Shackleton Adventures

Lionel on the Endurance

As I walked across the long, wooden corridors of the Endurance that seemed to go on forever, I wondered why the meeting was so important that Frank Wild woke me up from bed in the middle of the night. It was probably going to be about our food supply, which was decreasing by the minute or some other pressing issue on our ship, I thought. CRACK! My body suddenly jumped of fright. "What was that?" I wondered out loud. As the siren whirring in my head quietened down, I realized I was probably just imagining things. Ahead of me, I heard faint voices meaning I was quite close to the meeting room. As I found the door, I looked at my watch and realized I was already ten minutes late for the meeting so I hastily opened the door and went inside. The meeting room had a sweet smell of sugar and there were lovely patterns on the walls. But the beauty of the room wasn't enough because nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. When I bowed to Shackleton, he quickly requested, "Please take a seat." I sat down quietly and then Shackleton continued, "Unfortunately, our ship is already sinking slowly and we must urgently make evacuation plans." As if I had been told the world was going to end, my body became as still as a statue. My ears could not believe what Shackleton had just said. "But surely there's something we can do about it?" I pleaded with Shackleton. I could feel my voice quivering as if my sentence had just been cut up into pieces. "I'm afraid not." Shackleton simply replied. CRACK! CREAK! CRACK! There it is again, I thought. With a hint of uncertainty, Shackleton ordered, "Alfred, announce on the speakers for everyone to evacuate the ship immediately!" I couldn't believe that this was happening. I knew this day would come, but now? "Lionel," Shackleton's voice boomed, "Help everyone to get off the ship safely." I quickly ran off through the corridors.

As I sprinted through the corridors, I heard Alfred, the third Officer announcing the evacuation. "Everyone, please listen up. This is an emergency announcement. Shackleton has approved an immediate evacuation of the ship. Please kindly take any equipment in your possession with you." I heard the speakers announce. "Help!" a voice came out of nowhere. As I turned a corner, I saw Charles, our cook screaming for help as he was standing in his room. He was trapped by a huge hole in the floor. "I'm here." I quivered nervously at him. I guided him to the exit where Shackleton was doing a headcount. "Ah, great. We've got everybody," Shackleton exclaimed, sounding relieved, "We can now start to set up camp!" I could see that on our left was a colossal pile of supplies and food; it looked like we were going to need it! I really desired to know what Shackleton was thinking to do now so I asked him, "Could I please have a word with you?" Suddenly, like my body was trying to tell me something, I felt like a kingdom of butterflies had just moved in. "Sure, Lionel." Shackleton responded. We walked away from the crew until we were out of earshot. "So, what did you want to ask me?" queried Shackleton.

"Sir, if I am to be totally honest, I am afraid of what is to come." I told him.

Shackleton then comfortably said, "I know it may seem that there is no way to escape this mess but we can do it if we believe in ourselves." While I thought about what Shackleton had said, I spotted men running in the distance. I turned around and heard what sounded like Alfred roaring the word, "Traitors!" Whatever was going on, I knew it was most likely nothing good. "Shackleton...", I blurted out to him, my voice quivering yet again, "I think we have a problem."

Shackleton turned his head to me and I silently pointed towards the four men running away from the crew. Once again, Shackleton turned his head, this time towards the crew members, whom we had walked away from. Again in silence, Shackleton made a gesture for us to run back to the crew. Then out of nowhere, a gunshot broke the silence. A bullet shot by Thomas McLeod was aimed for Alfred Cheetham, who luckily dodged right in time. Before we knew it, bullets were flying around like balloons taking off from the ground, none of them killing anyone yet. What happened next was a very confusing series of events that happened really quickly. First of all, Frank Wild shot a bullet at Frank Hurley, which struck him right in the heart. He fell down dramatically, all his crimson red blood pouring out of him. Then Tom Crean shot a bullet at Hubert, our navigator. Tom missed but only by a couple inches. And finally, Tom Crean and Lewis Robinson surrendered to the main crew, dropping their guns. Over all this noise and mess, Shackleton bellowed, "STOP!" as loud as he could. Like this was all a video and Shackleton had just put it on pause. Everyone froze. Shackleton's face was red as a tomato. "Frank Wild, Alfred and Lionel, take Tom and Lewis to the storage room and lock them inside." Shackleton angrily ordered. I then ran over to Tom and lifted him up. As I did so, I observed that he was silently weeping. My heart ached for him but I was also loyal to Shackleton so I picked him up and carried him away to the storage area. Me, Frank and Alfred put them in and locked the door. As we found our way back to the crew, I heard Shackleton say, "We need to have a meeting."