Naval duo recreate Shackleton rescue

25 Apr 2013 03:18 PM

A Royal Marine and a Petty Officer were part of the first team to successfully recreate the famous Antarctic explorer's 1916 rescue mission.

Using the same equipment as Sir Ernest Shackleton’s party did a century ago, the pair – Royal Marines commando Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Baz Gray and Petty Officer (PO) Seb Coulthard of 815 Naval Air Squadron – were part of a 6-strong team who sailed from the edge of Antarctica to South Georgia, to cross the island’s mountains; the first men to complete the full journey since Shackleton himself.

In 1916, Sir Ernest took his whaler, the James Caird, from Elephant Island to South Georgia and struggled across the mountains to raise the alarm when his trans-Antarctic expedition became stranded after its ship, the Endurance, was crushed by the ice.

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