The Ross Sea party was a component of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914–17.
The team consisted of two parties and two ships: many are aware of the harrowing experience Shackleton and his men went through with the loss of the 𝙀𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, but the Ross Sea Party, in charged of laying supplies for Shackleton and his party, went through hard challenges too.
Their ship, the 𝘼𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙧𝙖, was blown from her moorings, leaving ten man with little food and no clothes, fighting for survival. The party had 18 dogs, ten of which were dead within two months; by the time rescue came, only seven men and four dogs had survived.
The animals acted bravely, going through the inhospitable Antarctic terrain, surviving up to three days with no food, pulling sledges in the ice and showing incredible perseverance.
The three survivors, Oscar, Gunner and Towser, returned in the ship to New Zealand and they were taken care of at Wellington zoo, where they lived a calm uneventful life after the strenuous months that had broken their body constitution.
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