoyance as the boat makes repeated uncontrolled gybes. WTF? Let Larson show you guys how to fricken sail before starting the camera rolling! Also, I don't think they ever rowed while Shackleton & Worsely had to several times.

Enough griping, it's an interesting lesson in modern times and a good look at the scenes where one of the greatest adventures in the history of mankind played out.

FB- Doug

They had a bit of sailing experience.

Maybe a volvo guy on board. Although not everyone had a clew

I apologize for the "no clue" remark, that was thoughtless. Seems likely to be the result of film editing rather than really representative of what was actually happening... after all, a producer splicing in the same wave hitting the boat X times (not sure how many, it seemed like a dozen or more) probably thought that sails flapping wildly looked "exciting" too and after all the audience is mostly dunces worse than themselves, right? You can see why I don't watch much TV.

Anyway, I am curious about how the boat sailed and about the navigation. The show repeatedly said that the modified lifeboat could not sail upwind... it doesn't seem likely that it would make good VMG by modern standards, but heck the Santa Maria could sail upwind (a little).

From what I remember of Worsely (the captain of ENDURANCE and the navigator)'s book, he pre-figured much of what he'd need to find South Georgia. I have done celestial in small boats, sun sights are very difficult to capture and I never did get good star sights. In the film, it did show some pretty good scenes of taking taking sextant shots and calling time.

Larso, thanks in advance for any answers or comments.

FB- Doug

 

[paularsen1]

Righto... might as well get off the fence and offer to answer any queries as best I can. It was a fascinating opportunity for me and one that I wasn't sure I could do justice. When I watched the finished doco I knew that there would rightfully be many questions from the sailing fraternity so perhaps I can answer a few here. Obviously we could never really do it in the same context as Shackletons journey... but in some ways it did give a realistic insight for reasons you don't always initially expect. So fire away and I'll try and throw a light on some of the areas left dim by the doco.

tell me about the steering system. Why? .

We used the same steering system and rudder as the original James Caird (as best as we can tell anyway). The team did a fantastic job recreating the dimensions of the original in great detail. The measurements were taken from the original boat in Dulwich College. There are a few things I would have done differently i.e. added a tiller... but that wasn't as it was on the original... so from drawings, written accounts and so on... we recreated the original as best we could. Remember that the James Caird was meant to be a rowing boat. I wondered if this was part reason why the rudder wasn't balanced i.e. it would trail freely if let go whilst rowing. This meant the boat was pig to steer although the ketch rig could be trimmed to balance the boat on an even helm when reaching. We had two 'yoke' lines coming from the top of the rudder quadrant (actually a full semi-circle from memory) that ran forward into the cockpit. You would pull forward with your right arm to turn right and with your left to go left. As the rudder wasn't balanced this could often be very heavy and hence quickly tiring. We worked out a variety of ways to haul on these things including using foot stirrups. When reaching, the boat could be set up so you just needed to haul on one line. You could fix off one end and then just put a catinerary force on the line to make the steering easier. The hardest work was sailing dead downwind. It was like balancing a long stick on your finger. The helm was only neutral when the boat was facing dead downwind. If you let it go either side, the force required to correct it was pretty high. Often you would find yourself going from lock to lock. When you got tired... which could be quickly... the course would become 'drunken' and you would often find the boat beam on to the sea. Too often and it was a clear signal to change watch. We reduced the sail to just the small jib in the stronger conditions. Nick and I tried to make the steering as easy as possible on the inexperienced sailors. This slowed the boat right down and made it easier for us to 'dead reckon' the course as we were half sailing and half drifiting with the wind and current. The boat had no keel so it wouldn't track very well. It was not a nice boat to sail... it was hard work.

 

[paularsen1]

... ...

The worst part is, they don't have a clue how to sail. The director shows the same wave hitting the boat broadside over & over to illustrate how rough it was; yet they never mention heaving-to or using a sea anchor. Most of the sailing shots show the boat zig-zagging and sails flapping or overtrimmed, two sequences show them looking up at the sails in annoyance as the boat makes repeated uncontrolled gybes. WTF? Let Larson show you guys how to fricken sail before starting the camera rolling! Also, I don't think they ever rowed while Shackleton & Worsely had to several times.

Enough griping, it's an interesting lesson in modern times and a good look at the scenes where one of the greatest adventures in the history of mankind played out.

FB- Doug

They had a bit of sailing experience.

Maybe a volvo guy on board. Although not everyone had a clew

I apologize for the "no clue" remark, that was thoughtless. Seems likely to be the result of film editing rather than really representative of what was actually happening... after all, a producer splicing in the same wave hitting the boat X times (not sure how many, it seemed like a dozen or more) probably thought that sails flapping wildly looked "exciting" too and after all the audience is mostly dunces worse than themselves, right? You can see why I don't watch much TV.

Anyway, I am curious about how the boat sailed and about the navigation. The show repeatedly said that the modified lifeboat could not sail upwind... it doesn't seem likely that it would make good VMG by modern standards, but heck the Santa Maria could sail upwind (a little).

From what I remember of Worsely (the captain of ENDURANCE and the navigator)'s book, he pre-figured much of what he'd need to find South Georgia. I have done celestial in small boats, sun sights are very difficult to capture and I never did get good star sights. In the film, it did show some pretty good scenes of taking taking sextant shots and calling time.

Larso, thanks in advance for any answers or comments.

FB- Doug

yeah I was worried about getting the Nav right. Worsleys boots were big ones to fill and the job he did was legendary. Both Nick and I also knew we only had one chance to get it right and we were desperate not to have to resort to using modern gear. We started taking sights on the way across the Drakes Passage on The Australis (support vessel) whilst coming down to meet the Alexandra Shackleton on King George Island. It was obvious it was going to be hard work as it was already hard on a much higher and much bigger vessel. Our experience with such navigation pales into insignificance next to someone like Worsley. That said, I think we would have worked out the same navigation plan as him even without his precedent. It all seemed pretty logical to us i.e. head as far North as you can get to get away from the ice and then try and come in from the West using noon-sights and the prevailing winds and currents. Worsley would have been much more familiar with his ships clock than we were... but even he chose just to use noon sights (where accurate time isn't so important). Some of the sights I tried to take were reduced to comedy by the pale sun, big seas and the motion of the boat. We got two good noon sights on the trip. Nick and I worked together to double check each others working thoroughly. I think we might have been able to find Sth Georgia on dead reckoning alone... but maybe not. Just getting one noon sight to verify your dead reckoning gives you huge confidence that would otherwise be lacking. We used a ships chronometer and sextant which were near as identical to what they had. We had absolutely no outside assistance from the support vessel in any form whatsoever. They even played little games to make sure we weren't trying to reference their course (by assuming they were locking onto a course with auto-pilot). We had a protocol where they would give us no indication whatsoever how we were going on the radio scheds (1 a day). Ben Wallis (Skipper of the Australis) was extremely professional and did a great job of disappearing into the background. It was only on the last night that he had to break silence and tell us to heave-to. It was a real shame as in some respects it may have denied us a real adventure... but it was the pre-discussed protocol and we had to stick to it. He held off as long as he could.

 

[Murphness]

Almost done with the second part. Really digging it so far. A couple question jump out though...

- Was that the best beer you've ever had?

- I would've guessed you'd all be shivering and close to hypothermia from the get go with those clothes. What were the temps down below? Were you able to warm up decently?

Thanks, Larso!

 

[Mark K]

I was wondering about the gabardine. Heard that when it came out it was still typical to Linseed-oil it after it started to leak, which it always did after some wear. Seems the stuff they were using was left plain, and it probably isn't the same multi-layer construction used when gabardine was the bees knees for explorers in the early 20th.

 

[paularsen1]

Almost done with the second part. Really digging it so far. A couple question jump out though...

- Was that the best beer you've ever had?

- I would've guessed you'd all be shivering and close to hypothermia from the get go with those clothes. What were the temps down below? Were you able to warm up decently?

Thanks, Larso!

Hmmm... I've had some pretty nice beers before but that one was up there. By the end of this (and I won't do a 'spoiler' as I'm not sure if the third one has aired over there yet), I was so exhausted I actually couldn't drink the beer that was offered. I was totally drained and just curled up and went to sleep... albeit with a smile on my face.

There were times on that boat where the cold really kicked in. It was a great journey through the world of discomfort. Your mind is a wonderful thing and comfort is very much a relative thing. Your mind is always looking for a way to be positive i.e. "OK, my legs are soaked but I'm still dry and warm here" or "now I'm absolutely soaked through... but I'll be down below in a minute". The real discomfort creeps in gradually. Down below was cold... but there was often 5 of us down there. We had five deer skins for blankets and 'spooning' wasn't optional, it was just a natural state that you were drawn to. It was so damned cramped down there and you could never stretch out. It was like perpetually sleeping in Economy class on an airline. There were a few times when I woke up and realised "Holy shit... I'm actually, really doing this. I'm on Shackletons boat trip... and it's only day 5"! You always battle to get warm and dry but I remember the watch where I just copped repeated waves and could feel the water running down my back and butt. I was finally totally drenched right through with cold water. Even then, your body starts to warm it up as all the wool and such starts to act like a big, loose wetsuit. If ever you have done a long offshore trip in really bad foulies you will know what it's like but at least we didn't have to take ours off and put the wet mess back on again. That said, we would often take off the top outer jacket when joining the spooning heirachy down below... just to be accepted into it and not infuse it with any more water than necessary. It took me about two days to start getting properly dry again. Well, you never really get dry when soaked with salt water in that environment.

We all began to suffer from the cold and three of us eventually got taken out by Trench foot. I don't know how or why I escaped as I spent forever on decks and on the helm. I just wanted to escape from the cramped conditions below decks. I was amazed at how well my hands stood up to the cold considering the thin, torn woolen gloves I was wearing. In reality it took months for them to come back to normal afterwards. Damage was being done.

We had a proper hatch on the boat. It could be sealed much better than Shackletons original boat. We wanted to stay with the boat and didn't all need to die in a roll-over to prove a point. We rarely fully closed the hatch though as we needed to breath down there. Yeah I would rate being so cramped all the time as worse than the cold. We are all fairly big guys too relative to Shackletons crew. We are all around 6' with Tim being massive at over 6'5". Only Crean was 6' on the James Caird. Combine that with the two bulkheads we had... and all the space taken up by the modern safety gear we had stowed (out of sight and unused) onboard and it was pretty tight. It was great to get off it onto land.

 

[paularsen1]

I was wondering about the gabardine. Heard that when it came out it was still typical to Linseed-oil it after it started to leak, which it always did after some wear. Seems the stuff they were using was left plain, and it probably isn't the same multi-layer construction used when gabardine was the bees knees for explorers in the early 20th.

We tried to get genuine Burberry jackets but ended up getting the next best thing. We spent ages rubbing in Dubbin and various oils to try and seal it. We each had our own techniques. I often wondered what they used as I'm sure there was a real technique to it. It did make it relatively resistant to water... but in no way water-proof. The best thing it did was make it wind-proof... and this mattered. I have little doubt that our clothing was very similar to what they were wearing. I wouldn't be surprised if their stuff was in fact a lot better than what we had tried to cobble together 100 years later. these were experienced explorers choosing the best of what they had. From what we could research though, I think we were well and truly in the ball-park. We didn't cheat anywhere and were very good at self-policing this. One layer of Gore-tex would have made life so much easier. We had an opportunity to do this thing once... and we wanted to do it right... even down to cut-off wooden spoons.

 

[AJ Oliver]

Hey Mr. Larso -

What is your best guess as to what would have happened had not Ben Wallis intervened? You were forward of where you thought you were, right? And heading right for a lee shore, right? At night, right? Jeebus !!!

Ben Wallis (Skipper of the Australis) - "It was only on the last night that he had to break silence and tell us to heave-to."

Thanks for taking these questions . .

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Chromecast only works on YouTube and Netflix. No?

This series has been out a couple of months I think originally from. Australia. PBS had nothing to do with its production. Episode 3 was ok. Makes you appreciate why shack did and these guys struggled with even with weather info, food, etc even 100 yrs later. You can find episode 3 on the web

Chromecast works on anything. Just open file in Chrome and then use the Chromecast plugin to 'cast' it to your TV. MP4, AVI files are all good. Let me see if I can find a full source for the show that isn't geoblocked or otherwise annoying.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

And Paul do you know if the US version is the same as that which aired in Oz/UK?

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Found the original.

Part 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utJA7bXMG3k

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_jBkpc_HE8

Part 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTadXalPtdw

 

[Murphness]

Nice one! Thanks, Clean. Different title from the PBS airing threw my google-fu off (didn't try very hard)...

Episode 3 tonight!

Cheers,

Murphness

 

[paularsen1]

Hey Mr. Larso -

What is your best guess as to what would have happened had not Ben Wallis intervened? You were forward of where you thought you were, right? And heading right for a lee shore, right? At night, right? Jeebus !!!

Ben Wallis (Skipper of the Australis) - "It was only on the last night that he had to break silence and tell us to heave-to."

Thanks for taking these questions . .

We had debated whether to push on in or not given that we were uncertain of our longitude due to a questionable morning sun-sight. We had actually chosen to heave to the previous night in an effort to try and sight land during the following day. It turned out that the visibility the next day remained terrible. It rarely go above half a mile. Although it is not big in the scale of the Southern Ocean, Sth Georgia is actually a pretty big old lump with mountainous peaks reaching well over 9,000 ft.. We were hoping to be able to sight it from a long way out. When the visibility hampered any sightings, we kept heading in on an Easterly course confident in the noon sight and hence our latitude. I wanted to heave-to again at nightfall but on further discussion with Nick... we chose to push on. The basis of this decision was that the wind was NW and only around 15-18 knots. This meant the sea wasn't very rough and we weren't necessarily facing a lee shore. This was not a fast boat so it was not like the shore was going to leap out at us. We could swing the boat around in a boat length or two if we had to. Another factor playing on our mind was that we were unsure of what weather may be coming. For all we knew we could have been about to be clobbered... or lose an advantage. As it turned out, if we had have stuck to our plan, we would have hit the shore/sighted land at night before we planned to heave to. It was questionable where we would have encountered the shore. Depending on how we 'found' Ice Fjord north of King Haakon Bay, we may have been fine and been able to gybe around and head back offshore... or had a real fight right on our hands. This doesn't mean we would have been dashed on the rocks with men in the water (although that would also have been a contender). We will never know. What really would have happened if Ben had have left us to "touch-park" would have been that he would have had to launch a RIB in lumpy seas in case we got it wrong... and we would have obviously noticed being shadowed by a RIB and known something big was up.

Before even being allowed to undergo this trip we had to submit a detailed plan on how we were going to conduct the trip. How we approached Sth Georgia was a hot topic which we discussed in depth. There are no rescue services down there and the local bodies stress that that is not a service they wish to perform. We made a call based on what we knew... and Ben made a call based on the predetermined plan and his information. He left his call as late as possible but did the right thing. It was the first time we had any outside advice. His call was short and to the point as shown on the doco. It was a shame from our perspective as in some ways it burst the bubble we had been in. We desperately wanted to find Sth Georgia completely old school. Hind sight is a wonderful thing. Heaving to would have been the right thing given the actual weather that came... but then we may have also been denied a 'real-deal' adventure (or ship-wreck). Ben never gave us any indication of where we were. He simply said he thought we should Heave-to. That was it. We dropped the sea anchor. I stayed up for ages that night hoping to have the murk dissipate so as to see the island. As it happened, it was Seb who first sighted the black rocks under a low overcast some time the next morning. It took us some time to work out where we actually might be on the coast as we could not see more than 150' above sea level and therefore could not make out any of the skyline/peaks. Once we worked out we were off Ice Fjord we turned South and headed for King Haakon Sound. Even then we just scraped by the rocks and narrowly missed ending it all on the rocks on the last corner. For a while there Nick and I thought we had blown it. I have never 'willed' a boat to make a mark as much as I did this. There was no other option. Yeah that last corner was pretty memorable. Thankfully for the right reasons.

 

[paularsen1]

And Paul do you know if the US version is the same as that which aired in Oz/UK?

Not sure Clean... I wouldn't be surprised if there were some subtle differences. I've had friends mention parts from the Australian version that I didn't see in the UK.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Where were you when they did the mountain crossing? If you were on the mountain they edited you out (at least as of halfway through the final episode).

pretty gripping stuff btw. and as usual, at least for the sailing, you are the rock star!

EDIT: They are just getting to it now.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Q: What's making you want to go so much?

PL: The reason exceptional things happen is...you keep going when people stop.

Dude you are a legend.

 

[dacapo]

just finished final episode. Brilliant!!! Absolutely Brilliant......

 

[Murphness]

Q: What's making you want to go so much?

PL: The reason exceptional things happen is...you keep going when people stop.

Dude you are a legend.

This pretty much sums it up! What an epic adventure...

A few more questions:

-Did the screws they used as shoe spikes hold up over the whole trek? It seemed a bit dodgy...

-Was there an obvious trail across the mountain? Or did you guys just hoof it and make your own way? Was gps invovled?

-What were the air temps on the island?

Thanks again for fielding the questions!

Nice job man, what an accomplishment...

 

[Clove Hitch]

Loved Part II!

Thanks for talking about the steering system Larso. Why didn't they rig a tiller on on the James Caird I wonder? Steering with the ropes looked fairly shitty.

Q: Did your trip give you a better appreciation/respect for small boats. There seem to be lots of people that say "You can't do [whatever] in that boat" despite feats like yours and others.

 

[Tucky]

Thanks Paul, as always for showing up, and answering questions. I enjoyed the show a lot, if sorry for some of the editorial decisions. Of course I'd really like to see a Sailrocket documentary. Kickstarter?