This is cruising in style on the MS Expedition, a ship purpose-made for polar work, big enough to be comfortable and yet small enough to get close to the action. Wildlife sightings; different species of whale, albatross, penguin and seal, as well as dramatic landscapes of rock and ice will provide a lifetime of memories for any visitor to this remote wilderness region. Historically, too, this is a fascinating cruise, making landfall at notable places from all four of Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions. 

Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition left South Georgia aboard the Endurance on December 5^th, 1914. Heading south, the vessel became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea and was carried back northwards over the course of almost a year, before being crushed and then sunk east of the Antarctic Peninsula. Shackleton and his crew set up a camp on the ice and continued to drift northwards until, on April 9^th, 1916 they found open water and using their small lifeboats were able to reach Elephant Island, their first landfall for 497 days. Shackleton and 5 of his crew then set out in the best of their boats, the 23-foot James Caird, to make the almost impossible 750 mile voyage back to South Georgia, a journey which took them 17 days. Then, after crossing this mountainous island on foot to reach the whaling station at Stromness, a series of rescue attempts were put in place to try to bring back the 22 expedition members left behind on Elephant Island. Three boats were forced back by pack-ice, before the steam tug Yelcho, loaned by the Chilean Government, finally picked up the men on August 30^th, 2016. Amazingly, not one member of the expedition was lost.

>> FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SHACKLETON