Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte

‘During all the working hours of this day I was on duty with Green, the cook, an enterprising man who thoroughly revelled in his job. His ability to contrive and make shift was remarkable; and there were those aboard the “Quest” who solemnly vowed their belief that, given an ancient pair of sea-boots, Green could serve up a dinner that would leave the Ritz or the Carlton amongst the “also rans” ’

Into the Frozen South, J. W. S. Marr, refers.

The rare polar exploration group of four awarded to Cook’s Mate C. J. Green, Royal Navy, who served with distinction in Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914-16 and Quest expeditions - the former witnessing him knock-up meals on ice-floes and feed the hard-pressed folk on Elephant Island

British War Medal 1914-20 (M. 25093 C. J. Green, Ck. Mte., R.N.); Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18 (Charles J. Green); Victory Medal 1914-19 (M. 25093 C. J. Green, Ck. Mte., R.N.); Polar Medal 1904, G.V.R., bronze, 1 clasp, Antarctic 1914-16 (C. Green, Cook & Baker, “Endurance”), the last worn through polishing, thus fine, the remainder rather better (4) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte.

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Charles John Green was born in Richmond, Surrey, in November 1888, the son of a master baker, in which trade he was himself proficient by the time he went to sea aged 21 years.

Shackleton’s expedition 1914-16

And he was serving as a baker aboard the P. & O’s Andes on the South America run when Shackleton’s Endurance called in at Buenos Aires in October 1914:

‘One member of the expedition with his own special importance joined after the list was full and the ship on her way south. At Buenos Aires the cook engaged for the Weddell Sea party was discharged and Shackleton instructed Worsley to look out for another. Charles Green, a baker and pastry cook, was on a ship in Buenos Aires when he learned from the butcher that the expedition was looking for a cook. Getting leave, he went on board the Endurance, and was interviewed. Green had explained in the interview that his experience in cable ships had been hard: he was to cook under the most appalling conditions before his work for the expedition was over, and of all the men who learned endurance with Shackleton, none learned the lesson better or under harder circumstances than Charles Green.’

And it is clear from a number of published sources that Green quickly established himself as a popular shipmate and one who was always ready to lend assistance - thus references to Green hurrying through his bread-making duties to join his shipmates trying to saw the Endurance clear of ice, no mean feat given that some men worked only three hours a day, while he was busy in the galley from early morning until long after supper at night.

Imagine, too, the challenges that faced him when Endurance finally succumbed to the ice, the expedition’s subsequent trek by ice floe and boat leading to all manner of ingenuity on his part - and a rare occasion for a more permanent ice-hut-kitchen at “Patience Camp”:

‘In fact, Charles Green, who did nearly all the cooking for the Weddell Sea party, was entirely equal to inventing new dishes and to exploiting the tinned food available at that time, and his fricassees, his “cotelettes a la Weddell” and his curries continued even after he was cooking under conditions which the most imaginative chef could hardly ever conceive.’

Later still, on Elephant Island being reached, conditions were little better:

‘In this hut, measuring ten by eighteen feet, twenty-two men were to live for four months. Twelve of them found spaces to sleep on the floor, the remainder took up quarters in the boats, on boards and hammocks stretched over the thwarts. The cook had done his work outside at first, but it proved impossible to contrive enough shelter for him, so the cooking stove was rigged inside the hut. Everyone felt it as fortunate that the cooking was done in twilight gloom, for the hooshes often had strange ingredients in them, fallen from above.’

Following Shackleton’s celebrated open-boat voyage to South Georgia in the James Caird, Green and his comrades were rescued, and he returned to the U.K. in August 1916.

The “Quest” expedition 1921-22

Having then signed up as a Cook’s Mate in the Royal Navy and witnessed active service aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Wakeful in April-September 1918, he was demobilised in February 1919 and returned to sea in the Merchant Navy. Shortly, thereafter, however, he was back in business with Shackleton:

‘There were others who wanted to repeat the experience of being led by Shackleton. Green, the cook, had never lost his ambition to go again. He remembers a day in 1915, when the company had left the Endurance and were camped on the ice, and he was cooking on his improvised stove, snow and ice melting all round him and a high wind bringing tears to his eyes. ‘Well, the Boss turned up, and asked me how I was getting on. “All right,” I said. He said, “What are you gong to do with all the money when you get home?” I said, “I’m coming on another expedition with you if I can.” He turned to Worsley and said, “Would you believe it!” Green’s ambition, when he heard of the Arctic plan, was to be the only cook who had been across both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles; when Shackleton invited him to go he accepted at once, and needed no persuasion to stay with the expedition as it was reconstituted.’

And judging by events of Christmas 1921, he was quickly reintroduced to the challenges of cookery aboard a rolling ship - for which the Quest was infamous. J. W. S. Marr takes up the story:

‘But what she gained in seaworthiness she atoned for in her liveliness. By breakfast time she was heaving herself about in an unimaginable fashion, so much so that it was impossible to to keep anything on the table. Everything was thrown about and the fiddles proved worthless as a safeguard; and, for this reason, the actual ceremonial of Christmas was wisely postponed. To cook a satisfactory meal was a problem beyond even the cook’s skill and resourcefulness, though there is no doubt that Green was the hero of the day. He did his best; but when the kettle hits a man in the eye, and the soup-pot empties itself into a waistcoat, and the stove thoughtfully discharges its hissing embers on his feet, and every now and then a wave slaps in and extinguishes the newly kindled fire, and the floor is swimming knee-deep in greasy brine, what can a man do?’

But Green’s desire for further adventure was to be famously curtailed in January 1922, when “The Boss” collapsed aboard the Quest with a fatal heart attack - on reaching Cape Town, Green and his comrades had to sell most of their stores and equipment in order to pay for the coal to get the Quest home.

The latter years

One gift Green did bring away from the Quest was a set of 120 glass lantern-slides that had been used to illustrate Shackleton’s talks and lectures and, over his remaining years in the Merchant Navy, he used them to give his own lectures, as far afield as America, Australia, Canada, Egypt, New Zealand and South Africa; so, too, after coming ashore in the early 1930s and settling in Hull, presenting several hundred such talks to assorted clubs, schools and societies - even prisons - in the period leading up to his death in September 1974.

In the interim, he had served as a fire-watcher in Hull during the 1939-45 War, ‘being bombed out nine times, losing everything and living in an air raid shelter for a fortnight’ (accompanying research refers), and had attended the Antarctic Club’s 50th Anniversary celebrations to mark the sailing of Endurance, when he was reunited with six fellow survivors, including the surgeons Macklin and McIlroy.