Introduction
In the afternoon, about 3 pm, 20 May 1916, Ernest Shackleton with Frank Worsley and Tom Crean unexpectedly arrived in the Stromness whaling station, South Georgia. They had completed one of the most extraordinary journeys in the history of Antarctic exploration – a story retold in numerous books and films.
After Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea in November 1915, the entire expedition reached Elephant Island from where Shackleton with five men sailed the lifeboat James Caird to South Georgia, reaching King Haakon Bay on the west side of the island after 16 days at sea. With Crean and Worsley, he then managed to cross glaciers and mountain passes to reach one of the whaling stations. Thirty-six hours after, they left King Haakon Bay, the three exhausted, bearded, ragged and evil smelling men stumbled into Stromness.
There are numerous versions of what actually happened there, whom they met and what was said during this first encounter between the whalers and the explorers. There has also at times been a confusion (or at least a debate) about which whaling station and which building they arrived at. The date – 20 May – has never been contested, although some sources say they arrived at 4 pm not 3 pm.
Despite the discrepancies between several accounts dealing with the Stromness arrival, there has been little explicit analysis to try to separate facts from fiction. One exception is Gerald Elliot. In reviewing publications on Shackleton, he remarked: “When, however, great men pass from history into legend, as has Shackleton, myths get mixed with facts, and the biographer may have difficulty in disentangling them” (Elliot, Reference Elliot1999, p. 362). Another exception is Robert Burton who has gone into detail on all aspects of Shackleton’s South Georgia visits (there were three altogether). On the arrival in Stromness 20 May1916, he remarked that it “was the climax to an epic journey of hardship and endurance. As a result, it has become the stuff of legend and is the part of the Shackleton story that has received the most embroidery as authors attempt to increase the drama of the occasion” (Burton, Reference Burton and Ringstad2006, p. 60).
Despite such attempts to get the records straight, books and other publications on Shackleton still appear where details on the arrival are marred by fiction. In the following essay, I will therefore continue the search for a “sober” narrative of what happened that autumn afternoon in South Georgia more than a hundred years ago.
The reason to revisit the questions surrounding the arrival in Stromness now is the renewed focus on Stromness Manager’s Villa. Initiated and led by the South Georgia Heritage Trust, the house was repaired and stabilised during the Antarctic summer 2025/26 as part of the extensive project the Whaling Station Initiative/Saving Shackleton’s Heritage. The history of the whaling station in Stromness is also analysed in a new book, where the various buildings, and the people that visited Stromness, is dealt with in some detail (Galteland, Reference Galteland2025).
Stromness or Husvik?
When James Caird had reached King Haakon Bay and the traverse across the island was imminent, Shackleton and his small team had to plan a route. They – or indeed no one at the time – knew the interior of the island, but they knew fairly accurately the geography of the Northeast coast and the location of the whaling stations. They were aware that Prince Olav Harbour was the closest site, but they also knew that it was only an anchorage for a factory ship, and that the whaling season had probably ended, so they could not expect to find people there. The Southern Whaling and Sealing Company started whaling in Prince Olav Harbour with the factory ship Restitution in 1911, and a shore station was built in 1917.
The only realistic alternative was Stromness Bay with its three whaling stations, Leith Harbour, Stromness and Husvik. Which one of them they should go for was probably not clear or decided when they started from King Haakon Bay. Before leaving, Shackleton wrote a letter of instructions to Harry McNeish who would remain in King Haakon Bay with Tim McCarthy and John Vincent:
“I am about to try and march Husvik on the East Coast of this island for relief for our party. I am leaving you in charge of the party…” (Shackleton, Reference Shackleton1916).
A final decision about which station to try to reach may only have been taken when they had managed to cross the interior mountains and glaciers. When they were about to reach Stromness Bay, Husvik was apparently not the plan anymore. At least Worsley later wrote: “Leith and Stromness were nearer, but the question was, which was the easier to get to. Sir Ernest decided for Stromness, so we bore a little further to the right” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 209 (in 1977 edition)).
There has at times been debate about which station they actually reached. That they indeed arrived in Stromness is beyond doubt. But a reason why the issue was raised, most notably by Gilkes (Reference Gilkes1992), is at least to some extent related to such indecisiveness as to where they were heading. More importantly, however, it is related to an error in the “Rough Memory Map of Route across South Georgia” where Husvik and Stromness are transposed (Fig. 1). This map was originally drawn by Worsley and reproduced by Shackleton in South (Reference Shackleton1919, p. 207) and many other publications.
Figure 1.
“Rough memory map of route across South Georgia.”
Source: F. Worsley, “Across South Georgia,” Boys own Paper, 1931a, p. 682.
Gilkes argued that the route from the Fortuna Glacier and across the mountain pass to Stromness had many topographical similarities with the route to Husvik (including the famous waterfall). I will not go into the details of his arguments. They are definitely fascinating and to some extent convincing. However, theory cannot overrule facts and the primary sources. One of them is a letter from Manager Søren Berntsen at Husvik who wrote to his wife soon after, in June 1916:
“Shackleton og to mand gik tvers over øen her og kom til Strømnes dem var da saa sjæggete at Sørlle kjente dem ikke før han sagde hvem han var dagen efter kom han hit…”
(“…Shackleton and two men walked across the island and came to Strømnes they were so bearded that Sørlle did not recognise them before he had told who he was next day they came here…”) (Berntsen, Reference Berntsen1916).
This letter and other evidence are listed by Meiklejohn and Skontorp in a paper that put an end to this short-lived debate (Reference Meiklejohn and Skontorp1993, p. 165).
Why Worsley (and Shackleton) mixed up Stromness and Husvik in the memory map, we will never know. They certainly had perfect control of the geography and the locations – navigators as they were.
However, mistakes happen. Worsley also wrote that Thoralf Sørlle, the manager at Stromness, was the manager of Tonsberg Whaling Company – the owners of the neighbouring Husvik whaling station (Reference Worsley1933, p. 213 (in the 1977 edition)). A minor detail, of course, compared to the grander narrative.
Who did they meet?
When the three exhausted explorers arrived at Stromness they met several workers as they made their way through the station. It was still working hours and Stromness at the time employed about 90 men. In addition, the station employed four whale catchers with crews of about ten. Some of them may also have been ashore (Odd Galteland, personal communication, Reference Galteland2025).
There is some discrepancy between Shackleton and Worsley about who they first encountered. According to Shackleton, they first met “two small boys ten or twelve years of age” who just ran away “as fast as their legs would carry them” (Shackleton, Reference Shackleton1919, p. 206). According to Worsley, they first met a Norwegian wheeling a barrow who “stared at us in amazement, grunted, and went on” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)). Worsley also recalled that they met “two Norwegian lads of seventeen or eighteen”. This is a more likely age than what Shackleton suggested. There were certainly no boys ten or twelve years old in Stromness at that time, but some of the youngest may have been between 15 and 20. They no doubt were taken by surprise and probably scared. Worsley also wrote: “I think they thought we were the devil”. In his book Endurance he wrote that they “bolted at the sight of us” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1931b, p. 164).
Some later authors have suggested that the “small boys” may have been manager Sørlle’s daughters (Dunnett, Reference Dunnett1996, p. 76). Sørlle indeed had four daughters, and two of them spent time in Stromness. Anne Marie (b. 1908) had been there with her parents until 1914. Her younger sister, Ingeborg (b. 1914), spent four seasons in Stromness, but that was in the1920. So, there were no young girls in Stromness to welcome Shackleton (Galteland, Reference Galteland2025, pp. 106 and 127).
Some later accounts have very much based their descriptions of the first encounters on Shackleton and Worsley (Thomson, Reference Thomson1998, p. 98). Some have made the arrival even livelier. Skinnarmo and Tell (Reference Skinnarmo and Tell2004) for example, described the arrival as if Shackleton and his companions had reached a regular farm: “Småbarn springer undan och husdjur flyr” (“Children run away and animals flee”). There were indeed pigs and other animals that were left to wander around in Stromness, so the description may have some realism.
According to Shackleton, they passed the “digesting house.” That must have been one of the cookeries. This is very likely and almost inevitable as the large processing buildings were the first ones one would meet coming in from the back of the station (from the west). They may have seen other workers on the way and one of them may have been Olaf Stenersen who later told his grandson Olaf that he saw the three bearded and ragged figures when they passed the powerhouse where he looked on in amazement from the doorway (Galteland, personal communication, Reference Galteland2025).
Shackleton recalled that they went to the jetty. Several later accounts mention that they met foreman Mathias Andersen there and that Shackleton asked him to be taken to Captain Anton Anderssen, the manager he knew from 1914.
It is difficult to distinguish between facts and fiction when it comes to this encounter at the jetty. Neither Shackleton nor Worsley mentioned Andersen or Anderssen. According to Worsley, they were met by a “foreman” when they approached the Villa (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)). That might, of course, have been Mathias Andersen.
The first one to mention foreman Andersen and manager Anderssen seems to be Lansing in his book Endurance (Reference Lansing1959, p. 263). Lansing had met Mathias Andersen in Norway and refers to him in his list of acknowledgements. Furthermore, Andersen, 77 years old at the time, was interviewed by a Norwegian illustrated magazine (Hjelle,Reference Hjelle1959, pp. 14 and 43). He there referred to Lansing’s book that had also been published in Norwegian that year. In the interview, he follows Lansing almost word-by-word on details on the arrival, encounters and what was said (see later).
Whether Shackleton asked for Anton Anderssen is nevertheless quite doubtful. It is a fact that he had been the winter manager at Stromness until November 1914, but Thoralf Sørlle had returned and met Shackleton before he sailed south, so it is not likely that Shackleton would have mistaken the two managers.
Facts or fiction; the encounter with Mathias Andersen and the inquiry for Anton Anderssen has later been repeated by several authors with Lansing and Andersen as the source (Fuchs, Reference Fuchs2001, p. 140, Huntford Reference Huntford1986, p. 597; Smith, Reference Smith2000, p. 272 and Reference Smith2014, p. 362).
Which villa?
After the stop at the jetty (that very likely took place) they went, or were probably escorted, to the manager’s house (the Villa) to meet Sørlle. The house was located almost next to the jetty. Much later, there was for some time confusion about which house where they actually ended their long journey. The confusion was caused by the fact that over the history of the Stromness whaling station there had been two villas. The original one was built in 1912/13 and accommodated the manager until the mid-1920s. After a merge in 1922, the Ocean Harbour whaling station father east was shut down, and most of the buildings were moved to Stromness. Among them was the manager’s house that now became the new Villa (Galteland, Reference Galteland2025, p. 97 and 161). So, when Stromness ceased operations and was left in the mid-1960s, the manager’s house was a different building from the original one. Around 1990, when plans for a museum in South Georgia were under consideration, Stomness was a candidate because of the Shackleton connection. Grytviken was finally chosen as the location for the museum, but a plaque was set up at the wrong (the “new”) manager’s house in Stomness to commemorate the arrival of the Endurance men in 1916. Some years later, after looking closer at historical records and photos, it became evident that the house where the plaque had been set up was not in Stromness at all in 1916 (Basberg & Burton, Reference Basberg and Burton2006). It would, indeed, have been unfortunate if the wrong Villa had been restored.
This author must admit that before he contributed to the clarification about the buildings, he contributed to the confusion. In the survey of the whaling shore stations at South Georgia, the new building was termed “Villa: Manager’s House” while the original one was termed “Foremen’s Barracks and Mess” that was the correct terms but only after the mid-1920s (Basberg, Reference Basberg2004, p. 209).
What was said at the doorstep?
Shackleton, Worsley and Crean finally arrived at the Villa where they met manager Thoralf Sørlle. What was said at the doorstep has become an almost iconic part of the Shackleton heritage. However, what exactly was spoken by Sørlle and Shackleton is not known. Sørlle himself left no evidence in his records.
According to Shackleton’s recollection, the conversation went as follows:
“Mr. Sorlle came out to the door and said ‘Well?’ ‘Don’t you recognise me?’ I said.
‘I know your voice,’ he replied doubtfully. ‘You are the mate on the Daisy.’ (BLB note: A United States whaling and sealing vessel which visited South Georgia in 1912/13). ‘My name is Shackleton,’ I said. Immediately he put out his hand and said, ‘Come in. Come in’.” (Shackleton, Reference Shackleton1919, p. 206).
Worsley (Reference Worsley1931b, p. 164) was quite brief in his description of the arrival at the Villa:
“Our old friend Captain Sorlle, who had entertained us two years previously when the Expedition had touched Stromness Bay, failed to recognise us as we stood on this doorstep.”
He was somewhat more elaborate in this next book. He wrote that the foreman they had met went inside and told Sørlle: “There are three funny-looking men outside, they say they know you. Mr. Sørlle came out and Shackleton said: ‘Do you know me, Sorlee?’ Sorlee said: ‘No.’” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)).
It is unlikely that Worsley, left on the outside, would know what the foreman said to Sørlle. Their conversation obviously also took place in Norwegian. That Sørlle, when he came to the doorstep, did not recognise Shackleton is likely correct and should come as no surprise.
The first biography written on Shackleton was by Hugh R. Mill in 1923. The arrival in Stromness is elaborated, and he wrote the following on the first encounter with Sørlle:
“Then they came to the Manager’s House, Mr. Sorlle, an old acquaintance, stared at them in blank astonishment and demanded their names. ‘When was the war over?’ asked Shackleton.” (Mill, Reference Mill1923, p. 227).
That a question about the war was asked is very likely. Whether it was asked at the doorstep is less obvious. Worsley wrote that the question came up when, shortly after their arrival, they were served “a civilized afternoon tea” and “we exchanged news with Sorlee, telling him bits of our adventures, and he telling of the Great War…” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)).
In 1954, Robert Robertson published his Of Whales and Men where a main character is the experienced whaler Mr. Mansell. According to Robertson, Mansell was in the manager’s office in Stromness when Shackleton arrived there and recalled the conversation:
“Manager say: ‘Who the hell are you?’ and a terrible bearded man standing in the centre of the three say very quietly: ‘My name is Shackleton.’” (Robertson, Reference Robertson1954, p. 90). Mansell, however, is a fictional character, and the same therefore goes with the conversation (and indeed the way it was written that suggests that Mansell was supposed to be a Norwegian).
Robertson was a medical doctor at Leith Harbour and wrote a rather critical account of his experience there. The Salvesen Company (the owners of Leith), but also organisations, companies and individuals within the whaling community, criticised the book for mixing facts and fiction (Elliot, Reference Elliot1998, pp. 66 and 98 and Reference Elliot1999, p. 362). When the book, first published in the U.S., was published in England two years later, Robertson (1956) added an extended preface where he elaborated on the relationship between “‘truth’ and fiction”. He admitted that “in revising the text, I have, in places, been forced to veer even further towards fiction than I originally intended.” That may be why his character Mansell and his version of Shackleton’s arrival in Stromness remained unchanged in the two editions.
Fiction or not: “Who the hell are you?” has become the most widely used and well-known phrase in the Shackleton literature when describing the Stromness arrival. In the otherwise scholarly written biography by Fisher and Fisher and Lansing’s book, both published not long after Robertson’s book was published in England, the phrase was re-quoted (Fisher & Fisher, Reference Fisher and Fisher1957, p. 385; Lansing, Reference Lansing1959, p. 264). It is an interesting detail that Lansing refers to foreman Mathias Andersen as his source, and Andersen himself, in the interview with him in 1959 quoted Robertson almost word-by-word. So, it is very likely that he had read Robertson to “help” his memory.
Robertson followed by Fisher and Fisher and Lansing established a never-ending re-quoting pattern of “Who the hell are you?” (Armstrong Reference Armstrong1998; Alexander, Reference Alexander1999, p. 164; Smith, Reference Smith2000 and Reference Smith2014; Shackleton & MacKenna, Reference Shackleton and MacKenna2002; Skinnarmo & Tell, Reference Skinnarmo and Tell2004). There are probably many more examples than the ones listed here.
The tough tone in the phrase may have had a special appeal to some authors who have seen no reason not to exaggerate even more:
“As they entered Stromness at 4 pm more and more people fled from the staggering scarecrows, as if trying to escape a plague” (Fiennes, Reference Fiennes2021, p. 328). Then, after having been led to the Villa Sørlle was called to the doorstep: “‘Who the hell are you?’ he shouted, ready to run these vagabonds out of town”.
Although it should be rather straightforward to distinguish some facts from fiction when it comes to what was said at the doorstep of the Villa (most obvious the ‘recollection’ of Mansell), exactly what was spoken will forever be hidden in the mist of history.
Burton and Venables (Reference Burton and Venables2001) made the following pertinent remark after studying the Shackleton literature:
“Accounts of the meeting with Sørlle, as with other details in this part of the Endurance story, differ. It is difficult to know who had the most accurate memory, or whether someone is embroidering a good story.”
Who (if anyone) wept?
When Sørlle understood that the strange-looking visitor was Shackleton, Robertson’s ‘hero’ Mansell, in his whaler’s English, recalled: “Me – I turned around and weep. I think the manager weep, too.” (Robertson, Reference Robertson1954, p. 90).
The emotional reactions of the fictional character Mansell cannot be questioned. Whether Sørlle himself cried or not cannot be verified. Nevertheless, as with Robertson’s description of the dialogue between Sørlle and Shackleton, the weeping has been repeated over and over again. It has also been repeated in many variations. Duncan Carse, for example, in the story line for his proposed film on Shackleton, suggested his own twist to the story:
“There have been eyewitnesses who said that Sørlle ‘turned away and wept’. This seems unlikely; you cannot weep for a man like Shackleton in his finest hour. If any had wept, it would have been the Boss” (Carse, Reference Carse1986).
In his biography on Crean, the author had yet another version: “Anderson turned away and wept” (Smith, Reference Smith2000, p. 272). Mathias Andersen himself, in his 1959 interview said: “Sørlle snudde seg bort og gråt” (“Sørlle turned away and wept”) (Hjelle, Reference Hjelle1959, p. 43). Again, whether this is a reliable recollection or based on Andersen’s reading of Robertson, we will never know.
Facts and fiction
When well inside the Villa and when the inevitable initial confusion had been cleared up, Shackleton and his companions were well cared for by Sørlle. They received warm baths, clean new clothes, as much food as they could eat, and not least, a bed to sleep in. The entire literature from Shackleton, Worsley and onwards seems to agree on that, although there are discrepancies about in what order they were treated with the various luxuries.
The bathtub has received some attention. At least it is a fact that a bathtub is still there, although the original may have been replaced.
Shackleton’s highest priority before he would concentrate on Sørlle’s hospitality was the rescue of his men. Samson, one of the Stromness whale catchers, was immediately sent to pick up the remaining three men in King Haakon Bay.
Worsley and Shackleton, with Sørlle, also started preparations for the rescue of the expedition members at Elephant Island. It is not the scope here to go into any detail on this complex and time-consuming operation. It is well covered in the literature, although there are obviously details that differ between the various accounts relating also this part of the Endurance story.
We will never be able to establish with absolute certainty what is fact and what is fiction about events in Stromness on 20 May 1916. There are no reliable contemporary and accurate sources. A ‘second-best’ source is then memoirs written by those who were involved. In this case, this would be Shackleton’s and Worsley’s books published in 1919 and 1931. The first biography on Shackleton was by Mill, published in 1923 – very much based on Shackleton’s book, but also with his own twists that are difficult to verify. Nevertheless, these early books are rather simple and plain in the description of what happened and what was said. A clear change in the Shackleton literature was Robertson’s book Of Whales and Men from 1954/1956 that has undisputable fictional aspects that have been adopted by numerous later authors.
The main narrative about Shackleton’s Stromness arrival has fortunately never been altered, and there should be no real need for any embellishment on a story that is thrilling enough as it is. As Gerald Elliot concluded in his critical remarks on Robertson’s book (and not surprisingly supported by the fact-finder par excellence Bob Burton):
“Shackleton does not require fiction to support him. His own story is dramatic enough to stand on its own for all time” (Elliot, Reference Elliot1999, p. 362).
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Introduction
In the afternoon, about 3 pm, 20 May 1916, Ernest Shackleton with Frank Worsley and Tom Crean unexpectedly arrived in the Stromness whaling station, South Georgia. They had completed one of the most extraordinary journeys in the history of Antarctic exploration – a story retold in numerous books and films.
After Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea in November 1915, the entire expedition reached Elephant Island from where Shackleton with five men sailed the lifeboat James Caird to South Georgia, reaching King Haakon Bay on the west side of the island after 16 days at sea. With Crean and Worsley, he then managed to cross glaciers and mountain passes to reach one of the whaling stations. Thirty-six hours after, they left King Haakon Bay, the three exhausted, bearded, ragged and evil smelling men stumbled into Stromness.
There are numerous versions of what actually happened there, whom they met and what was said during this first encounter between the whalers and the explorers. There has also at times been a confusion (or at least a debate) about which whaling station and which building they arrived at. The date – 20 May – has never been contested, although some sources say they arrived at 4 pm not 3 pm.
Despite the discrepancies between several accounts dealing with the Stromness arrival, there has been little explicit analysis to try to separate facts from fiction. One exception is Gerald Elliot. In reviewing publications on Shackleton, he remarked: “When, however, great men pass from history into legend, as has Shackleton, myths get mixed with facts, and the biographer may have difficulty in disentangling them” (Elliot, Reference Elliot1999, p. 362). Another exception is Robert Burton who has gone into detail on all aspects of Shackleton’s South Georgia visits (there were three altogether). On the arrival in Stromness 20 May1916, he remarked that it “was the climax to an epic journey of hardship and endurance. As a result, it has become the stuff of legend and is the part of the Shackleton story that has received the most embroidery as authors attempt to increase the drama of the occasion” (Burton, Reference Burton and Ringstad2006, p. 60).
Despite such attempts to get the records straight, books and other publications on Shackleton still appear where details on the arrival are marred by fiction. In the following essay, I will therefore continue the search for a “sober” narrative of what happened that autumn afternoon in South Georgia more than a hundred years ago.
The reason to revisit the questions surrounding the arrival in Stromness now is the renewed focus on Stromness Manager’s Villa. Initiated and led by the South Georgia Heritage Trust, the house was repaired and stabilised during the Antarctic summer 2025/26 as part of the extensive project the Whaling Station Initiative/Saving Shackleton’s Heritage. The history of the whaling station in Stromness is also analysed in a new book, where the various buildings, and the people that visited Stromness, is dealt with in some detail (Galteland, Reference Galteland2025).
Stromness or Husvik?
When James Caird had reached King Haakon Bay and the traverse across the island was imminent, Shackleton and his small team had to plan a route. They – or indeed no one at the time – knew the interior of the island, but they knew fairly accurately the geography of the Northeast coast and the location of the whaling stations. They were aware that Prince Olav Harbour was the closest site, but they also knew that it was only an anchorage for a factory ship, and that the whaling season had probably ended, so they could not expect to find people there. The Southern Whaling and Sealing Company started whaling in Prince Olav Harbour with the factory ship Restitution in 1911, and a shore station was built in 1917.
The only realistic alternative was Stromness Bay with its three whaling stations, Leith Harbour, Stromness and Husvik. Which one of them they should go for was probably not clear or decided when they started from King Haakon Bay. Before leaving, Shackleton wrote a letter of instructions to Harry McNeish who would remain in King Haakon Bay with Tim McCarthy and John Vincent:
“I am about to try and march Husvik on the East Coast of this island for relief for our party. I am leaving you in charge of the party…” (Shackleton, Reference Shackleton1916).
A final decision about which station to try to reach may only have been taken when they had managed to cross the interior mountains and glaciers. When they were about to reach Stromness Bay, Husvik was apparently not the plan anymore. At least Worsley later wrote: “Leith and Stromness were nearer, but the question was, which was the easier to get to. Sir Ernest decided for Stromness, so we bore a little further to the right” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 209 (in 1977 edition)).
There has at times been debate about which station they actually reached. That they indeed arrived in Stromness is beyond doubt. But a reason why the issue was raised, most notably by Gilkes (Reference Gilkes1992), is at least to some extent related to such indecisiveness as to where they were heading. More importantly, however, it is related to an error in the “Rough Memory Map of Route across South Georgia” where Husvik and Stromness are transposed (Fig. 1). This map was originally drawn by Worsley and reproduced by Shackleton in South (Reference Shackleton1919, p. 207) and many other publications.
“Rough memory map of route across South Georgia.”
Source: F. Worsley, “Across South Georgia,” Boys own Paper, 1931a, p. 682.
Gilkes argued that the route from the Fortuna Glacier and across the mountain pass to Stromness had many topographical similarities with the route to Husvik (including the famous waterfall). I will not go into the details of his arguments. They are definitely fascinating and to some extent convincing. However, theory cannot overrule facts and the primary sources. One of them is a letter from Manager Søren Berntsen at Husvik who wrote to his wife soon after, in June 1916:
“Shackleton og to mand gik tvers over øen her og kom til Strømnes dem var da saa sjæggete at Sørlle kjente dem ikke før han sagde hvem han var dagen efter kom han hit…”
(“…Shackleton and two men walked across the island and came to Strømnes they were so bearded that Sørlle did not recognise them before he had told who he was next day they came here…”) (Berntsen, Reference Berntsen1916).
This letter and other evidence are listed by Meiklejohn and Skontorp in a paper that put an end to this short-lived debate (Reference Meiklejohn and Skontorp1993, p. 165).
Why Worsley (and Shackleton) mixed up Stromness and Husvik in the memory map, we will never know. They certainly had perfect control of the geography and the locations – navigators as they were.
However, mistakes happen. Worsley also wrote that Thoralf Sørlle, the manager at Stromness, was the manager of Tonsberg Whaling Company – the owners of the neighbouring Husvik whaling station (Reference Worsley1933, p. 213 (in the 1977 edition)). A minor detail, of course, compared to the grander narrative.
Who did they meet?
When the three exhausted explorers arrived at Stromness they met several workers as they made their way through the station. It was still working hours and Stromness at the time employed about 90 men. In addition, the station employed four whale catchers with crews of about ten. Some of them may also have been ashore (Odd Galteland, personal communication, Reference Galteland2025).
There is some discrepancy between Shackleton and Worsley about who they first encountered. According to Shackleton, they first met “two small boys ten or twelve years of age” who just ran away “as fast as their legs would carry them” (Shackleton, Reference Shackleton1919, p. 206). According to Worsley, they first met a Norwegian wheeling a barrow who “stared at us in amazement, grunted, and went on” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)). Worsley also recalled that they met “two Norwegian lads of seventeen or eighteen”. This is a more likely age than what Shackleton suggested. There were certainly no boys ten or twelve years old in Stromness at that time, but some of the youngest may have been between 15 and 20. They no doubt were taken by surprise and probably scared. Worsley also wrote: “I think they thought we were the devil”. In his book Endurance he wrote that they “bolted at the sight of us” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1931b, p. 164).
Some later authors have suggested that the “small boys” may have been manager Sørlle’s daughters (Dunnett, Reference Dunnett1996, p. 76). Sørlle indeed had four daughters, and two of them spent time in Stromness. Anne Marie (b. 1908) had been there with her parents until 1914. Her younger sister, Ingeborg (b. 1914), spent four seasons in Stromness, but that was in the1920. So, there were no young girls in Stromness to welcome Shackleton (Galteland, Reference Galteland2025, pp. 106 and 127).
Some later accounts have very much based their descriptions of the first encounters on Shackleton and Worsley (Thomson, Reference Thomson1998, p. 98). Some have made the arrival even livelier. Skinnarmo and Tell (Reference Skinnarmo and Tell2004) for example, described the arrival as if Shackleton and his companions had reached a regular farm: “Småbarn springer undan och husdjur flyr” (“Children run away and animals flee”). There were indeed pigs and other animals that were left to wander around in Stromness, so the description may have some realism.
According to Shackleton, they passed the “digesting house.” That must have been one of the cookeries. This is very likely and almost inevitable as the large processing buildings were the first ones one would meet coming in from the back of the station (from the west). They may have seen other workers on the way and one of them may have been Olaf Stenersen who later told his grandson Olaf that he saw the three bearded and ragged figures when they passed the powerhouse where he looked on in amazement from the doorway (Galteland, personal communication, Reference Galteland2025).
Shackleton recalled that they went to the jetty. Several later accounts mention that they met foreman Mathias Andersen there and that Shackleton asked him to be taken to Captain Anton Anderssen, the manager he knew from 1914.
It is difficult to distinguish between facts and fiction when it comes to this encounter at the jetty. Neither Shackleton nor Worsley mentioned Andersen or Anderssen. According to Worsley, they were met by a “foreman” when they approached the Villa (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)). That might, of course, have been Mathias Andersen.
The first one to mention foreman Andersen and manager Anderssen seems to be Lansing in his book Endurance (Reference Lansing1959, p. 263). Lansing had met Mathias Andersen in Norway and refers to him in his list of acknowledgements. Furthermore, Andersen, 77 years old at the time, was interviewed by a Norwegian illustrated magazine (Hjelle,Reference Hjelle1959, pp. 14 and 43). He there referred to Lansing’s book that had also been published in Norwegian that year. In the interview, he follows Lansing almost word-by-word on details on the arrival, encounters and what was said (see later).
Whether Shackleton asked for Anton Anderssen is nevertheless quite doubtful. It is a fact that he had been the winter manager at Stromness until November 1914, but Thoralf Sørlle had returned and met Shackleton before he sailed south, so it is not likely that Shackleton would have mistaken the two managers.
Facts or fiction; the encounter with Mathias Andersen and the inquiry for Anton Anderssen has later been repeated by several authors with Lansing and Andersen as the source (Fuchs, Reference Fuchs2001, p. 140, Huntford Reference Huntford1986, p. 597; Smith, Reference Smith2000, p. 272 and Reference Smith2014, p. 362).
Which villa?
After the stop at the jetty (that very likely took place) they went, or were probably escorted, to the manager’s house (the Villa) to meet Sørlle. The house was located almost next to the jetty. Much later, there was for some time confusion about which house where they actually ended their long journey. The confusion was caused by the fact that over the history of the Stromness whaling station there had been two villas. The original one was built in 1912/13 and accommodated the manager until the mid-1920s. After a merge in 1922, the Ocean Harbour whaling station father east was shut down, and most of the buildings were moved to Stromness. Among them was the manager’s house that now became the new Villa (Galteland, Reference Galteland2025, p. 97 and 161). So, when Stromness ceased operations and was left in the mid-1960s, the manager’s house was a different building from the original one. Around 1990, when plans for a museum in South Georgia were under consideration, Stomness was a candidate because of the Shackleton connection. Grytviken was finally chosen as the location for the museum, but a plaque was set up at the wrong (the “new”) manager’s house in Stomness to commemorate the arrival of the Endurance men in 1916. Some years later, after looking closer at historical records and photos, it became evident that the house where the plaque had been set up was not in Stromness at all in 1916 (Basberg & Burton, Reference Basberg and Burton2006). It would, indeed, have been unfortunate if the wrong Villa had been restored.
This author must admit that before he contributed to the clarification about the buildings, he contributed to the confusion. In the survey of the whaling shore stations at South Georgia, the new building was termed “Villa: Manager’s House” while the original one was termed “Foremen’s Barracks and Mess” that was the correct terms but only after the mid-1920s (Basberg, Reference Basberg2004, p. 209).
What was said at the doorstep?
Shackleton, Worsley and Crean finally arrived at the Villa where they met manager Thoralf Sørlle. What was said at the doorstep has become an almost iconic part of the Shackleton heritage. However, what exactly was spoken by Sørlle and Shackleton is not known. Sørlle himself left no evidence in his records.
According to Shackleton’s recollection, the conversation went as follows:
“Mr. Sorlle came out to the door and said ‘Well?’ ‘Don’t you recognise me?’ I said.
‘I know your voice,’ he replied doubtfully. ‘You are the mate on the Daisy.’ (BLB note: A United States whaling and sealing vessel which visited South Georgia in 1912/13). ‘My name is Shackleton,’ I said. Immediately he put out his hand and said, ‘Come in. Come in’.” (Shackleton, Reference Shackleton1919, p. 206).
Worsley (Reference Worsley1931b, p. 164) was quite brief in his description of the arrival at the Villa:
“Our old friend Captain Sorlle, who had entertained us two years previously when the Expedition had touched Stromness Bay, failed to recognise us as we stood on this doorstep.”
He was somewhat more elaborate in this next book. He wrote that the foreman they had met went inside and told Sørlle: “There are three funny-looking men outside, they say they know you. Mr. Sørlle came out and Shackleton said: ‘Do you know me, Sorlee?’ Sorlee said: ‘No.’” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)).
It is unlikely that Worsley, left on the outside, would know what the foreman said to Sørlle. Their conversation obviously also took place in Norwegian. That Sørlle, when he came to the doorstep, did not recognise Shackleton is likely correct and should come as no surprise.
The first biography written on Shackleton was by Hugh R. Mill in 1923. The arrival in Stromness is elaborated, and he wrote the following on the first encounter with Sørlle:
“Then they came to the Manager’s House, Mr. Sorlle, an old acquaintance, stared at them in blank astonishment and demanded their names. ‘When was the war over?’ asked Shackleton.” (Mill, Reference Mill1923, p. 227).
That a question about the war was asked is very likely. Whether it was asked at the doorstep is less obvious. Worsley wrote that the question came up when, shortly after their arrival, they were served “a civilized afternoon tea” and “we exchanged news with Sorlee, telling him bits of our adventures, and he telling of the Great War…” (Worsley, Reference Worsley1933, p. 212 (in the 1977 edition)).
In 1954, Robert Robertson published his Of Whales and Men where a main character is the experienced whaler Mr. Mansell. According to Robertson, Mansell was in the manager’s office in Stromness when Shackleton arrived there and recalled the conversation:
“Manager say: ‘Who the hell are you?’ and a terrible bearded man standing in the centre of the three say very quietly: ‘My name is Shackleton.’” (Robertson, Reference Robertson1954, p. 90). Mansell, however, is a fictional character, and the same therefore goes with the conversation (and indeed the way it was written that suggests that Mansell was supposed to be a Norwegian).
Robertson was a medical doctor at Leith Harbour and wrote a rather critical account of his experience there. The Salvesen Company (the owners of Leith), but also organisations, companies and individuals within the whaling community, criticised the book for mixing facts and fiction (Elliot, Reference Elliot1998, pp. 66 and 98 and Reference Elliot1999, p. 362). When the book, first published in the U.S., was published in England two years later, Robertson (1956) added an extended preface where he elaborated on the relationship between “‘truth’ and fiction”. He admitted that “in revising the text, I have, in places, been forced to veer even further towards fiction than I originally intended.” That may be why his character Mansell and his version of Shackleton’s arrival in Stromness remained unchanged in the two editions.
Fiction or not: “Who the hell are you?” has become the most widely used and well-known phrase in the Shackleton literature when describing the Stromness arrival. In the otherwise scholarly written biography by Fisher and Fisher and Lansing’s book, both published not long after Robertson’s book was published in England, the phrase was re-quoted (Fisher & Fisher, Reference Fisher and Fisher1957, p. 385; Lansing, Reference Lansing1959, p. 264). It is an interesting detail that Lansing refers to foreman Mathias Andersen as his source, and Andersen himself, in the interview with him in 1959 quoted Robertson almost word-by-word. So, it is very likely that he had read Robertson to “help” his memory.
Robertson followed by Fisher and Fisher and Lansing established a never-ending re-quoting pattern of “Who the hell are you?” (Armstrong Reference Armstrong1998; Alexander, Reference Alexander1999, p. 164; Smith, Reference Smith2000 and Reference Smith2014; Shackleton & MacKenna, Reference Shackleton and MacKenna2002; Skinnarmo & Tell, Reference Skinnarmo and Tell2004). There are probably many more examples than the ones listed here.
The tough tone in the phrase may have had a special appeal to some authors who have seen no reason not to exaggerate even more:
“As they entered Stromness at 4 pm more and more people fled from the staggering scarecrows, as if trying to escape a plague” (Fiennes, Reference Fiennes2021, p. 328). Then, after having been led to the Villa Sørlle was called to the doorstep: “‘Who the hell are you?’ he shouted, ready to run these vagabonds out of town”.
Although it should be rather straightforward to distinguish some facts from fiction when it comes to what was said at the doorstep of the Villa (most obvious the ‘recollection’ of Mansell), exactly what was spoken will forever be hidden in the mist of history.
Burton and Venables (Reference Burton and Venables2001) made the following pertinent remark after studying the Shackleton literature:
“Accounts of the meeting with Sørlle, as with other details in this part of the Endurance story, differ. It is difficult to know who had the most accurate memory, or whether someone is embroidering a good story.”
Who (if anyone) wept?
When Sørlle understood that the strange-looking visitor was Shackleton, Robertson’s ‘hero’ Mansell, in his whaler’s English, recalled: “Me – I turned around and weep. I think the manager weep, too.” (Robertson, Reference Robertson1954, p. 90).
The emotional reactions of the fictional character Mansell cannot be questioned. Whether Sørlle himself cried or not cannot be verified. Nevertheless, as with Robertson’s description of the dialogue between Sørlle and Shackleton, the weeping has been repeated over and over again. It has also been repeated in many variations. Duncan Carse, for example, in the story line for his proposed film on Shackleton, suggested his own twist to the story:
“There have been eyewitnesses who said that Sørlle ‘turned away and wept’. This seems unlikely; you cannot weep for a man like Shackleton in his finest hour. If any had wept, it would have been the Boss” (Carse, Reference Carse1986).
In his biography on Crean, the author had yet another version: “Anderson turned away and wept” (Smith, Reference Smith2000, p. 272). Mathias Andersen himself, in his 1959 interview said: “Sørlle snudde seg bort og gråt” (“Sørlle turned away and wept”) (Hjelle, Reference Hjelle1959, p. 43). Again, whether this is a reliable recollection or based on Andersen’s reading of Robertson, we will never know.
Facts and fiction
When well inside the Villa and when the inevitable initial confusion had been cleared up, Shackleton and his companions were well cared for by Sørlle. They received warm baths, clean new clothes, as much food as they could eat, and not least, a bed to sleep in. The entire literature from Shackleton, Worsley and onwards seems to agree on that, although there are discrepancies about in what order they were treated with the various luxuries.
The bathtub has received some attention. At least it is a fact that a bathtub is still there, although the original may have been replaced.
Shackleton’s highest priority before he would concentrate on Sørlle’s hospitality was the rescue of his men. Samson, one of the Stromness whale catchers, was immediately sent to pick up the remaining three men in King Haakon Bay.
Worsley and Shackleton, with Sørlle, also started preparations for the rescue of the expedition members at Elephant Island. It is not the scope here to go into any detail on this complex and time-consuming operation. It is well covered in the literature, although there are obviously details that differ between the various accounts relating also this part of the Endurance story.
We will never be able to establish with absolute certainty what is fact and what is fiction about events in Stromness on 20 May 1916. There are no reliable contemporary and accurate sources. A ‘second-best’ source is then memoirs written by those who were involved. In this case, this would be Shackleton’s and Worsley’s books published in 1919 and 1931. The first biography on Shackleton was by Mill, published in 1923 – very much based on Shackleton’s book, but also with his own twists that are difficult to verify. Nevertheless, these early books are rather simple and plain in the description of what happened and what was said. A clear change in the Shackleton literature was Robertson’s book Of Whales and Men from 1954/1956 that has undisputable fictional aspects that have been adopted by numerous later authors.
The main narrative about Shackleton’s Stromness arrival has fortunately never been altered, and there should be no real need for any embellishment on a story that is thrilling enough as it is. As Gerald Elliot concluded in his critical remarks on Robertson’s book (and not surprisingly supported by the fact-finder par excellence Bob Burton):
“Shackleton does not require fiction to support him. His own story is dramatic enough to stand on its own for all time” (Elliot, Reference Elliot1999, p. 362).
Acknowledgements
I am thankful for help with sources and literature from Joe O’Farrell, Odd Galteland and Bob Headland. Naomi Boneham has, as on many previous occasions, been helpful in making material available from the archive at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. Sarah Lurcock made helpful comments on the text.