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Endurance Obituaries |
 Endurance Obituaries |
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CHARLES JOHN GREEN
( 24/11/1888 - 26/09/1974 )
BORN : RICHMOND. SURREY. ENGLAND.
DIED : HULL. NORTH YORKSHIRE. ENGLAND.
NICKNAME: CHEF.
DUTY : SHIPS COOK
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Awarded Bronze Polar Medal
PHOTO TAKEN CIRCA 1939
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On arriving back in England in November 1916, Charlie found that his parents, having not heard a word from him for over two years, had presumed him dead and had cashed in all his life insurances! Even the young lady he had been courting had now married someone else!
In early 1917, Charlie enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Cook serving aboard the Destroyer H.M.S. Wakeful and was wounded in August 1918 when his ship rammed a German submarine in the Skagerrak.
In November 1918, he married Ethel May Johnson of Hull, Yorkshire, and the same month was awarded a Bronze Polar Medal for his services on the 1914-1916 “Endurance” expedition. On his demobilisation in 1919, he returned to sea, serving as Cook on various merchant ships around the world.
In early 1921, Charlie received an invitation from Sir Ernest Shackleton to join him on another expedition, again to the Antarctic, this time aboard the “Quest”. On reaching South Georgia, Sir Ernest suffered a fatal heart attack and died. The expedition continued but the loss of their leader had a devastating effect on Charlie and the other members of the crew.
On returning to England in September 1922, Charlie once again resumed his sea –going career,but now the owner of a set of glass lantern-slides of the “Endurance” expedition which Shackleton had given him whilst on the “Quest”.
At every port of call, Charlie took the opportunity to give his own lecture to a variety of organisations in a number of countries including the U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand ( in N.Z. he met up with Chippy McNish ).
This continued until late 1931 when he left the Merchant Navy to spend more time with his wife who had been ill with cancer for many years. He worked nights in a Hull bakery and looked after his wife by day, until her death in early 1936. They had no children.
With the coming of the Second World War in 1939, Charlie became a “Fire Watcher” on the roof of a large garage in Hull city centre. Hull, with it’s docks and naval presence, was an obvious enemy target and Charlie speaks of being bombed out nine times, losing everything and living in an Air Raid Shelter for over a fortnight. Eventually he found new lodgings in Hull with a previous neighbour and stayed with them for over thirty years !
For the rest of his life, Charlie continued to give his “Shackleton” lantern-slide lectures, giving talks to numerous societies, schools, clubs, organisations, even prisons, across the whole country. These lectures, and there were over a thousand , are still fondly remembered by many people who had the opportunity to attend them.
Charlie continued to keep in touch with the other members of the “Endurance” and “Quest” expeditions and attended the 50th Anniversary reunion in London in June 1964 and the commissioning of the Royal Navy’s new Antarctic Survey ship “HMS Endurance” at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1968. Charlie returned to Portsmouth in 1970 to revisit “HMS Endurance” , this time accompanied by the other remaining survivors, Lionel Greenstreet and Ernie How.
By 1972, Charlie had virtually ended his lecturing career and surprisingly suddenly sold his extensive collection of scrapbook material, memorabilia, lantern-slides and projector. Research now indicates that these were bought by a dealer who was mainly interested in obtaining Charlie’s Bronze Polar Medal, an item that he wore with pride at every lecture or official occasion. The current whereabouts of most of these items is unknown.
He died of Peritonitis in Beverley Hospital, near Hull on 26th September 1974 aged 85 years.
With thanks to Roy Cockram ( nephew of Charles Green)
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