104 Facts About Frank Worsley

Frank Worsley served in the Royal Navy Reserve during the First World War.

Frank Worsley served aboard several vessels running trade routes between New Zealand, England and the South Pacific.

Frank Worsley joined the Royal Navy Reserve in 1902 and served on HMS Swiftsure for a year before returning to the Merchant navy.

Frank Worsley was later appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Frank Worsley wrote several books relating to his experiences in polar exploration and his sailing career.

Frank Worsley died from lung cancer in England in 1943.

Frank Arthur Worsley was born on 22 February 1872 in Akaroa, New Zealand, one of three children of a farmer, Henry Worsley, and his wife Georgiana.

Frank Worsley's father arrived in New Zealand from England as a child; his grandfather, Henry Francis Worsley, migrated from Rugby, England aboard the Cornwall to Lyttelton, where he arrived with his large family, in December 1851.

Frank Worsley was sent to school in Akaroa but when his father moved his family to take up work clearing bush from land at Peraki, he was homeschooled for a time.

When Frank Worsley was 11, his older brother, Harry, left to join the New Zealand Shipping Company as an apprentice and at about the same time, his father moved his family, which was now just Frank Worsley and his 13-year-old sister, to Christchurch.

Frank Worsley attended Fendalton School and marked his final year of schooling by being made head boy.

Frank Worsley was signed on as a junior midshipman aboard the Wairoa, a three-masted clipper which transported wool to London.

Frank Worsley served on a number of sailing ships of the company, running the trade route between New Zealand and England for several years.

Frank Worsley became a third mate by 1891, and then a fifth officer the following year.

Frank Worsley's first posting was aboard the Tutanekai, an NZGSS steamer which served the Pacific Islands, as second mate.

Frank Worsley was considered to be a good and experienced officer, but was not averse to mischief.

At night, Frank Worsley went ashore and stole the ensign that was flown from the flagpole of the German consulate on the harbour front.

Frank Worsley was posted to the Hinemoa, another NZGSS steamer, as chief officer.

In June 1900, Frank Worsley sat the examination for a foreign master's certificate.

Frank Worsley passed with good marks, and was one of two students commended for their efforts.

Frank Worsley was now a qualified master and, as his first command, was given the Countess of Ranfurly.

Frank Worsley travelled to Sydney and found a berth as chief officer on HMS Sparrow, which was on its delivery voyage to New Zealand, having been recently purchased by the New Zealand Government.

Frank Worsley was posted to HMS Psyche and received specialist training in torpedoes, gunnery and navigation.

Frank Worsley 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.

Frank Worsley set up his headquarters at Burlington Road in London and interviewed candidates for the expedition.

Frank Worsley took it as a premonition and the next day hurried down to Burlington Street, where he noticed a sign on a building advertising what Shackleton called the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Some members, including Frank Worsley, anticipating being called up for military service, proposed a postponement of the voyage.

Just prior to the departure of the Endurance, Frank Worsley approached the authorities and was advised that RNR personnel were not being called up at the time.

Frank Worsley ran a relatively relaxed ship with little discipline or control of alcohol consumption.

Frank Worsley angrily boarded the German ship with some other members of the expedition and forced the crew to repair the damage.

Shackleton, briefed on Frank Worsley's handling of the voyage to date once he had caught up with the expedition at Buenos Aires, began to have concerns about his choice of captain.

Frank Worsley was to be in command of the resupply expedition for the party that was to winter over in Antarctica, but Shackleton began to doubt whether his leadership skills were sufficient to achieve this.

The Endurance encountered the pack ice three days after leaving South Georgia, and Frank Worsley began working the ship through the various bergs.

The original plan had been to leave a shore party on the Antarctic mainland while Frank Worsley took the Endurance northwards.

Frank Worsley relished the challenge; he slept in the passageway rather than the cabins, and even in the depths of winter, would shock his companions by taking snow baths on the ice.

The first few nights involved camping on nearby ice floes with the constant risk of them breaking up, but the last four nights were in the boats, with Frank Worsley spending most of it at the tiller and going without sleep for 90 hours straight.

Frank Worsley's boat taking on water and caught in a rip, Worsley steered the Dudley Docker all through the night.

The James Caird, originally built to Frank Worsley's specifications, was about 6.7m long and the expedition's carpenter, Harry McNish, immediately set about improving its seaworthiness.

Frank Worsley was faced with the task of navigating the Southern Ocean to South Georgia.

Fortuitously, the weather was fine on the day of departure from the island and this allowed Frank Worsley to obtain a sun sighting to ensure that his chronometer was rated.

Shortly after the start of the voyage, the James Caird, which, in addition to Shackleton and Frank Worsley, carried McNish, sailors John Vincent and Timothy McCarthy, as well as the experienced Tom Crean, encountered the ice but Frank Worsley found a way through and into the open ocean.

Frank Worsley was unable to recognise Shackleton, whom he had met during the expedition's stopover on the island nearly two years previously.

Shackleton had brought Frank Worsley along intending to use his services in the retrieval of the winter party.

Frank Worsley was left behind but was placated with a paid passage to Britain.

Frank Worsley was later awarded the Polar Medal for his service on the expedition.

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

In July 1917, Frank Worsley was appointed commander of the PC.

Shortly after its commissioning, Frank Worsley took his new command to sea on patrol.

Frank Worsley gradually slowed his ship's propellers, hoping to deceive the U-boat's crew into thinking his P-boat was leaving the area and luring it to the surface.

Frank 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.

At high speeds the ship's ram lifted out of the water, and Frank Worsley had to reduce speed at the right moment for it to be at the best height to hit the submarine.

Frank Worsley timed it perfectly and hit UC-33 midships as it was submerging.

Frank Worsley provided extensive advice, derived from his polar experience, to soldiers on how to best make use of their resources and trained them in the use of skis.

Frank Worsley participated in several patrols and, due to a shortage of officers, occasionally took command of platoons of British infantry.

Frank Worsley took her up the Dvinia River and targeted Bolshevik gunboats and villages along the river.

Frank Worsley 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.

Frank Worsley commanded Cricket for two months before becoming the captain of HMS M24, a monitor and tender to HMS Fox.

Frank Worsley was rewarded for his service in Russia by being appointed to the Order of St Stanislaus.

Frank Worsley was discharged from service on 2 January 1920 and placed on the RNR retired list.

Frank Worsley remained in near constant contact with Shackleton, who was attempting to put together an expedition to the Arctic, and was hopeful of securing a suitable position in the endeavour.

However, the expedition was still some way off and in the meantime, Frank Worsley set up a shipping company with his friend Stenhouse.

Poor weather and sea conditions kept the Annie in Iceland until February 1921, when Frank Worsley was able to carry freight back to Britain.

The expedition included several Endurance veterans in addition to Worsley; Frank Wild was again second in command, and Leonard Hussey was the meteorologist.

Frank Worsley was the master of the Quest, but would be the expedition's hydrographer.

Frank Worsley broke several ribs and had to rest for several days.

The expedition then sailed for Tristan da Cunha, where Frank Worsley carried out some mapping work.

Frank Worsley was master of the George Cochran for a time in 1923, shipping rum to Montreal.

Frank Worsley ensured the evacuation of his crew before leaving the stricken ship for the safety of the shore.

Undeterred, he set about preparing an expedition for the following year and invited Frank Worsley, who had provided advice for his previous voyage, to join him.

Frank Worsley was to captain the ship that Algarsson had purchased for the expedition, a 30m diesel-engined brigantine called the Island.

Frank Worsley took the opportunity to create an ice dock to facilitate repairs to the rudder, which had become damaged.

Frank Worsley described it as "sail's last unaided battle with the polar pack [pack ice]".

The expedition, which had been renamed the British Arctic Expedition with the consensus of the participants, made several attempts to find a way northwards through the pack ice, Frank Worsley harbouring hopes of being the first sailing ship to sail through the island group to Gillis Land and then back to Spitzbergen, but was unsuccessful.

Frank Worsley ordered a rowboat to take to the water and the ship was towed out of harm's way.

The Island was unable to sail close enough to confirm the sighting, but Frank Worsley noted that it was to the west of its charted position.

Frank Worsley ensured the New Zealand flag was flown at the spot.

Frank Worsley later wrote a book of the voyage, Under Sail in the Frozen North, which was published in 1927.

For income in between trading voyages, Frank Worsley wrote books and articles.

Frank Worsley's book was considered superior to Shackleton's own account, published as South in 1919.

When his financial circumstances required it, which was often, Frank Worsley would write an article for money.

Frank Worsley conducted lecturing tours for income, his profile enhanced by his publication record.

Frank Worsley mainly lectured on his voyages with Shackleton, whose wife lent Worsley several of her late husband's slides to enhance his talks.

Frank Worsley's lectures were well received with glowing reviews in local newspapers.

Frank Worsley's profile was boosted following his appearance in the film South, released in 1933, for which he provided an accent-free narration.

Frank Worsley made an onscreen appearance in the film, showing the audience several artefacts from the expedition.

Frank Worsley's personal experience was a key selling point in the company's commercial literature.

Frank Worsley sailed, with Jean for company, for Cocos Island in September 1934 aboard the Queen of Scots.

Frank Worsley was to source a replacement vessel and bring back supplies.

En route, Frank 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.

Frank Worsley funded supplies for the remaining men from his own pocket but eventually those remaining on Cocos were shipped to Panama and discharged.

Frank Worsley sailed the expedition's new yacht, Veracity, from England to Cocos Island in a troubled voyage, again accompanied by Jean.

Frank Worsley never did, although his treasure hunting exploits provided plenty of material for his lecture tours.

Frank Worsley eventually joined the International Red Cross and travelled to France where he lectured troops of the British Expeditionary Force during the Phoney War.

Frank Worsley sought support from the War Office to provide equipment to Swedish volunteers travelling to Finland to assist its countrymen in fighting the Russians during the brief Winter War.

Frank Worsley was to prepare the way for the unit but after the Germans captured Narvik, it became too dangerous for the Red Cross to be involved.

Frank Worsley became the commander of a Red Cross training depot in Balham, London, but it later closed down due to a lack of recruits.

Frank Worsley 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.

Frank Worsley worked to keep the harbour entrance at Sheerness clear of wrecked shipping and carried out salvage work.

Frank Worsley's command lasted only for a few months; when the company that owned his vessel found out his true age, he was replaced.

Frank Worsley opted to spend the last days of his life with his wife and the Bamford family.

Frank Worsley died in the Bamford house on 1 February 1943.

Frank Worsley's ashes were scattered at the mouth of the Thames River, near the Nore lightship.

Frank Worsley returned to Aberdeen, where she had spent much of the previous months, to live with her mother.

Frank Worsley died at the Bamford home in 1978, at the age of 78, and in the same room that her husband had occupied at the time of his death.