Navy duo to retrace Shackleton's journey 11.05.12
9Two Royal Naval servicemen are set to retrace the steps of Sir Ernest Shackleton's epic journey of 1916 in a replica of the lifeboat used.
Warrant Officer Barry 'Baz' Gray of the Royal Marines and Royal Naval Petty Officer Seb Coulthard will form part of a crew of Antarctic adventurers recreating Sir Ernest Shackleton's epic and extraordinary double mission.
Next January, the duo - and four fellow volunteers - will guide an exact replica of the James Caird, the lifeboat from Shackleton's ship Endurance, across 800 miles of violent ocean from Antarctica to South Georgia - before crossing 20 miles of the rugged, remote island to reach the former whaling station at Stromness.
In doing so they will recreate the 1916 journey of Britain's greatest polar explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and his successful attempt to save his stranded trans-Antarctic expedition.
In the century since Sir Ernest took his whaler, the James Caird, from Elephant Island to South Georgia and struggled across the mountains to raise the alarm, no-one has successfully recreated the entire rescue mission.
Come January, the Shackleton Epic Expedition looks to do just that. It has the backing of the explorer's granddaughter and expedition patron Alexandra, who launched the new boat, named after her, at Portland Marina.
The crew will also endure the hardships of that age, wearing clothing of the time. All the rigging and features on the whaler have been faithfully reconstructed - as Shackleton would have used them - and the crew will eat the rations of the day.