Shackleton’s right hand man
Though not as famous as Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen or Mawson, Frank Wild was the most decorated polar explorer of the Heroic Age of polar exploration. Born in Yorkshire, England, he would go on to become a member of five Antarctic expeditions with Scott, Shackleton and Mawson.
Related to Captain James Cook through his mother he followed a naval career, first with the Merchant Navy and then with the Royal Navy.
In 1901 he joined Robert Falcon Scott’s crew on the Discovery expedition which overwintered in Antarctica and contributed greatly to scientific and geographical knowledge of the continent
1n 1908 he joined Shackleton on the Nimrod Expedition and reached the furthest point south at that that time along with Shackleton and others. They were almost out of food and turned back just 156 km (97 miles) from the South Pole. They made a dash back to their base at Cape Evans on reduced rations but survived. Wild wrote in his diary of Shackleton’s generosity on the return journey by giving him a biscuit to eat. He said:
“All the money that was ever minted would not have bought that biscuit and the remembrance of that sacrifice will never leave me”.
In 1911 he was with Sir Douglas Mawson’s Aurora expedition where he led the western base team on the Shackleton Ice Shelf at Queen Mary Land and explored 500 km of unknown coastline.
In 1914 he was second-in-command on Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, also known as the endurance expedition. When the ship became trapped in the ice and was eventually crushed and sunk, the expedition members sailed to Elephant Island in whaleboats. From there Shackleton set out in one of the boats and five team members to get help.
Wild was left in charge of the men at Elephant Island. He and his men would live underneath two upturned whaleboats in harsh conditions for 105 days before finally being rescued. They lived on penguin, seals and seaweed but Wild didn’t lose a single man and morale was high due to his great leadership abilities.
In 1921 he again served as second-in-command on the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition where unfortunately Shackleton died of a heart attack and Wild took over and completed the expedition.
Frank Wild was universally well-liked and respected, He was brave, cool-headed under stress, and led with common sense and his vast experience of Antarctic conditions. His easy-going nature made him easy to work with and inspired confidence.
Much of his later years were marred by various financial disasters, a divorce and a series of mundane jobs before achieving some peace and stability with his second marriage and work as a store-keeper.
Frank Wild was awarded numerous medals and honours during his lifetime, one of which was the Polar Medal with four clasps; one of only two ever issued, and he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). His CBE and Polar Medal sold at auction in 2009 for AUD $242,000 (£132,000).
A number of places in Antarctica are named after him such as, Wild Canyon, Point Wild, Cape Wild and Mount Wild.
Frank Wild died of pneumonia and diabetes in South Africa at the age of 66. He was cremated in 1939 and his wish was to be buried next to Shackleton on South Georgia but the Second World War intervened and his ashes were stored in a vault in Johannesburg. The ashes were re-discovered by British historian and author Angie Butler and moved to Grytviken, South Georgia in 2011 where they were buried on the right-hand side of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s gravesite. He was after all ‘Shackleton’s right-hand man’.
A fitting end for an Antarctic hero and a great man.