Rowing Positions & Oars by Seb Coulthard
The James Caird was equipped with 4 oars – approximately 14 ft long (2½ times the boat beam) hand made from a single length of Spruce. The rowing positions of the James Caird are one of the great unknowns of Shackleton's boat. At Peggotty Camp, it is recorded that Shackleton ordered the topsides of the Caird to be removed as a source of wood and burnt. Sadly, this also means that all evidence of the rowlock positions were lost; only one rowing position survives (port, forward position). Neither Shackleton nor Worsley accurately record the rowing technique or the positions, therefore from a practical seaman's point of view, four functional rowlocks would have been necessary for the voyage. Rowlocks are essential when planning surf landings on rocky shores, specially the lee-shores of South Georgia.
Above: the launch at Elephant Island
Below right: The James Caird at the Royal Albert Hall 1919, you can clearly see the whaleback and where the built up gunwales are missing
What happened to the James Caird by Seb Coulthard
After the boat journey the James Caird was hoisted onboard the steam powered whale catcher Samson, which had come round the north of the island to rescue Vincent, McNeish and McCarthy. At Peggotty Camp the James Caird was found overturned and being used as a hut; the raised gunwales were burnt to generate warmth for the three debilitated sailors. The Norwegians who understood the historical importance of the boat insisted on the Caird being sent back to England. On arrival at Leith Harbour in Stromness Bay, the whalers mustered on the beach and, according to Worsley's account "they would not let us put a hand on her". Every man claimed the honour of lifting her on to their shoulders, carrying her immense weight of 1000 kilos up the wharf. Captain Thom of the Southern Sky, the ship that in May 1916 first tried to save the party marooned on Elephant Island, sent the James Caird back to Liverpool aboard the S.S. Woodville as deck cargo, arriving on 5th December 1919 along with a cargo of whale oil for the Lever Brothers.
The boat was stored temporarily at Grayson's Shipyard, Birkenhead, and after an appeal to have her saved from the breakers yard, the boat was brought back to London as the only relic of the Endurance. The James Caird went on static display at the Royal Albert Hall, the rooftop gardens at Selfridges on Oxford Street, and the Middlesex Hospital where Shackleton delivered one of many charitable public talks. After various exhibitions, the boat was eventually gifted to John Quiller Rowett by Shackleton. Rowett, who financed Shackleton's last expedition in 1920-21, on which Shackleton died of a heat attack, gave the boat to Dulwich College Shackleton's old school in South London after Shackleton's death.
Left: Scottish industrialist, Sir James Key Caird of Dundee, the principal sponsor of the 1914 expedition. Although Shackleton was unsuccessful in the initial aims of the expedition, Caird found immortality in the boat named after him
53.