The Yelcho departed Punta Arenas on August 25, 1916. On August 30, approaching Elephant Island through fog, Pardo navigated by the echo of the ship’s siren off the island’s cliffs — a technique for navigating in zero visibility. The island was clear of icebergs. He brought the Yelcho in as close as he dared.
Shackleton was on deck with binoculars. He counted the figures appearing on the shore. He counted again. All 22 were there. Wild had kept all 22 of them alive.
The rescue took less than an hour. All 22 men were aboard the Yelcho by mid-afternoon. Shackleton’s first question, by his own account, was whether anyone was missing. Wild told him they were all there.
On September 3, 1916, the Yelcho reached Punta Arenas. The 28 men of the Weddell Sea party had survived. At Valparaíso, where they arrived on September 27, at least 30,000 people gathered to greet them, and everything that could float came out to meet the ship.
—
## The Other Story: The Ross Sea Party
The full accounting of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition requires acknowledgment of the party that did not all survive.
The Ross Sea party sailed on a separate ship, the Aurora, under the command of Aeneas Mackintosh. Their task was to lay food depots on the far side of the continent, across the Ross Ice Shelf and up to the Beardmore Glacier, to support Shackleton’s homeward march — a march that never came, because Shackleton never reached the pole, because the Endurance was crushed before the crossing could begin.