Yelcho (1906)
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The Yelcho was built in 1906 by the Scottish firm Geo. Brown and Co. of Greenock, on the River Clyde for towage and cargo service of the Chilean Sociedad Ganadera e Industrial Yelcho y Palena, Puerto Montt. In 1908 she was sold to the Chilean Navy and ordered to Punta Arenas as a tug and for periodic maintenance and supply of the lighthouses in that region.
The Yelcho
Yelcho circa 1913
Yelcho, at the left is Ernest Shackleton and Luis Pardo Villalón at the right
Prow of the Yelcho in Puerto Williams preserved as a monument
Voyage of the James Caird
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The voyage of the James Caird was a journey of 1,300 kilometres (800 mi) from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands through the Southern Ocean to South Georgia, undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions to obtain rescue for the main body of the stranded Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. Many historians regard the voyage of the crew in a 22.5-foot (6.9 m) ship's boat through the "Furious Fifties" as the greatest small-boat journey ever completed.
Launching the James Caird from the shore of Elephant Island, 24 April 1916
Endurance, listing at a steep angle, shortly before being crushed by the ice, October 1915; photograph by Frank Hurley
Shackleton's party arriving at Elephant Island, April 1916, after the loss of Endurance
Elephant Island party waving goodbye to sailors on the James Caird, 24 April 1916