## What the Numbers Mean
The specific numbers of the Endurance survival have a way of accumulating into something that requires a moment to absorb.
The expedition departed London on August 1, 1914, and the last of the 28 Weddell Sea party members to be rescued from Elephant Island stepped aboard the Yelcho on August 30, 1916. That is two years and one month, the vast majority of which was spent in conditions that were actively trying to kill them.
The Endurance was beset on January 18, 1915, and the last rescue ship returned to port on September 3, 1916. That is nineteen and a half months from entrapment to final rescue.
The drift on the pack ice, from entrapment to the launch of the boats, was 497 days. The James Caird crossing from Elephant Island to South Georgia was 16 days. The South Georgia crossing was 36 hours. The wait from Wild on Elephant Island to the arrival of the Yelcho was 134 days. The Yelcho’s rescue took less than an hour.
The temperature on the ice drift ranged from approximately minus 35 degrees Celsius in the depth of winter to just above freezing in summer. The depth of the Weddell Sea where the Endurance sank is 3,008 meters. The altitude of the mountains crossed in the South Georgia traverse was not precisely measured, but Shackleton’s description and subsequent survey suggest a maximum of approximately 1,000 meters. The length of the South Georgia crossing was approximately 40 miles. The distance from Elephant Island to South Georgia is approximately 800 nautical miles, or about 920 statute miles.