Survivalist

to cross Antarctica was an utter failure. The frozen continent was not crossed, and Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, was hopelessly mired in ice which nearly crushed it. So why is it considered one of the most renowned journeys in history. Well, that, it turns out, is a curious tale. By nineteen fourteen, Sir Ernest Shackleton had already been hailed as a great explorer of the age. He had already led the Nimrod expedition into Antarctica, coming within ninety seven miles of the

South Pole. It was the closest that anyone had ever come to the pole. Although the party had to turn back due to near starvation, it established him as a thoughtful, fearless leader, and beyond that, proved to him that it could be done.

get worse. In October, the ship finally gave in to the mounting pressure of the ice and the hull was cracked. Shackleton's diary from that time showed the dire situation that the crew found themselves in as they abandoned the Endurance for the ice floes that surrounded it. They watched hopelessly as the Endurance sank. It was at this point in the expedition that the mission shifted. It was no longer

about exploration. It was simply a matter of survival. For months, the crew lived on the ice with dwindling supplies, praying for a rescue that became less likely by the day. To keep their morale up, Shackleton insisted on a strict routine each day to keep a sense of normalcy, and he even went so far as to organize cricket matches on the ice to take his men's mind off of their dire situation. But when the ice began to break up in April of nineteen sixteen, he saw an opportunity.

He may not be able to cross the continent, but he would give his men a safe home. As the ice dissipated, the men loaded onto three lifeboats. It was then that Shackleton made the decision to make the journey to Elephant Island, which was nearly eight hundred miles away from where they floated, and from there they would have to travel another eight hundred miles to reach a sign of civilization, and so Shackleton set off with a small

crew aboard a lifeboat named the James Caird. The journey was perilous, with hurricane force winds that battered the small craft and sent freezing ocean spray into the faces of the men on board. When finally they reached Elephant Island, Shackleton chose a small group to continue on with him for the next leg of the journey, which would somehow be even more harrowing, And so they set off once

more into the freezing winds and the tumultuous sea. For days they battled the choppy seas, finally landing on South Georgia Island. But their journey was not over yet. Yes, they had made landfall on the island, but they were on the uninhabited side. To get to the nearest whaling station, they would have to traverse the island on foot. The

trek was arduous. For thirty six hours, they crawled across glaciers that none had ever set eyes on before, had finally reached the whaling station, where they were able to resupply before going back for the rest of their crew. And to be honest, they've feared for the worst. Many expeditions that had faced such odds had ended in tragedy.

But miraculously they returned to discover that every one of the twenty two members of the party had survived while they were gone, and as you'd imagine, the endurance crew returned to a hero's welcome. It could have gone very much differently had it not been for Shackleton and his crew's ability to adapt to the situation as it worsened. In the month's long crisis, they had somehow managed to hold onto perhaps the single most important factor for survival, hope.

And Yes, the Endurance Expedition did fail to achieve its original goal, but it also somehow managed to demonstrate the power of thoughtful leadership and human resilience, turning what could have been a terrible tragedy into the stuff of legend. Gonzalo was born to fight. His family name literally meant warrior. He grew up sometime in the late fifteenth century and was likely trained to fight in the Reconquista, the Catholic

conquest of Spain from the Muslim Moors. Gonzalo would have spent his youth climbing walls while avoiding spears and arrows, stabbing and smashing his way across South Spain. Once the Reconquista was finished, though, it's possible that he traveled to Italy and fought there, But by fourteen ninety two, Christopher Columbus was sailing to the New World and opening a whole new frontier for the Spanish. Some even say that Gonzalo was on that very voyage, whatever the truth might be.

By fifteen eleven, Gonzalo was involved in a shipwreck, winding up on the shores of Mexico with eight other companions. Despite the violence that he had seen in his life up to that point, nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to experience. Mayan warriors came out of the jungle, their ears and noses pierced, their bodies covered in tattoos. They looked frightening, and they could back

up that appearance with their actions, and they did. They seized the Spanish soldiers, decapitating a few of them and sacrificing them to the gods. They even ate parts of the bodies to complete the ritual. Gonzalo knew that he wouldn't last long as their prisoner. He and another one of the captives, the priest Hieranimo de Aguilar, worked together to escape, traveling through the jungle, knowing that anywhere was

better than being at the mercy of the cannibals. But this jungle belonged to the Maya, and before long the Spanish duo was captured by Yets, another tribe. However, this one wasn't interested in sacrificing them. Gonzalo and the priest seemed pathetic, not much of an offering to their gods. They were pressed in a service as slaves instead. However, Gonzalo was a warrior through and through, and he couldn't

help but reveal his skill. He gave some of the warrior's tips on how to better use their spears and how they could get around the armor of the Spanish. By fifteen seventeen, he was helping to fight off Spanish invasion forces. He used Mayan spears, clubs, bows and arrows against the metal plate armor and rifles of his former brethren. It was the most brutal, bloody combat imaginable. Gonzalo fully converted to the ways of the Maya, piercing his ears

and nose and tattooing his body. Impressed with his prowess, the Mayan chief offered his daughter to Gonzalo in marriage. Her name was Sasil, and together they had three sons. The boys were some of the first mestizos in recorded history, a term used to describe people of mixed Spanish and indigenous ancestry, and they make up the majority of people in Mexico today. Gonzalo had truly found his home, but of course his original home wouldn't let go of him

so easily. Legendary Spanish conquistudor ernand Cortes arrived in Mexico in fifteen nineteen, preparing to conquer the Aztec Empire. He invited Gunzao and his priest companion Hieranimo to join him, and the priest jumped at the chance, begging his year's long companion to return to the Spanish fold with him.

And yes, they were friends. But Gonzalo could not abandon his new family, and he also knew that it would be hard for the Spanish to accept him back given his strange new appearance, and he loved his sons, he felt honor bound to stay and fight for them. Keranimo reluctantly left to join Cortes, who was successful in conquering

the Aztecs in fifteen twenty one. More than ever, the small remaining Mayan tribes needed Gonzalo's help to fight against the Spanish, so he put his body on the line time and time again, leading massive defensive battles where he showed the Mayans how to organize barricades against Spanish armies. His spear and club shattered the helmets and breastplates of one Spanish warrior after another. Many were not so different from the young man that he had been fighting in

the Reconquista years before. Apparently the love of his family was all he needed to turn his back on that legacy, or maybe he just didn't like conquerors. Around fifteen thirty six, he led a group of Mayan warriors in canoes from their home in Yucatan to what is now modern day Honduras. Their goal was to reinforce the indigenous warriors there in their fights against the Spanish. But Gonzalo was in his

sixties by this point. It's incredible to think that he was still engaging in the most physically demanding combat possible at such an advanced age at the time. The battle, though, would be his last. A stray shot from a Spanish rifle struck him, dropping him to the ground with his comrades. He was a violent man who lived a curious life. Although he didn't win his final battle, his descendants went on to gain independence from the Spanish in a curious way.

The entire country of Mexico. Today is his legacy. I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by me Aaron May in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in

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