Day 8 – Fortuna Bay
We sailed further south to Fortuna Bay, named for the whaling vessel that once operated out of Grytviken. Surrounded by glaciers and jagged peaks, the bay is teeming with seals and thriving colonies of King Penguins, a serene landscape that stands in stark contrast to its dark industrial history.
We approached the water, its surface so placid it mirrored the blue skies and low stratiform clouds typical of the polar regions. Despite the frost, we were bundled in a crap load of high tech layers, protected by the latest wind-chill technology and thick insulated boots. When the wind bit too hard, we could always rush back into the heated sanctuary of our ship. Retracing the final leg of the hike that saved Ernest Shackleton’s life, I felt a deep chill that had nothing to do with the weather. It is nearly impossible to fathom how he and his five crew mates, including Captain Frank Worsley, crossed 1,300km of the Southern Ocean. They didn’t have modern tech; they had an open wooden lifeboat in the world’s most dangerous ocean, the James Caird, named after the philanthropist who sponsored the expedition. Most importantly: what on earth were they wearing!?
I shall digress to Ice Age fashion that defined the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration from 1898 to 1922, just because I’m a sucker for fashion. After a little digging, I found out that Jaeger, now part of Marks and Spencer, produced inner layer wool that was inspired by a German scientist in 1884 who found health benefits in wearing natural animal fibers. The outer layer to protect them from Antarctic winds and blizzards was a hardwearing water resistant fabric made by Burberry. Their boots, gloves and even sleeping bags were made out of reindeer fur or skin lined with grass found in the Arctic region. Super organic materials that came directly from the animal kingdom inspired by the Inuits and the Samis, indigenous to the Arctic. Unlike the latter, the 19th century explorers explored uncharted territory looking like dapper urbanites even as their faces turned red.
When we landed on Fortuna Bay, it felt surreal to be recreating a part of Shackleton’s legendary trek in 1916 after he landed at King Haakon Bay on South Georgia’s south side from Elephant Island. Shackleton and team pushed toward Stromness (a whaling station) via Fortuna Bay after they heard blows and whistles from the station. He finally found help for his stranded crew on Elephant Island.
The ordeal began when the Endurance was swallowed by the Weddle Sea pack ice. After months of the ice crushing the ship’s engines and hull, Shackleton ordered his men to abandon ship on October 27, 1915, salvaging only the essentials before the vessel vanished beneath the ice on November 21, 1915. Thanks to Frank Hurley’s iconic photography, that heart wrenching chapter of the expedition remains vivid today.
After the Endurance sank, the crew lived on drifting ice floes for five months until the ice broke apart and they launched their lifeboats to escape to Elephant Island. From here, Shackleton and five others set off on a 1,300km rescue mission across the violent South Atlantic Ocean through hurricane force winds and super swells without GPS or “Windy App”. They landed on King Haakon Bay.
Gritvyken
By the time we drifted into Gritvyken, the large orange boilers visible from the deck signaled the origin of its name, Norweigen for “Boiler Cove”. Ironically the Humpback Whales were totally unfazed drifting alongside our ship as we entered what was once the leading slaughterhouse of the Southern Atlantic.
Back then, the abundance of krill in these waters made Humpbacks easy target for Carl Larsen, father of South Georgia Whaling, eventually resulting in their near extinction. The last whale processed here was in 1964. Before we could set foot on land, we were greeted by two officials from the British Antarctic Survey. They spent several hours performing a rigorous biosecurity check ensuring we weren’t smuggling the BS that inadvertently attach themselves to us onto these islands.
Upon landing, we headed straight to the cemetery of Shackleton and 63 others. After becoming a national hero for not dying during the Endurance disaster (above) and securing a knighthood, Shackleton was going through a mid life crisis. After this great achievement what next? In 1921, he organized a new quest on a ship also named “The Quest”, featuring a wandering itinerary that changed from the Canadian Arctic to the Antarctic Islands. Before even suffering the unpredictability of the mysterious Antarctic world, he suffered a fatal heart attack in the quiet safety of the Grytviken Harbour. Just when you’d imagine it was the violent seas that would take his life. How ironic.
Leaving the grave behind, we wandered through a graveyard of rusted machinery and decaying remnants of the whaling industry now being reclaimed by Antarctic Terns and Elephants Seals that were a stark contrast to the site’s grim industrial past. We ambled around the old living quarters, store and church and sent a few postcards from the post office. The museum, which used to be the whaling manager’s villa, now houses an extensive collection of whaling artifacts and chronicles Shackleton’s final days aboard the Quest. There is also an expensive gift shop.
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