Frank Worsley

"One night I dreamed that Burlington Street was full of ice blocks and that I was navigating a ship along it. Next morning I awoke and hurried along to Burlington Street. A sign on a door caught my eye. It bore the words "Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition". I turned into the building, Shackleton was there, and after a few minutes conversation he announced "You're Engaged"

New Zealander (born: Akaroa, Canterbury), Frank Worsley DSO OBE RD was not only one of the greatest maritime navigators to have lived but he was a man with an extremely cool head under pressure.

Soon after the great escape from the ice, Worsley’s seafaring skills were again put to the test, this time in World War I while skippering a patrol boat in the North Atlantic. Worsley sunk a German submarine (without firing a shot) that had just torpedoed an allied tanker by ramming it with perfect precision - a deed that earned him the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the nickname 'Depth-Charge Bill'.

A few years later, this time in Russia, he received a Bar to his DSO when he was put in charge by a disoriented captain who had got their raiding party lost in a  forest on the Russian front. He rallied the troops and then navigated the lost party out from deep behind enemy lines, in extreme conditions and out of harms way - saving 25 lives.

The term 'Hero' is misused more often than not but not so in Frank's case.