Able Seaman/Adventurer. William Bakewell was the only American member of the Shackleton Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914. The goal of the expedition was to cross the antarctic continent. He joined Shackleton's ship, Endurance, in Buenos Aires telling Shackleton he was Canadian so he would have a better chance of joining the crew. He was paid £8 per month. He survived for months on ice floes when the Endurance was crushed and sank. He rowed one of three small lifeboats for five days through the crushing pack ice to Elephant Island, a small inhospitable rock island off the Antarctic peninsula. He was part of the group left behind on Elephant Island for four months when Shackleton sailed a small lifeboat called the James Caird, 700 miles across the most turbulent ocean in the world to reach a whaling station in South Georgia. After successfully making the boat journey, Shackleton attempted to save Bakewell and his other stranded shipmates on four occasions. Finally, on August 30, 1916 on board the Chilean tug "Yelcho" his mission was finally accomplished, Bakewell and the others were all saved. Their story of survival and adventure is legendary. He was a member of the Antarctic Club of British Expeditions and the Antarctican Society of the United States and a recipient of the Polar Medal. A book, "The American on the Endurance" was published about his life and adventures. In 1967, an Antarctic island was named after him (Bakewell Island). The expedition leader, Sir Earnest Shackleton said of him : "He was a cut above the rest of the seamen".

Able Seaman/Adventurer. William Bakewell was the only American member of the Shackleton Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914. The goal of the expedition was to cross the antarctic continent. He joined Shackleton's ship, Endurance, in Buenos Aires telling Shackleton he was Canadian so he would have a better chance of joining the crew. He was paid £8 per month. He survived for months on ice floes when the Endurance was crushed and sank. He rowed one of three small lifeboats for five days through the crushing pack ice to Elephant Island, a small inhospitable rock island off the Antarctic peninsula. He was part of the group left behind on Elephant Island for four months when Shackleton sailed a small lifeboat called the James Caird, 700 miles across the most turbulent ocean in the world to reach a whaling station in South Georgia. After successfully making the boat journey, Shackleton attempted to save Bakewell and his other stranded shipmates on four occasions. Finally, on August 30, 1916 on board the Chilean tug "Yelcho" his mission was finally accomplished, Bakewell and the others were all saved. Their story of survival and adventure is legendary. He was a member of the Antarctic Club of British Expeditions and the Antarctican Society of the United States and a recipient of the Polar Medal. A book, "The American on the Endurance" was published about his life and adventures. In 1967, an Antarctic island was named after him (Bakewell Island). The expedition leader, Sir Earnest Shackleton said of him : "He was a cut above the rest of the seamen".