Making the most of Elephant Island
Use these notes to shape a realistic day ashore, then confirm any time-sensitive information for the date of your call.
Arriving at the port
Cruise ships cannot dock here, so you will remain on board while cruising past and viewing the surroundings.
A cruise lecturer will point out and explain the places of interest.
Uninhabited Elephant Island belongs to the South Shetland Islands. Three countries have claimed the islands: first the United Kingdom, then Chile since 1940 as part of Antártica Chilena province, and Argentina since 1943 as part of Argentine Antarctica, Tierra del Fuego Province.
Ernest Shackleton set out for Antarctica in 1914 with 28 men aboard Endurance, beginning an extraordinary story. The ship was trapped in Weddell Sea ice in January 1915 and drifted until the ice crushed it; it sank in November 1915. Its 28 men then used three small boats saved from Endurance to cross the perilous sea to Elephant Island, arriving on April 17, 1916. Shackleton and 5 crew members took one boat onward for the 800 miles to South Georgia Island. Although they made this winter crossing without modern instruments, they arrived on South…
This very small, wet, cold and rocky spit of land is enclosed by glaciers, high rocky cliffs and the sea.