Launching the James Caird from Elephant Island
This photograph records the launch of the James Caird from Elephant Island. Shackleton and five companions sailed toward South Georgia to seek help for the stranded expedition. The image appears in Shackleton's South (1919), whose account describes the difficult embarkation through the surf.
Probably Frank Hurley; published in Ernest Shackleton, South (1919); digitized copy via Wikimedia Commons
Public domain in the United States due to pre-1931 publication, as documented on the exact Commons file. No claim of worldwide clearance.
What this does not establish
The Commons catalogue attributes the photograph probably to Frank Hurley; retain that uncertainty. The scene documents embarkation, not the later rescue of the party remaining on Elephant Island.
