100 Years Ago – RMS Makura’s Special Passengers

Passenger ship RMS Makura at sea, [193-?]. Reference Number: 1/1-015799-F. The passenger ship RMS Makura at sea, travelling at speed, taken ca early 1930s by Gordon H Burt. (National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa)

The image below is of a near full-page calendar showing the Honolulu Harbor steamer schedule for March 1917.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii), 01 March 1917. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

The ship arrived with 35 passengers. Three of them merited special notice by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

Among the through passengers who were aboard the Canadian-Australasian liner Makura Saturday night and are on their way to Vancouver on her today are three Shackleton Antarctic expedition* members, Capt. J. R. Stenhouse, Capt. F. Worsley and Dr. J. L. Cope. (“Shackleton Expedition Members Aboard Makura.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 5 March 1917.)

Stenhouse, Worsley, and Cope had boarded the ship in Auckland, New Zealand on 20 February 1917.

After loading mail (bound for Canada, the northwestern United States, and Europe) and cargo, RMS Makura sailed from Honolulu Harbor at 2200 (10:00 pm) with 74 passengers.

Note: Sir Ernest Shackleton also passed through Honolulu on his way back to Europe in April 1917.

*The “Shackleton Antarctic expedition” refers to the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–1917) or, informally, the “Endurance Expedition.”

Joseph Russell Stenhouse (1887–1941) was the first officer of Aurora, the ship carrying the Ross Sea party. The mission of the Ross Sea party was to establish supply depots on shore for the main expedition. Stenhouse was in command of Aurora, when she broke free from her anchorage and became trapped in pack ice from May 1915 through March 1916.

Frank Arthur Worsley (1872–1943) was the captain of Endurance.  After Endurance was trapped and destroyed by pack ice, he accompanied Shackleton and four others on an incredible 800-nautical mile journey in the lifeboat, James Caird, to seek help.

John Lachlan Cope (1893–1947) was a member of the Ross Sea party. He was a biologist and also acted as medical officer for the group.