In August, Worsley and Shackleton returned to Elephant Island aboard the Yelcho, a Chilean naval ship, to rescue the remaining members of the expedition, all of whom survived.

With a party of sailors from SMS Falke, also anchored in the harbour, the consul boarded the Tutanekai looking for the ensign, but they left empty-handed after the ship's captain protested.

[9] Beatrice Grimshaw, a travel writer based in Papua New Guinea, said that "Any passenger he took had to work passage as well as pay" and that he encouraged her to learn practical seamanship, "to go aloft, to "hand, reef and steer", and to use the sixteen-foot oar in the whaleboat".

He then returned to the Merchant navy and found a position with Allan Line Royal Mail Steamers, which sailed regularly from England to Canada and South America.

The failure of Robert Falcon Scott to beat the Norwegian Roald Amundsen to the South Pole in 1911 was considered a blot on Britain's reputation in polar exploration.

[19] While steaming to South America, fuel ran low and wood intended for planned buildings at the expedition's base in Antarctica was used to keep the engine running.

[30] By July, it was becoming obvious that the ice was likely to crush the Endurance, which creaked and trembled under the pressure, and Shackleton instructed Worsley to be prepared to quickly abandon ship if the need arose.

[39] His experience with open boats came to the fore in his sound handling of the Dudley Docker,[40] while his navigation was exemplary, guiding the fleet of lifeboats unerringly to Elephant Island once they found favourable wind conditions.

[39] It quickly became apparent that Elephant Island, 32 km (20 miles) of rock and ice with little shelter, was not a welcoming environment with winter approaching and most of the expedition members weakened by their ordeal.

Within days of landing on Elephant Island, Shackleton decided to take a small party and sail the largest lifeboat, the James Caird, named for one of the expedition's sponsors, to South Georgia, 1300 km (800 miles) away.

[44] The James Caird, originally built to Worsley's specifications,[45] was about 6.7m (22 feet) long and the expedition's carpenter, Harry McNish, immediately set about improving its seaworthiness.

[50] On occasion, the temperature was bitter and each man would spend one-minute shifts chipping away ice that coated the top surfaces of the James Caird, affecting its buoyancy.

As a result, Shackleton opted to aim for the western side of South Georgia which meant that, with the prevailing winds, if they missed their target they would be carried onto the east coast of the island.

Conditions were much better on 10 May and, after adverse winds caused failure of his first few attempts, Worsley carefully sailed the James Caird through a rocky reef guarding King Haakon Bay and onto the beach.

[57] Three days after McNish and the others were brought back to Stromness Bay, Shackleton, Crean and Worsley, along with a crew of volunteers from the whaling station, set out on a hired ship for Elephant Island.

[61] Fortunately, in contrast to their previous attempt, the weather was mild and on 30 August, they reached Elephant Island where, to their great joy, they found all 22 men who had been left behind alive.

[63] Worsley later wrote: "...I was always sorry for the twenty-two men who lived in that horrible place for four months of misery while we were away on the boat journey, and the four attempts at rescue ending with their joyful relief.

[70] Shortly after Shackleton returned to New Zealand from the Ross Sea, having picked up the survivors of the winter party, Worsley travelled to England aboard the RMS Makura.

Worsley immediately ordered full speed ahead and, realising that he would lose time in manoeuvring his ship into a position in which she could use her guns, set a course to ram the U-boat.

[77] Passing through London en route to Gibraltar, where the Pangloss was based, Worsley met Shackleton,[77] recently assigned by the War Office to the International Contingent destined for Northern Russia to aid the White movement in its fight against the Bolsheviks.

He also provided support to British and White Russian units moving along the banks of the river in operations to seize ground lost to the Bolsheviks in the winter months.

This officer formed one of a large patrol which in circumstances of great danger and difficulty penetrated many miles behind the enemy lines, and by his unfailingly cheery leadership he kept up the spirits of all under trying conditions.

By his assistance in bridging an unfordable river behind the enemy lines, he greatly helped the success of the enterprise.When the Allied forces left Murmansk and Archangel in late 1919, Worsley returned to London.

[90] Worsley and the rest of the expedition spent several weeks on South Georgia, and he assisted in the building of a memorial cairn to Shackleton in King Edward Cove.

[92] During his time in Canada, Worsley had made the acquaintance of a young Canadian, Grettir Algarsson, who was of Icelandic descent and was preparing a ship for a voyage to the Arctic.

When the engine was run, severe vibration was felt and this forced Worsley to continue northwards under sail, searching for Gillis Land until the ship reached the pack ice.

[111] En route, Worsley found that the government of Costa Rica, unhappy at not being informed of the expedition's plans, intended to forcibly remove the treasure hunters from Cocos Island.

[114] He repeatedly wrote to the War Office offering his services and proposing various schemes involving Norway, including one to land guns at Spitzbergen, an area he knew well from his Arctic expedition in 1925.

[116] In April 1942, Worsley was appointed to the staff at a training establishment for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, HMS King Alfred in Sussex,[116] giving lectures on charts and pilotage.

They recklessly destroyed the wonderful beauty of the bush, baring the soil until it was carried away by landslides, and lowered the rainfall, and laid waste the homes of countless sweet songsters.