Seb was a member of the 2013 Shackleton Epic expedition from Elephant Island to South Georgia aboard the Alexandra Shackleton, a replica of the Caird, wearing period gear and eating period food.
Seb:
“The James Caird is one of those mysterious quirks of history. She was practically 'coach built', she is a one-off, she is bespoke, she was unique in every sense of the word. To that end, there is little information on how she was built specifically, by whom and her fate before, during and after the Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition 1914-1917. Much research is pieced together from circumstantial history, national archives, personal diaries of the crew, and good old fashioned common-dog!”
Before we look at why the boat was built and how it became to be built the way it was, we need to look at what the James Caird was. The actual boat, on permanent display at Shackleton’s old school, Dulwich College in South London was subjected to a ‘restoration’ at Cory’s Barge Works in Greenwich, during this some changes were inexplicably made to the boat including the replacement of the original rudder (Seb has heard that the original rudder may have been replaced because it was so rotted it couldn't be saved.) With the wrong rudder, a wrong deck and the wrong sails the Caird as she is bears little resemblance to the boat that arrived at King Haakon Bay in South Georgia. So what was the James Caird actually like, who built her and who ordered her to be built in this way? The Caird was purposely built for the expedition. Unlike Nansen’s Fram, ships weren’t purposely built for Antarctic expedition. There were three ships boats that came with the Endurance: two cutters and a motor boat, the pram dinghy was added later. It appears that both Shackleton and Worsley, the Endurance’s skipper, that none of the boats were suitable for the sort of work the southern Ocean would throw at them.
During the outfitting of the Endurance at Regent Docks on the Isle of Dogs, Seb suggests that Worsley, knowing a fit for purpose lifeboat was needed, walked round the corner to W.J.Leslie, the boat builders, to commission a lifeboat. cont. overleaf
Following the sinking of the French liner La Bourgogne in 1898 with the loss of more than 500 people and the Titanic in 1912 with the loss of over 1500, Captain William Sowden Sims, of the United States Navy commented:
"The truth of the matter is that in case any large passenger steamship sinks, by reason of collision or other fatal damage to her flotability, more than half of her passengers are doomed to death, even in fair weather, and in case there is a bit of a sea running none of the loaded boats can long remain afloat, even if they succeed in getting safely away from the side, and one more will be added to the long list of `the ships that never return.' Most people accept this condition as one of the inevitable perils of the sea, but I believe it can be shown that the terrible loss of life occasioned by such disasters as overtook the Bourgogne and the Titanic and many other ships can be avoided or at least greatly minimized. Moreover, it can be shown that the steamship owners are fully aware of the danger to their passengers; that the laws on the subject of life-saving appliances are wholly inadequate; that the steamship companies comply with the law, though they oppose any changes therein, and that they decline to adopt improved appliances; because there is no public demand for them, the demand being for high schedule speed and luxurious conditions of travel."
As a consequence of the terrible loss of the Titanic, there was a general demand that there should be sufficient number of lifeboats for all people on board passenger ships. This led to the first international conference on the safety of life at sea held in London in January 1914. The Conference was attended by representatives of 13 countries and resulted in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which was adopted throughout 1914. The Convention was to enter into force in July 1915 but with the outbreak of the First World War in Europe in September 1914 it was never formally ratified, although many of its provisions were adopted by individual nations and ship operators including Sir Ernest Shackleton. The Convention included chapters on safety of navigation, construction, radiotelegraphy, life-saving appliances and fire protection. Chapter VI of SOLAS 1914 Article 40::
“At no moment of its voyage may a ship have on board a total number of persons than that for whom accommodation is provided in lifeboats on board”.
S.O.L.A.S.
by Seb Coulthard
45.