5/30/2023 0 Comments Endurance book![]() Hurley's haunting film footage and photos, preserved on glass-plate negatives, were the core of a fascinating traveling exhibition that came to the National Geographic Society in 1999. To have pictures, still and motion, of it survive, in addition to written logs, is even more incredible. ![]() The story of Shackleton's ruined mission and the miraculous survival of his crew, all 28 men, after a nearly two-year ordeal, much of it spent stuck on the ice, is an amazing one. Maybe not in terms of physical preparedness (what essential survival skills does a shutterbug possess?), but in thinking about the legacy he would leave the world - succeed or fail - Shackleton was smart to invite someone to document his efforts with images. But when he assembled the crew of his ship the Endurance, one of the best decisions Shackleton made was to include Hurley. He didn't bring along photographer Frank Hurley because he expected to fail. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton no doubt had high hopes for his attempt to be the first to cross the continent of Antarctica on foot. ![]() ![]() At least if you want people to make a documentary about you some day, it does. So, this is simply the best book about the Endurance and this particular expedition and I cannot recommend it highly enough.IF YOU'RE GOING to embark on a doomed expedition to one of the most perversely picturesque places in the world, it helps to take along someone who knows how to operate a camera. Lansing was also able to interview eight of the crew personally and got a fabulous insight into the characters of these 28 remarkable people which gives his version of the story a nuance that other authors on this topic could not get. Along the way, the crew of the Endurance had to jettison many of their belongings but they were thankfully allowed to keep their diaries which Lansing had access to. He was evidently a great leader and his skills in this area have been analysed and documented in books just focused on this aspect of the story.Īnyway, Alfred Lansing’s book is the definitive tale and is based on the diaries of those who were on the journey. There has been numerous book written on the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and on Ernest Shackleton. Anyway, I won’t spoil the story by disclosing more but the adventure continues and becomes even more extreme. The 28 men onboard had no option but to take to the ice flow. The hope was that the icepack would break up and they would be on their way, but no such luck, in fact, they spent a miserable polar winter onboard and eventually the Endurance was crushed under the incredible pressures of the ice that surrounded it and eventually sunk. Most of us would have found this pretty miserable but these were tough people and despite what must have been extremely unpleasant conditions they stuck to their task – not that they had much choice. The winter of 2014 was particularly harsh and the Endurance ended up getting stuck in the pack ice. He planned to cross Antarctica from a base on the Weddell Sea to McMurdo Sound, via the South Pole. In August 1914 the 28 man crew of the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–16) left England under Shackleton’s leadership aboard the Endurance. In my opinion, this is the daddy of them all.Įrnest Shackelton was a seasoned mariner and had been on a couple of expeditions to the Antarctic with mixed success. ![]() I have read about many adventures of people overcoming the odds to survive in the most challenging and hostile environments. This book captures a remarkable story of bravery, grit and determination. ![]()
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