The fog was thick. The small ship could not see the island. Then, at twenty minutes to twelve on 30 August 1916, the fog went away. The men on the ship saw the camp.
Twenty-two men waited on Elephant Island. Their ship was called Endurance. The ice broke it. The men came to the island in small boats. Ernest Shackleton and five men went away in an open boat. They went to look for help.
Elephant Island is cold. There is ice and snow. There are mountains. The wind is very strong.
The men made a house from two boats. They ate one hot meal a day. They ate penguins, fish and small sea animals. One man lost his toes.
Shackleton tried three times to come back. Every time, the ice stopped his ship.
Then Chile helped him. Chile gave him a small ship, the Yelcho. It was a tug. A tug is a little ship that pulls other ships. The Yelcho had no radio and no heating. It was not a ship for cold Antarctic water. The captain was Luis Alberto Pardo Villalón.
The Yelcho left Punta Arenas on 25 August. Near the island, the ice was open. The little ship went in.
Shackleton saw men on the beach. They waved. He went to the beach in a small boat. He shouted: “Are you all well?”
In one hour, all the men were on the ship.
The Yelcho came to Punta Arenas on 3 September. The people were very happy.
The British government offered Pardo money. He said no. He said he only did his work for the Chilean Navy. Today a head of Pardo in stone stands on the place where the men waited.