Macklin, Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party]

A collection of manuscripts and typescripts about the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916 comprising seven narratives of the first part of the expedition which form the first sections of Macklin's Antarctic Diary 1914-1915 :

• MS 1617/1/1;D The Inception, 5 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/1/2;D Section I [London to Buenos Aires] 17 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/7/1/3;D Section II [South Georgia] 12 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/2;D Section III [The Pack Ice] 18 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/3;D Section IV [The Great Ice-Barrier] 7 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/4;D Section V [Preparing for winter] 9 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/5;D Section VI [Winter] 26 leaves, holograph

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1916 [Weddell Sea Party], Diaries and accounts:

• MS 1589;BJ Diaries (2), 1914 to 1916 [A bound photostat copy of the two typescripts of Macklin's Antarctic diary 1914-1915 and Antarctic diary 1915-1916] copy
• MS 1617/7/10;D The voyage aboard the Endurance from London to Buenos Aires, 59 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/7/8;D The voyage aboard the Endurance from London to South Georgia, 29 leaves, holograph and typescript
• MS 1617/7/9;D The voyage on board the Endurance from London to South Georgia, 55 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/7/16;D Printed copy of an account of life in South Georgia, 2 copies
• MS 1588;BJ & MJ Diaries, 28 October 1915 to 19 November 1916 [Including first two weeks at Elephant Island, notes on scurvy] 1 volume, 1 microfilm
• MS 1617/7/15;D Printed copies of Macklin's Endurance diary, 28 October to 10 December 1915 [Some variation from both the typescript version MS 1589;BJ and the holograph manuscript MS 1617/7/19;D] 2 copies
• MS 1617/7/19;D An account in diary form, 1 November to 21 November 1915 [Differs slightly from Endurance Journal MS 1589;BJ with more detail in parts and includes an introduction] holograph
• MS 1617/7/11;D An extended account of life at Ocean Camp, 17 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/7/11/1;D Miscellaneous page of notes, February 1916 [Refers to number 5 tent]
• MS 1617/7/7;D Account, 9 April to 17 April 1916 [The open boat journey described from Patience Camp to Elephant Island] 17 leaves, typescript with annotations, 2 copies
• MS 1617/7/12;D One page of typescript titled Marooned on Elephant Island
• MS 1617/7/13;D Replica of notes made on Elephant Island, 7 leaves, holograph
• MS 1617/7/14;D Copied extracts of Greenstreet's diary of the Endurance made by Macklin, 12 leaves, holograph
• MS 1591/23/3;D Notes about the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-1916, holograph
• MS 1456/29;Fisher Papers, Diary extracts [Written on return to England] 148 leaves, typed transcript by James and Margery Fisher

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton) set out to cross the Antarctic continent. When Endurance was beset this goal was abandoned. The ship drifted for ten months before being crushed in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea and sinking in 1915. The entire company spent five months on the ice before escaping in the three lifeboats to Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands. Two of the life boats were made into a shelter for the company while Shackleton, Thomas Crean, Frank Worsley, Timothy McCarthy, Harold McNish and John Vincent sailed 1450Km to South Georgia in the James Caird. Arriving at South Georgia Shackleton, Crean and Worsley made the first major trek across the island to the whaling station at Stromness. The steam tug Yelcho rescued the men on Elephant island in August 1916.

Chronological.

The Institute holds over thirty archival collections containing material relating to this expedition see SPRI collection GB 015 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916, for more information.