Frank Wild
Encyclopedia
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, RNVR
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
, FRGS
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
(born 10 April 1873 in Skelton-in-Cleveland
Skelton-in-Cleveland
Skelton-in-Cleveland is a small town in the civil parish of Skelton and Brotton in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire in the North East of England. It is situated at the foot of the Cleveland Hills and about east of Middlesbrough. Skelton is...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, died 19 August 1939 in Klerksdorp
Klerksdorp, North West
Klerksdorp is a city and administrative district located in the North West Province, South Africa.-History:The city was founded in 1837 when the Voortrekkers settled on the banks of the Schoonspruit , which flows through the town...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
), known as Frank Wild, was an explorer. He went on five expeditions to Antarctica for which he was awarded the Polar Medal
Polar Medal
The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904.-History:...
with four bars, one of only two men to be so honoured, the other being Ernest Joyce
Ernest Joyce
Ernest Edward Mills Joyce AM was a Royal Naval seaman and explorer who participated in four Antarctic expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, early in the early 20th century. He served under both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton...
.
Early life
Frank Wild was the oldest of eight sons and three daughters born to school teacher Benjamin Wild and his seamstress wife Mary (néeMarried and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Cook). The family came from Skelton
Skelton-in-Cleveland
Skelton-in-Cleveland is a small town in the civil parish of Skelton and Brotton in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire in the North East of England. It is situated at the foot of the Cleveland Hills and about east of Middlesbrough. Skelton is...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, close to Marton
Marton, Middlesbrough
Marton — officially Marton-in-Cleveland — was a village in the North Riding of Yorkshire, which is now within the town boundaries of Middlesbrough, in the borough of Middlesbrough and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. Originally, the parish of Marton extended down to the River...
, birthplace of Captain James Cook, to whom the family claimed relationship through Mrs Wild. Her father was Robert Cook, who claimed to be a grandson of the great explorer. By 1875 the Wild family had moved from Skelton to Stickford in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, and in late 1880 moved again to Wheldrake
Wheldrake
Wheldrake is a village and civil parish located south-east of York. Administratively it is in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England....
near York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
.
Wild’s family next moved to the village of Eversholt
Eversholt, Bedfordshire
Eversholt is a village and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book and is over 1000 years old. "Eversholt" comes from Anglo-Saxon meaning "wood of the wild boar".- Overview :...
in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
. Here his father was appointed clerk of the Eversholt Parochial Charity at Woburn
Woburn, Bedfordshire
Woburn is a small Saxon village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about southeast of the centre of Milton Keynes, and about south of junction 13 of the M1 motorway and is a popular tourist attraction.-History:...
. Frank Wild was educated at Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
. He joined the Merchant Navy
Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
in 1889 at the age of 16, receiving his early training in sail in the clipper ship Sobraon. In the Merchant Navy he rose to the rank of Second Officer. In 1900, aged 26, he joined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. The 1901 census shows that at that time he was serving as an Able Seaman
Able Seaman (occupation)
An able seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles.-Watchstander:...
aged 27 on , anchored in Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
Harbour.
Antarctic exploration
- In 1901 he was a member of Robert Falcon ScottRobert Falcon ScottCaptain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
’s crew as an Able SeamanAble Seaman (occupation)An able seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles.-Watchstander:...
on the DiscoveryRRS DiscoveryThe RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful...
, along with Ernest ShackletonErnest ShackletonSir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
who was then a sub-Lieutenant. - Was with Shackleton on the Nimrod Expedition 1908–1909Nimrod ExpeditionThe British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...
and was a member of the team that crossed the Ross Barrier and Beardmore GlacierBeardmore GlacierThe Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km . The glacier is one of the main passages from the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Alexandra and Commonwealth ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains to the Antarctic Plateau, and was one...
at a record latitude of 88º23’S. - In 1911 he joined Douglas MawsonDouglas MawsonSir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
’s AuroraAurora (ship)SY Aurora was a steam yacht built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. shipbuilders in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1876, for the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company. Her primary use was whaling in the northern seas, and she was built sturdily enough to withstand the heavy weather and ice that would be...
expedition and was in charge of the western base on the Shackleton Ice ShelfShackleton Ice ShelfShackleton Ice Shelf is an extensive ice shelf fronting the coast of East Antarctica for about 384 km , projecting seaward about 145 km in the western portion and 64 km in the east. It occupies an area of 33,820 km². It is part of Mawson Sea and separates the Queen Mary Coast to the west from...
. - He served as Shackleton's second-in-command on Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–1916)Imperial Trans-Antarctic ExpeditionThe Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered 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 the Antarctic continent...
.
As second-in-command, Wild was left in charge of 21 men on desolate Elephant Island as Shackleton and a crew of 5 made their epic rescue mission to South Georgia
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
aboard a lifeboat. From 24 April to 30 August 1916 Wild and his crew waited on Elephant Island, surviving on a diet of seal, penguin and seaweed. They were finally rescued by Shackleton aboard the Chilean ship Yelcho. Point Wild on Elephant Island is named after Frank Wild, with a monument dedicated to the Chilean captain Luis Pardo
Luis Pardo
Luis Pardo Villalón was the captain of the Chilean steam tug Yelcho which rescued the 22 stranded crewmen of Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance from Elephant Island, Antarctica, in August 1916...
who rescued him and his men.
On returning to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1916, Wild volunteered for duty during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and was made a Temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. After taking a Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
course, Wild became the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's transport officer at Archangel
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
, where he superintended the war materials which arrived during the Allied Intervention in Russia. After the War, Wild went to South Africa where he farmed in British Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
with Francis Bickerton
Francis Howard Bickerton
Treasure-hunter, Antarctic explorer, soldier, aeronaut, entrepreneur, big-game hunter and movie-maker, Francis Howard Bickerton not only made a major contribution to the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–14 but was also recruited for Sir Ernest Shackleton's "Endurance" Expedition; he fought...
and James McIlroy, two former Antarctic comrades.
From 1921-22 Wild was second-in-command of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, a poorly-equipped expedition with no clear plan, and a small ship, the Quest
Quest (ship)
The Quest, a low-powered, schooner-rigged steamship that sailed from 1917 until sinking in 1962, is best known as the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921-1922. It was aboard this vessel that Sir Ernest Shackleton died on 5 January 1922 while the vessel was in...
. Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
died of a heart attack on South Georgia
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
during the expedition, and Wild took over command and completed the journey, combating unfavourable weather to Elephant Island and along the Antarctic coast.
Frank Wild's younger brother Ernest Wild
Ernest Wild
Henry Ernest Wild AM , known as Ernest Wild, was a British Royal Naval seaman and Antarctic explorer, a younger brother of Frank Wild...
also went on to become a Royal Naval
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
seaman and Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
explorer, receiving a Polar Medal
Polar Medal
The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904.-History:...
.
Later years and honours
On 24 October 1922 Frank Wild married Vera Altman, the widow of a tea planter of BorneoBorneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, at Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
Registry Office. They had first met in 1918 when Wild was serving in Russia, and he had assisted her to obtain a passage home to England. After the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition Wild returned to South Africa with Vera where he continued to farm. He bought some land in the Mkuzi valley in Zululand
Natal Province
Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...
where he tried to grow cotton. The enterprise was a financial disaster and after four years of drought followed by flood, Wild and his wife gave up. Next he was involved in railway construction and for a time had some success with a contract to extend the South African railway to the border with Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
. However, his success did not last, and he again fell into financial difficulty, ending up almost penniless.
Wild's marriage became troubled, and the strain of their failed businesses increased their marital problems. Vera Wild asked for a divorce, which became absolute on 27 December 1928. Next, Wild took a job as a hotel barman in Gillol. He had slowly developed a drinking problem during his years in South Africa. For the next two or three years he drifted from job to job including battery manager at a diamond mine which went bankrupt, prospecting in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, managing a quarry and working at a diamond mine near Klerksdorp
Klerksdorp, North West
Klerksdorp is a city and administrative district located in the North West Province, South Africa.-History:The city was founded in 1837 when the Voortrekkers settled on the banks of the Schoonspruit , which flows through the town...
.
He married for the second time on 18 March 1931. His new wife, Beatrice Lydia Rhys Rowbotham, was 37 years old and twenty years his junior. They settled in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
where, desperate for work, in 1932 he worked supervising a stone-crushing machine at a Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
Gold Mine. He subsidised his meagre income by giving the occasional lecture on the Endurance
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered 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 the Antarctic continent...
expedition.
By 1938 Wild’s health was deteriorating and his alcohol problem continued. For a short while he worked on the estate of his wife’s brother-in-law in Messina
Musina
Musina or Messina is the northernmost town in the Limpopo province of South Africa near the Limpopo River border to Zimbabwe. It has a population of between 20,000 and 40,000. Iron ore, coal, magnetite, graphite, asbestos, diamonds, semi-precious stones and copper are mined in the...
in the Transvaal
Transvaal Province
Transvaal Province was a province of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961, and of its successor, the Republic of South Africa, from 1961 until the end of apartheid in 1994 when a new constitution subdivided it.-History:...
, after which they returned once more to Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. In 1939 he worked at the Belasco Mine in Klerksdorp
Klerksdorp, North West
Klerksdorp is a city and administrative district located in the North West Province, South Africa.-History:The city was founded in 1837 when the Voortrekkers settled on the banks of the Schoonspruit , which flows through the town...
as a storekeeper.
Frank Wild died of pneumonia and diabetes on 19 August 1939 in Klerksdorp. He was cremated on 23 August 1939 in the Braamfontein Cemetery in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
.
Wild was awarded the CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the New Year Honours List of 1920. He was the recipient of a number of awards for his contributions to exploration and advancing Geography. He was awarded the Patron’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
. In May 1923 he was made a Freeman of the City of London. Cape Wild on Elephant Island is named after him, as is Mount Wild and Point Wild in other parts of the Antarctic. His CBE and four-bar Polar Medal
Polar Medal
The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904.-History:...
sold for £132,000 in September 2009, more than double the estimate.
On 27 November 2011, it was reported that the ashes of Frank Wild, Shakletons 'right-hand man', were interred on the right-hand side of Shakletons grave site in Grytviken
Grytviken
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...
, South Georgia. The inscription on the rough-hewn granite block set to mark the spot reads "Frank Wild 1873-1939, Shackleton's right-hand man." Wilds relatives and Shakletons only granddaughter, the Hon Alexandra Shackleton, attended a service conducted by the Rev Dr Richard Hines, rector of the Falkland Islands. The writer Angie Butler discovered the ashes in the vault of Braamfontein Cemetery, Johannesburg while researching her book The Quest For Frank Wild. She said "His ashes will now be where they were always supposed to be. It just took them a long time getting there."
Sources
- Leif MillsLeif MillsLeif Mills is a former British trade unionist.Mills was educated at Kingston Grammar School and went on to study at Balliol College, Oxford before undertaking national service in the Royal Military Police...
, Frank Wild, Caedmon of Whitby, 1999, 350 pages - Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
- F.A. Worsley, Shackleton's Boat Journey