Things Get Worse
July 14th started off normal, with dogs to feed and daily chores to do. At some point during the day, a strange noise came from the depths of the Endurance. To ease the crew’s mind, he suggested it was a whale. But carpenter Harry McNeish, knew it was a bad sign. The once- smooth ice was buckling and pushing against the ship and cracking the hill. The Endurance didn’t have a rounded bottom that would allow it to rise above tightening ice.
The former owners warned Shackleton about this when he bought the ship, but his well-planned expedition surely meant he wouldn’t need that failsafe. Except it needed exactly that failsafe. The ship developed a port-side list. Its beams were cracking and buckling. Its rudder was damaged. But the crew were hopeful that the damage was fixable, and the Endurance set free and be underway.
