Shackletons captain - Frank Worsley

I am looking forward to seeing this new film about my one and only personal hero ; Frank Worsley, Captain of Shackletons ship the Endurance.

Worsley was quite the adventurer and sailor.

Check out the trailer at the link below.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

http://www.gebrueder-beetz.de/en/productions/shackletons-captain-en?lang=en

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NEW REPLICA OF THE JAMES CAIRD AND FILM TRIBUTE TO FRANK WORSLEY

NEW ZEALAND FILM CREW HONOURS THE OUTSTANDING CAPTAIN AND NAVIGATOR

The acclaimed Film Producer James Heyward, of Making Movies in New Zealand, has brought the good news that in preparation for a major film, Shackleton's Captain, about New Zealand-born Frank Worsley, the makers have produced a fine new replica of Shackleton's boat the James Caird. James has also very kindly sent some photos of it and stills from the forthcoming film.

The James Caird replica is a very handsome and impressive reproduction of the famous vessel which Frank Worsley navigated with incredible skill and precision to South Georgia, thus making it possible for Shackleton to rescue his trapped men.

Making Movies, in co-production with Gebrueder-beetz Film Produktion, Germany, is embarking on a truly epic project, making a 90 minute docu-drama, designed for television, originally named Ice Captain and now entitled Shackleton's Captain, written by James Heyward, Leanne Pooley and Tim Woodhouse, closely examining the absolutely critical role played by 'Skipper' Frank Worsley, as navigator, on the 1914-16 Endurance expedition, including during the escape from the ice and the James Caird voyage to South Georgia, shedding new light upon the expedition.

The Making Movies film documentary website
The first film ever to focus on the unique story of Worsley, Shackleton's Captain (which is also the title of John Bell Thomson's outstanding biography of Worsley) will include elaborate recreations with actor Craig Parker playing Captain Worsley and high definition-quality archive material, bringing the story to life as never before and paying proper due respect to the achievements of this neglected hero.

View an early progress teaser of the film Shackleton's Captain

The film will draw on a wide range of sources, including interviews with informed experts, so as to tell an old story from a new perspective. Leanne Pooley directs and James Heyward is executive producer. Other cast include Charles Pierard as Sir Ernest Shackleton and John Seymour as Ernest Holness. James Heyward has also notified us of the fascinating news that a key member of the James Caird's crew, Tim McCarthy, will be played by Peter McCarthy, Tim's great-grandson, who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand and works at the Christchurch Antarctic Centre. James Heyward's film company will be gifting the James Caird replica to an Education Programme based on the expedition, to be run by Peter McCarthy.

Shackleton’s Captain reveals the truth behind the spectacular rescue of Shackleton's Imperial Transantarctic Expedition of 1914-16. One man gave everything and made it possible: Frank Worsley, the captain of the expedition ship. The crew looked to Shackleton to lead them, Shackleton looked to Worsley to save them!

As captain, Worsley was faced with seemingly insurmountable odds when Endurance became trapped in the pack ice off the coast of Antarctica. The ship was slowly crushed, forcing Worsley and his entire ship's crew to abandon the ship. They spent the next ten months living on the ice, then an ice flow, before rowing three life boats (Worsley skippering one of the three, the Dudley Docker) to a desolate rock called Elephant Island. The men were facing slow starvation in the freezing cold and with no rescue in sight.

Worsley was forced to risk everything by sailing the James Caird, the largest of the tiny life boats, 800 miles across the Southern Ocean to the small island of South Georgia where they hoped to find help at a Norwegian whaling station.

Twenty eight lives were in the balance as Worsley braved the worst conditions imaginable; rogue waves, ice bergs and a hurricane in a three week journey modern sailors still consider to be one of the greatest sailing voyages of all time. When a hurricane and prevailing winds forced them to land at a beach at the opposite side of the island, Worsley had to prove his skills a second time: no map of the island existed. Without alpine equipment, with totally inadequate clothing and almost no food and water, they have to cross the island. They succeeded, and the fourth attempt at a rescue succeeded. After nearly two years on the ice not a single man had perished. The expedition was a disaster, but the rescue the greatest in history.

Gratifyingly, the film, which reached the final shoot and post-production stages in 2011, has received very substantial financial backing from New Zealand Television.

Visit Making Movies' Worsley film page
It is not always realised that Worsley commanded 21 vessels in his day, as well as five warships; in the latter guise he was a celebrated and successful hunter of enemy U-boats.