Stephenson served as a stoker aboard the Endurance, and after the vessel sank in late 1915, he joined the other members of the ship's crew as a castaway and was rescued in August 1916.
"[2] Despite his apparent sea experience, he occupied a humble space on the Endurance, and few of the diaries and journals kept by his shipmates mention him or flesh out his character.
Press coverage of Stephenson's dramatic rescue from the Antarctic in August 1916 appears to have been confined to the printing of his name on a manifest listing the passengers on a steamboat marking the final stage of their return to England in late 1916.
When the Endurance crew returned to England, the First World War was at its height, and in common with a number of his crew-mates, Stephenson signed up for military service, joining the Royal Navy Reserve on 8th February 1917.
He died in Hull Royal Infirmary on 20th April 1927, as a result of complications arising from gallbladder and gastric ulcer surgery.