BTJ 5/2011 - Baltic Press

Collector’s cornerThe comeback of a forgotten heroAt the end of November 2011 thewhalers’ graveyard in Grytviken,South Georgia, will witnessan unusual ceremony – FrankWild’s ashes will be buried beside his belovedcommander and friend, Sir ErnestShackleton. Both men died during the interwarperiod, Ernest Shackleton in 1922of a heart attack onboard the researchvessel Quest, Frank Wild in 1939 in hisbed in South Africa of pneumonia. Theymet for the first time in 1901 onboard theDiscovery during an Antarctic expeditionled by Robert Scott. Shackleton was amate and Wild an able seaman, but timespent together under the harsh polarconditions broke the social barrier. Bothmen won not only their unique friendshipbut also the fame of great explorersand lucky men.Wild was Shackleton’s right-handman during the Nimrod Expedition ledby him (1907-1909). Both men, plus two(1914-1917). Eventually the Endurancewas crushed by ice in the Weddell Seaand the men made their way by sleigh andboat to land on Elephant Island. Here hewas left in charge of 21 men while Shackletonwith a small party sailed on a halfopenboat to get help in South Georgia.If we exclude telepathy, Wild’s belief inhis friend was so strong that four monthslater, on the morning of the day of hisreturn onboard a Chilean vessel, he said:“Roll up your sleeping bags boys, the bossmay be coming today.”They went down to the sea twice again– in 1918 to Spitsbergen and in 1921 to theAntarctic on the Quest. After Shackleton’sdeath Wild assumed command of the shipand completed the journey. The followingyear, in 1923, a newly married Wild emigratedto South Africa with his wife to farmcotton. The farming venture failed, as didhis marriage. Wild moved from job to job,often struggling to make ends meet. WhileOn 20 November 2011 Frank Wild willmake his final journey onboard the Russianpolar cruiser Akademik Ioffe to bere-united with his ‘boss’ according to hislast will.On 25 of November South Georgiaand the South Sandwich Islands will issueeight stamps in four pairs – each representingthe expedition for which Wildwas awarded a bar to the Polar Medal (depictedon all the stamps below). His portraitsare on the left and on the right areleaders and ships from each expedition:Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN – theDiscovery (60p), Prof. Douglas Mawson– the Aurora (95p) and Ernest Shackletontwice – with the Nimrod (70p) andthe Endurance (£1.15p).The majority of Wild’s heritage wasauctioned off in 1971 after the death of hiswife Trixie in 1970 – manuscripts, documentsand medals. But the most valuableCBE and the Polar Medal (their modelsothers, made a heroic attempt to theSouth Pole. Beating all records they gotwithin only 97 miles of the Pole whenthey were forced to turn back. On theirreturn, 700 miles of appalling exhaustionand hunger, Wild and Shackleton’s relationshipbecame cemented. Wild wrote:“S. privately forced upon me his onebreakfast biscuit, and would have givenme another tonight had I allowed him.I do not suppose that anyone else in theworld can thoroughly realise how muchgenerosity and sympathy was shown bythis; I do, and by God I shall never forget.Thousands of pounds would not havebought that one biscuit.”Wild later was second-in-commandduring the famous Endurance Expeditionworking as a store-keeper on a mine in thetown of Klerksdorp he suddenly died. Hemarried twice but remained childless. Theonly property he left behind were somemanuscripts, Commander Insignia of theOrder of the British Empire (CBE), militarymedals and last, but not least, the silverPolar Medal, one of only two awarded withfour bars. His second wife Trixie refusedto sell the mementoes after Wild’s deathand she didn’t know, or didn’t want to say,where his remains were buried.This mystery has recently been solvedby South African journalist and Polartraveller Angie Butler. After a 7-yearsearch she found his ashes in a vault –unused since the 1960s – under a chapelin one of the cemeteries in Johannesburg.are on the left side of Wild’s mounteddress miniature set) were not sold until2009 by Trixie’s brother’s descendants atan auction in London fetching £132,000. Marek BłuśPhoto: Dix Noonan Webb56 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2011