The Bacliff Exploration Society salutes Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and Royal Navy Captain William Bligh, commanders of two of the most epic open-boat journeys in naval history.
In 1789, after the crew of the HMS Bounty mutinied, Bligh and 18 crew members navigated a 23 ft open boat on a 47-day, 3,618 nautical mile, voyage from Tofua to Timor in the Dutch East Indies. In 1916, after the loss of his ship the HMS Endurance, Shackleton and a crew of five launched a 22-foot lifeboat (the James Caird) from Elephant Island, and sailed 800 miles on the open sea to South Georgia.
See also: Leadership Lessons from Ernest Shackleton (The Art of Manliness), The Voyage of Bounty’s Launch (Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos), HMS Sharktypus
