Point Wild

Where

North coast of Elephant Island
South Shetland Islands

Coordinates

61.0981° S
54.8609° W

The wait

22 men, four and a half months
rescued 30 August 1916

The rescue

Yelcho, Chilean Navy tug
pilot Luis Pardo commanding

Status

Antarctic Historic Site
and Monument 53

Ashore

Often boat-only; 30 people at most
(Antarctic Treaty site guidelines)

Advisory

Antarctica Level 2

The short answer

Point Wild is a narrow rocky and gravel point on the north coast of Elephant Island, in the South Shetland Islands, about 11 km west of Cape Valentine and directly beside the Furness Glacier. Elephant Island lies 245 km north-north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to Wikipedia. The point is named for Frank Wild, second-in-command of Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, who was left in charge of twenty-two men here in April 1916 while Shackleton sailed for help. They survived on the point for four and a half months, until the Chilean Navy’s steam tug Yelcho, commanded by the pilot Luis Alberto Pardo, took them off on 30 August 1916. A bust of Pardo on a monolith with plaques stands on the point today, listed under the Antarctic Treaty as Historic Site and Monument 53. A chinstrap penguin colony shares the spit.

Why it's worth knowing

After Endurance was crushed by the pack ice of the Weddell Sea and sank, her crew of twenty-eight drifted on the ice and then sailed three small boats to Elephant Island, landing at Cape Valentine. After two nights there, Wikipedia records, they moved 11 km west to a small rocky spit at the foot of a glacier, which gave better protection from rockfalls and the sea. On 24 April 1916 Shackleton and five others set out in the third boat, the James Caird, for the whaling stations of South Georgia. The other twenty-two stayed.

Rescue took four attempts. Wikipedia’s account of Pardo lists the ships that failed to get through the ice in the southern winter of 1916: the Southern Sky, lent by an English whaling company; the Instituto de Pesca Nº 1, lent by the Government of Uruguay; and the sealer Emma, paid for by the British Club of Punta Arenas. Then the Chilean government sent the Yelcho alone: a steam tug of 36.5 metres, which Wikipedia describes as wholly unsuited to Antarctic conditions, lacking a proper radio, heating or a double hull. She sailed from Punta Arenas with Shackleton aboard on 25 August, reached the point on 30 August, and had every man back in Punta Arenas by 3 September.

The field notes

A house made of two boats

The island offered no natural shelter. In his book South, Shackleton describes how the two remaining boats, the Stancomb Wills and the Dudley Docker, were turned upside down on the spit and walled in with canvas from the tents, and how “twenty-two of my comrades eked out a bare existence for four and a half months” beneath them, men sleeping on the thwarts overhead and on the floor below. They burned seal blubber for light in lamps made from sardine tins, with surgical bandage for wicks, and the walls turned black with soot. They lived on seal and penguin, which Wikipedia notes were scarce in autumn and winter. Shackleton had told Wild that if no help came by the start of summer he should try to take the men to Deception Island.

The captain who came

For the rescue, Wikipedia records, Pardo was promoted to pilot first class and credited with ten years’ service; he turned down a large monetary award from the British government, saying he had only carried out a mission given him by the Chilean Navy. The Yelcho’s bow is on display at Puerto Williams, on the Beagle Channel, and a statue of Pardo stands beside another of her bows on the waterfront at Punta Arenas. The bust on Point Wild was placed by Chile during its 24th Antarctic Scientific Expedition, in 1987–88, with replicas at two Chilean research stations. Its Spanish inscription, as Wikipedia transcribes it, is the Chilean Navy’s tribute to the pilot Luis Pardo Villalón, “who, on 30 August 1916, rescued the shipwrecked crew of the Endurance”.

The point today

The visitor site guidelines adopted under the Antarctic Treaty describe Point Wild as principally a site for cruising in small boats, with occasional landings at low tide when conditions allow. Landings are often ruled out by the sea, the weather or the wildlife; when they happen, no more than 30 visitors may be ashore at once, in closely guided groups of up to 15, from no more than two ships a day, each carrying 500 passengers or fewer, and no one may land between 10 pm and 4 am, which is the wildlife’s rest period. The guidelines warn boat drivers of submerged rocks around the point and of dangerous waves when the glacier calves.

Getting there

How to get there. Only by expedition ship. IAATO, the association of Antarctic tour operators, records frequent departures from Ushuaia, in Argentina, to the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, and Elephant Island appears on some Peninsula and Weddell Sea voyages and on longer voyages that include the Falklands and South Georgia, as operators’ published itineraries show. Expect to see Point Wild from a small boat: the Antarctic Treaty site guidelines treat landings as occasional and opportunistic.

When to go. The Antarctic season runs through the southern summer, from November to March, by IAATO’s count, which is when almost all tourist voyages sail.

What to arrange ahead. A voyage with an operator that is a member of IAATO, as the State Department recommends, on an itinerary that names Elephant Island; travel and medical insurance that covers evacuation; and an open mind about the landing, which the sea decides on the day.

Safety. The State Department has Antarctica at Level 2, exercise increased caution, because of extreme and unpredictable weather and limited emergency services. There are no U.S. consular services anywhere in the Antarctic region.

Common questions

Where is Point Wild?

Point Wild is a narrow rocky and gravel spit on the north coast of Elephant Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, about 11 km west of Cape Valentine and beside the Furness Glacier. Elephant Island lies 245 km north-north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

What happened at Point Wild?

Twenty-two men of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition, led by Frank Wild, camped on Point Wild on Elephant Island from April 1916 while Shackleton sailed the James Caird to South Georgia for help. They lived under two upturned lifeboats for four and a half months until they were rescued on 30 August 1916.

Who rescued Shackleton’s men from Elephant Island?

The Chilean Navy steam tug Yelcho, commanded by the pilot Luis Alberto Pardo, with Shackleton aboard. The Yelcho sailed from Punta Arenas on 25 August 1916 and took all twenty-two men off Point Wild on 30 August, after three earlier rescue attempts by other ships had been stopped by ice.

How did Shackleton’s men live on Elephant Island?

Under two of their lifeboats, the Stancomb Wills and the Dudley Docker, turned upside down on the spit at Point Wild and walled in with tent canvas. Shackleton’s book South describes lamps of sardine tins burning seal blubber and a diet of seal and penguin through the winter of 1916.

Can you land at Point Wild?

Sometimes. The Antarctic Treaty visitor site guidelines for Point Wild describe it as principally a small-boat cruising site, with occasional landings at low tide when the sea, weather and wildlife allow. No more than 30 visitors may be ashore at once, and no landings are allowed between 10 pm and 4 am.

What is the monument at Point Wild?

A bronze bust of the Chilean Navy pilot Luis Pardo on a monolith with plaques, placed during Chile’s 24th Antarctic Scientific Expedition in 1987–88 to honour his rescue of the Endurance crew on 30 August 1916. It is listed under the Antarctic Treaty as Historic Site and Monument 53.

How do you get to Elephant Island?

Only on an expedition ship, usually from Ushuaia in Argentina, during the Antarctic season from November to March. Elephant Island appears on some Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea voyages and on longer itineraries that include South Georgia; landings at Point Wild depend on the sea on the day.

Is Antarctica safe to visit?

The U.S. State Department has Antarctica at Level 2, exercise increased caution (advisory dated 23 September 2025), because of extreme, unpredictable weather and limited emergency services. It advises travelling with an operator that belongs to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators and carrying insurance that covers evacuation.

Notes on sources. This entry draws on the visitor site guidelines for Point Wild adopted under the Antarctic Treaty (ats.aq), as indexed, for the narrow rocky and gravel point, the chinstrap colony, the mosses and lichens, the bust, monolith and plaques; for the site as principally a small-boat cruising site with occasional opportunistic landings at low tide; and for the limits of 30 visitors ashore, groups of up to 15, ships of 500 passengers or fewer, two ships a day, the 22:00–04:00 rest period, the submerged rocks and the waves from calving. It draws on the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat’s list of Historic Sites and Monuments for HSM 53; on IAATO’s overviews of Antarctic tourism (iaato.org), as indexed, for the season of November to March and the departures from Ushuaia; on the text of Shackleton’s South (1919), as indexed on Cool Antarctica and Project Gutenberg, for the Stancomb Wills and Dudley Docker, the quotation on the four and a half months, the sleeping arrangements, the blubber lamps of sardine tins and the soot; and on Oceanwide Expeditions’ published voyage titles for Elephant Island on Peninsula, Weddell Sea and South Georgia itineraries. Wikipedia’s articles on Point Wild, Elephant Island and Luis Pardo, and the references they cite, supplied the location relative to Cape Valentine, Saddleback Point and the Furness Glacier, and the coordinates; Frank Wild; Elephant Island’s distance from the Peninsula; the crew of 28, the two nights at Cape Valentine and the move of 11 km; the James Caird leaving on 24 April 1916; the instruction to make for Deception Island; the scarcity of seals and penguins; the three failed attempts and the ships’ lenders; the Yelcho’s length and her lack of radio, heating and double hull; the dates of 25 August, 30 August and 3 September 1916; Pardo’s promotion, his refusal of the British award, the bow at Puerto Williams and the statue at Punta Arenas; the placing of the busts in 1987–88 with replicas at the Prat and Frei stations; and the Spanish inscription and its translation. The site guidelines say the men camped for “four months”; Shackleton and Wikipedia say four and a half, which the page uses. Travel advisory: the United States has Antarctica at Level 2, exercise increased caution (23 September 2025). Checked 3 October 2026 against the State Department’s advisory feed. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey. Last reviewed 4 October 2026.