Why we’re doing this.

In 1915, Ernest Shackleton and the men of the Endurance set sail from South America to be the first expedition to cross the empty Antarctic continent. It was to be a grueling 1,900 mile overland journey.

Meanwhile, on the far side of the Antarctica, a group of 28 men were arriving on the ship Aurora to begin to help Shackleton’s team achieve their mission. Mooring in the icy Ross Sea, their plan was to set a series of life-sustaining supply caches along Shackleton's proposed route.

But nothing on either expedition went according to plan. 

While none of the men in Shackleton’s expedition ever set foot in Antarctica, several men from the Ross Sea Party would never return home from it.

Four men in winter clothing pose outdoors with dogs and snowshoes; one man is seated holding a dog, another is standing with a dog on a leash, and two men are standing with dogs nearby.
A black and white photograph of a ship named 'Ross Sea' on icy waters, with handwritten notes at the top indicating it is an Antarctic sailboat on July 20, 1925.

While Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, was trapped in ice and eventually sunk in the Weddell Sea, the Ross Sea Party faced their own disaster.

Stranded when their own ship, the Aurora, broke free and drifted away, ten men were left to survive nearly two years in Antarctica. Despite starvation, the loss of nearly every sled dog, and the deaths of three teammates, they completed their mission—hauling thousands of pounds of untouched supplies for a crossing that would never happen.

Their final supply depot at Mount Hope, still frozen in place after more than a century, stands as one of the most selfless acts in the history of polar exploration.

And we’re going to tell their story.

They traversed 1,300 miles and 258 days through blizzards and hunger, laying every depot Shackleton’s men would have needed.

At the foot of Mount Hope they laid the final cache—the farthest and most perilous of all. Then they turned north, beginning the long march home.

Three of the ten men, including their leader, Aeneas Mackintosh, would never return. The Ross Sea Party sacrificed everything for a mission they would never see completed.

Their fate—overshadowed by Shackleton’s—is one of the purest acts of human devotion ever recorded in exploration. The story of the Last Cache brings their forgotten heroism back into focus.

A black and white photograph of a group of men in formal and athletic clothing, with some seated and others standing, outdoors with a wooden structure in the background. Caption reads 'The Ross Sea Party, Mackintosh and Stenhouse in the centre, Hurley.'

Three uniquely qualified explorers and an award-winning film crew will undertake and document an incredible challenge: to cross Antarctica towards the southernmost Ross Sea Party cache at S83° latitude and complete Shackleton’s vision for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Our expedition team and film crew will traverse down the Beardmore Glacier to the foot of Mount Hope where we will connect history with the present and acknowledge the final successful step of their great sacrifice.