Christmas feast of dried penguin and seal meat Festive menu on Shackletons ill-fated Antarctic expedition recreated They ate dried penguin, not turkey, for Christmas dinner, washed down with Irish stout and rum. There was also seal meat and jugged hare on the menu in the middle of the Antarctic Ocean on Christmas Eve 1914. The feast, which also included Christmas pudding fired with brandy in approved style, was a joyous affair on board Endurance - the lead ship in the polar expedition led by explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. It also included two other Irish explorers, Tom Crean and Tim McCarthy. As they sang songs full of hope and danced Irish jigs to the banjo playing of crewman Leonard Hussey, little did they know that the following Christmas Day would be spent marooned on sea ice. The words of crew member Lionel Greenstreet were portentous: Here endeth another Christmas Day. I wonder how, and under what circumstances, our next one will be spent, he wrote in his journal. He was right to be worried. Endurance, bedecked with Yuletide bunting and festive favours on Christmas Day 1914 would, by Christmas Day 1915, be sunk in the Antarctic Ocean, crushed by the relentless polar ice that bedevilled the expedition. The crew who had abandoned ship were at the mercy of the pack ice and were surviving on scant rations. advertisement Now, a century on, the 1914 Christmas feast on board the ill-fated vessel will be recreated with a special dinner at the Shackleton Exhibition Centre in Dun Laoghaire. Just 28 people will take part in the anniversary dinner on December 23 - the same number that sat in the ships cabin all those years ago. Diners will enjoy dried meats (but no penguin), stout and rum - though there will also be finer fare on offer Hardier guests will also be able to sample the hideous concoction that the exploration team christened hooch. The rations consisted of lard, dried meat and milk powder and became the staple diet during the long months as castaways. The story of Endurance became one of the great survival sagas. Two months later when the ice split, Shackleton ordered his crew into the lifeboats and after five harrowing days they made land 300 miles away at Elephant Island. However, they were still in deep trouble and far from shipping routes. Shackleton decided to make a sea dash to the whaling stations of South Georgia more than 700 miles away. He and a small number of the expedition including Tom Crean from the Dingle Peninsula and McCarthy were chosen for the mission on board the strongest lifeboat. Despite being hit by a hurricane, they made it. Yet still there was to be an epic overland trek by Shackleton, Crean and the captain of Endurance, Frank Worsley, before civilisation and help was found. First Shackleton had to rescue the rest of his lifeboat crew still on the other side of South Georgia - then he went about successfully rescuing the rest of his expedition still stuck on Elephant Island. As well as the €100-a-head anniversary dinner on December 23, families can take part in the Shackleton Christmas Experience every Saturday and Sunday from December 6 to December 21 at €20 for a family ticket. See shackletonexhibition or call (086) 8523-498 for more details Sunday Independent
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 03:06:07 +0000
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