Homage to the 'Also Rans'
This month, I will look at some of history's unsung heroes, and see what we might learn from them.
First, a brief story.
In World War 2, a variant of the famous Avro Lancaster was developed to assist with the War over the Atlantic. The eleven crew Shackleton - named in honour of Ernest Shackleton, who received universal plaudits for his having rescued his entire team of explorers from the frozen wastelands of the Antarctica - was an effective aeroplane, but prone to crashing. The bomber may not have lived up to its famous namesake, perhaps. Or perhaps it did....
The thing is, the credit for this incredible feat of endurance and salvation really was down to one Frank Worsley, not Earnest Shackleton.
Worsley, born in Akaroa, New Zealand was the captain of the Endurance. The Endurance was the vessel Shackleton had kitted out to start the first trans-Antarctic expedition. Very inclement weather and a late start meant the vessel was committed to plough into the rapidly forming ice as winter began to take hold early in the winter of 1912.
Despite Worsley's objections, Shackleton, who really needed the publicity of a great exploration ordered the boat to push on through the rapidly forming ice, until they became ice-bound, eventually sinking, leaving the crew with no alternative than to hike 200 miles to potential rescue. Only to find they had then to set to sea, land on a forbidding rock called Elephant Island, leave many of the crew behind, then sail to Argentina, to return the following year to rescue the rest of the crew.
The arch-publicist Shackleton made much of this victory over mishap. But the fault for the mishap lay largely in his hands.
The true hero of this exploit was Frank Worsley. Worsley used his people skills with the crew, his ability to maintain morale, his navigation and seaman skills to motivate, steer, navigate and rescue everyone - including Shackleton, who, despite his hero status appeared to be a bit of a bumbler.
That's why Bomber Command endorsed the aeroplane 'Shackleton' not 'Worsley'.
But Shackleton did get one thing right, didn't he? Even in the face of his mistakes, he redeemed himself with one crucial decision.
After all, he recruited possibly one of a handful of people available globally who could have facilitated this incredible survival against the odds.
We can learn a valuable lesson from this, if you ask me. The lesson being, that if you find yourself stranded on the ice, the next best thing to do, if rely on the expert in your midst.
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