Antarctica – Difficult search for an anchorage

About the »Antarctica« series

In 2019, Patrick Samuël’s adventurous spirit motivated him to embark on a two-month sailing expedition to Antarctica, South Georgia and other remoted islands on a three-masted bark built in 1911.

»In the footsteps of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton«

This is how Samuël describes this expedition. In fact, the ship followed a partial route of the Endurance expedition from 1914-1917 to the Weddell Sea, Elephant Island, South Georgia, where the explorer’s grave is located.

In contrast to Shackleton, the 2019 expedition started in Ushuaia. Sailors call the stormy seas between Cape Horn and Antarctica “The Drake”. The crossing was followed by the South Shetland Islands, Deception Island, Antarctica far into the Weddell Sea, Elephant Island and South Georgia (where a toast was made at Shackleton’s grave), then to Tristan da Cunha to the final destination of Cape Town.

This two-month expedition from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope was breathtaking. Sailing over such a distance 100 years later with forty other crew members in a ship similar to Shackleton’s »Endurance« has left a deep mark on me.

What marks he means, are reflected in the paintings and photos of the Antarctica series.