Albert Ernest Holness (7 December 1892 – 20 September 1924) was an English marine engine stoker. He is best known for his service in the

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing ...

of 1914–1916.

Biography

Holness was born on 7 December 1892 in

Kingston-upon-Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east o ...

. At age 21 in 1914, he signed articles and shipped aboard the ''

Endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from a ...

'' as a tender of the coal fire maintained on the vessel. Although the ''Endurance'' was rigged as a

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing r ...

, it also had a coal-burning engine and spent much of its time under steam. Working under the orders issued by chief engineer

Lewis Rickinson Lewis Raphael Rickinson (21 April 1883 – 16 April 1945) was an English marine engineer. He is best known for his service in the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, for which he was awarded the Silver Polar Medal. Biography Ric ...

and second engineer Alexander Kerr, Holness shared the responsibility of physically maintaining the engine fires and stoking them with fresh coal. The exploration ship steamed southward until within 200 miles (320 km) of its destination on the Antarctic coastline. In January 1915, harsh pack ice took the vessel in a grip that would never be loosened. Holness's duties moved from stoker-fireman to ship's crew member in a battle for survival. With the other castaways from the ''Endurance,'' Holness was forced to abandon the crushed ship as it fought its final battle with the ice. The exploration party, led by Sir

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...

, camped on ice floes that drifted north through the

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha ...

. As their solid refuge melted under their feet, Holness and the other men of the expedition faced constant dangers. At one point a pancake-shaped plate of ice, on which the castaways had built a flimsy camp, physically split in two directly under Holness's tent and sleeping bag. The fireman fell into the cold water and was personally rescued by Shackleton. The ice continued to melt and the expedition members took to open lifeboats. After a dangerous open-boat journey, the party made land at

Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...

off the coast of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

. The Elephant Island party was rescued in August 1916. Upon returning to Britain, Holness married Lillian Bettles and fathered three children. He continued his career in the British merchant navy, serving in trawlers on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. Tragically, Holness was washed overboard while at sea on 20 September 1924. The incident occurred near the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. Holness was only 31 when he disappeared.

Legacy

With his fellow fireman-stoker

William Stephenson Sir William Samuel Stephenson (23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989), born William Samuel Clouston Stanger, was a Canadian soldier, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster who served as the senior representative of the British Security Coo ...

, Holness was one of four members of the ''Endurance'' crew to be denied the Polar Medal. The reasons, if any, for expedition leader Shackleton's failure to recommend Holness for this honor are unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holness, Ernest 1892 births 1924 deaths Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition