A revealing log book written by a member of the ill-fated Endurance expedition in the Antarctic has emerged after 108 years.
Aubrey Ninnis told his sweetheart of being trapped in pack ice and playing ‘too funny for words’ football with penguins during the 1914-1917 adventure.
The expedition, which was led by the legendary British explorer Ernest Shackleton, ended in disaster, as his ship the Endurance got stranded amidst the freezing conditions and had to be abandoned.
Ninnis was aboard supply ship Aurora, which also got stranded. It was carried into the open waters of the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean.
It was not until March 1916, almost a year later, that the ship was released from the ice and made the return passage for New Zealand.
Throughout the expedition, Ninnis kept a daily log and wrote letters to his sweetheart Ethel Douglas recounting the incredible sights he encountered.
He was both a wireless operator and keen photographer on the expedition, with his log book providing a detailed account of life on board the ship between December 1914 and May 1916.
In one extract, he said that his ship felt ‘about as strong as a matchbox’ compared to the pack ice which could crush them.
Aubrey Ninnis was a member of Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-17 expedition to the Antarctic. His logbook, photographs and letters to his sweetheart have sold at auction
Some of the photos taken by Ninnis, including shots of penguins and seals
He wrote: ‘Ice packed and very thick, yet we seem to be shifting N. all the time, slowly… about as strong as a matchbox compared to the terrible pressure of ice.
‘The groan kept rising to a high shriek… and then the crack, crack of the squeeze would occur.’
The survival of Shackleton and his crew – first in the pack ice and then on their journey back to safety – has been remembered as one of the greatest feats of human resilience.
In another entry, Ninnis shares the precarious nature of their predicament as he writes ‘food very short, fuel and oil will be practically exhausted’.
Being in such close proximity to crewmates with no means of escape took its toll as he lamented ‘no sensible conversations ever’.
It was a far cry from the early months of the expedition, which he joyously described in the log book.
He wrote: ‘Had a game of football with the penguins tonight – too funny for words.’
Ninnis also made a pilgrimage to the hut used by Captain Robert Scott, who perished during the doomed Terra Nova expedition on their return from the South Pole in 1912.
He wrote: ‘Very sad to me for I came across the things that compelled the thought of Cpt. Scott… the bunk with the label upon it just plain Cpt. Oates, the bunk that brave men used.’
A revealing log book written by a member of the ill-fated Endurance expedition in the Antarctic has emerged after 108 years
Ninnis’s log book provides a detailed account of life on board the ship between December 1914 and May 1916
A page from Ninnis’s log book, which has sold at auction along with photographs
Ernest Shackleton’s ship the Endurance became stranded in pack ice in Antarctica in 1915
The log book remained in Ethel’s family for a century but has now sold at auction for £46,000 after a bidding war.
A spokesperson at auctioneers Bonhams, of Knightsbridge, who sold the logbook, said: ‘Aurora had been tasked with laying supply depots along the route of Shackleton’s famously ill-fated attempt to cross the Antarctic continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea.
‘Caught in heavy pack ice, she was carried into the open waters of the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean, leaving ten men from the shore party stranded with minimal supplies and equipment.
‘It was not until March 1916, almost a year later, that the ship was released from the ice and the Aurora was able to make return passage for New Zealand.
‘Ninnis returned on the Relief Expedition in January 1917 as purser, under the captaincy of John King Davis, and with Shackleton aboard, to rescue the seven surviving members of the shore party.
‘As well as giving a first-hand account of the practical challenges of the expedition, this diary gives a crucial insight into the author’s inner thoughts and preoccupations.
Ernest Shackleton during what was officially named the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Endurance sank in November 1915 after becoming trapped in sea ice off the coast of Antarctica. The wreck was lost for more than 100 years until its discovery in 2022
‘Ninnis speaks of facing the many dangers in a state of constant anxiety, the lack of sleep, difficulties of being trapped with his fellow shipmates.’
Endurance became trapped in pack ice in 1915, prompting Shackleton and his crew to eventually abandon it.
In November that year, the sea ice finally holed and sank the vessel. In 2022, the wreck of the Endurance was found remarkably preserved.
After months spent in makeshift camps as the ice drifted northwards, Shackleton and his men took to lifeboats to reach the inhospitable and uninhabited Elephant Island.
In April 1915 Shackleton and five others then made an epic 800-mile open-boat journey in the hope of reaching South Georgia and organising the rescue of the stranded 22 man crew.
The men left behind were not recovered until August 30, 1916, after a rescue ship reached them. All survived.
