Editing Ernest Shackleton (section)

=== Loss of ''Endurance'' ===
''Endurance'' departed from South Georgia for the Weddell Sea on 5&nbsp;December 1914, heading for Vahsel Bay.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|pp=1–3}} As the ship moved southward [[Ice navigation|navigating in ice]], she encountered [[first-year ice]], which slowed progress. Deep in the Weddell Sea, conditions gradually grew worse until, on 19&nbsp;January 1915, ''Endurance'' became frozen fast in an [[drift ice|ice floe]].{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|pp=29–30}}

On 24 February, realising that they would be trapped until the following spring, Shackleton ordered the abandonment of the ship's routine and her conversion to a winter station.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|p=36}} ''Endurance'' drifted slowly northward with the ice through the following months. When spring arrived in September, the breaking of the ice and its later movements put extreme pressure on the ship's hull.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|pp=63–66}}

[[File:Shackletonold.jpg|thumb|upright|Shackleton after the loss of ''Endurance''|alt=A black-and-white photograph of Shackleton staring into the camera]]
Shackleton had been hoping that the ship, when released from the ice, could work her way back towards Vahsel Bay, but his hopes were dashed on 24&nbsp;October when water began pouring in. After a few days, with the position at 69°5′&nbsp;S, 51°30′&nbsp;W, he gave the order to abandon ship, saying, "She's going down!"; and men, provisions and equipment were transferred to camps on the ice.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|pp=75–76}} On 21&nbsp;November 1915, the wreck of ''Endurance'' finally slipped beneath the surface.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|p=98}}{{efn|''Endurance'' was located on 5&nbsp;March 2022 by the Endurance22 expedition of researchers and technicians, {{convert|4|mi}} from where it was lost and {{convert|3008|m|order=flip}} below the surface.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pitofsky |first=Marina |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/03/09/ernest-shackleton-endurance-ship-found-antarctica-100-years-after-wreck/9437513002/ |title=Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance, which sank in 1915 near Antarctica, has been found |website=[[USA Today]] |date=9 March 2022 |access-date=9 March 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313034332/https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/03/09/ernest-shackleton-endurance-ship-found-antarctica-100-years-after-wreck/9437513002/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://endurance22.org/endurance-is-found |title=Endurance is Found |website=Endurance22.org |type=press release|date=9 March 2022 |author=AlexW |url-status=live |archive-date=10 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210150924/https://endurance22.org/endurance-is-found }}</ref>}}

For almost two months, Shackleton and his party camped on a large, flat floe, hoping that it would drift towards [[Paulet Island]], approximately {{convert|250|mi|km|0}} away, where it was known that stores were cached.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|p=100}} After failed attempts to march across the ice to this island, Shackleton decided to set up another more permanent camp (Patience Camp) on another floe, and trust to the drift of the ice to take them towards a safe landing.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|p=106}} By 17&nbsp;March, their ice camp was within {{convert|60|mi|km|0}} of Paulet Island;{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|p=366}} however, separated by impassable ice, they were unable to reach it. On 9&nbsp;April, their ice floe broke into two, and Shackleton ordered the crew into the lifeboats and to head for the nearest land.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|pp=121–122}}

After five harrowing days at sea, the exhausted men landed their three lifeboats at [[Elephant Island]], {{convert|346|mi}} from where the ''Endurance'' had sunk.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South'' (film)}} This was the first time they had set foot on solid ground for 497&nbsp;days.{{sfn|Shackleton, ''South''|p=143}} Shackleton's concern for his men was such that he gave his mittens to photographer Frank Hurley, who had lost his own mittens during the boat journey. Shackleton suffered frostbitten fingers as a result.{{sfn|Perkins|2000|p=36}}