Endurance

Ernest Shackleton and 27 men on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton had gone to Antarctica in 1901 in an expedition led by Robert F. Scott, a famous British explorer. In 1907, he led an expedition with the goal of reaching the Pole for the first time. He fell 97 miles short before having to turn around due to food shortage.

The Pole was reached by an American in 1909, Robert E. Peary. Amundsen was already a famous Norwegian explorer. The only major accomplishment left on the continent was to cross it, so Shackleton began raising money.

There would be two parties landing on opposite sides. One would set up rations for the other on their half of the continent. Shackleton was bold and a natural leader of men. He loved fame and adventure.

For scientific leadership give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.

He bought the Endurance for $67,000, which was a steal. He got private and government funding. He also sold the rights to the story and to a book he promised to write afterward. On the day George V presented Shackleton with the Union Jack to carry on the expedition, Britain declared war on Germany.

He wanted to support his country, but the government wanted him to proceed with the journey.

Shackleton chose his crew capriciously. Interviews were never more than five minutes, and he would choose people because he thought they looked funny. He would ask if they could sing: "I don't mean any of the Caruso stuff, but I suppose you can shout a bit with the boys?" On the trip down to Antarctica, some people got kicked off the crew and others joined, including a stowaway picked up in Buenos Aires, Perce Blackborow.

The Endurance stopped at a whaling station then set out for Vahsel Bay. After more than a month of sailing, they were close and went between two large floes toward a pool of open water. The ship got mired in the brash, stuck in the broken snowy ice, and a floe closed behind her. They were trapped.

Chapters 4-8

They had to bundle up and hunker down through the winter while beset in the ice.

Right before the pressure of the floes crushing the ship became too much and the order to abandon ship was given, a group of 10 emperor penguins walked up to the ship and started squawking in mournful dirgelike cries. Nobody had ever heard penguins make sounds like that.

Part 2

There was a remarkable absence of discouragement. Having a clear-cut task in front of them was relieving after nine months of indecision. The plan after abandoning ship was to march toward Paulet Island, 346 miles northwest, where stores left from a 1902 expedition should still be.

They had to carry boats and each man was limited to two pounds of personal items. Shackleton made a dramatic gesture by tearing out only a few pages of the Bible and laying the rest on the ground. Of the pages he kept, one was from the Book of Job: "Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen."

Sledges were 900 pounds apiece and hauling them was grueling. They went back to the ship and recovered lots of food before it sank too deep, 4.5 tons, enough to last three months at full rations. They decided to set up camp and hold out. Ocean Camp. They hoped they would drift toward the Palmer Peninsula. Drifting the opposite direction would likely seal their fate and stagnation would lead to an impossible hike.

Shackleton divided tent groups strategically so that none of the problematic crew members could echo chamber together or tank morale. He was extremely cautious about this.

As they waited out the drift, they were getting closer to Palmer Peninsula. A new plan was to march 150 miles to the peninsula and then send a crew of four to journey over 5,000-foot glaciers to Wilhelmina Bay where whalers could rescue them. The rest would wait at Snow Hill.

Camp life mostly consisted of hunting seals and penguins, a bloody affair. Cleanliness had two schools: those who cleaned their faces when they could and those who let the dirt accumulate on the theory that it would toughen their skin against frostbite.

Lots of Bridge was played in Shackleton's tent. When another fresh deck of cards was found, Shackleton and McIlroy spent hours teaching them how to play. Within 48 hours, the popularity of the game reached epidemic proportions.

On December 23, Shackleton made the decision to up camp and head west and bring two boats. The slushy floes were unforgiving. They would sink into them and their boots would fill with icy water. Five hours... half a mile. Pushing boats inch by inch and then sleeping in wet sleeping bags. McNeish suddenly refused to go on and ignored orders in an exhausted protest. He eventually rejoined, but the incident worried Shackleton.

The march was supposed to be 200 miles. After five days and only 9 small miles, they had been stopped completely. Impassable terrain. A brutal blow to an exhausted crew.

Part 3

They named the new site Mark Time Camp, and it was less stable than Ocean Camp. A 12-foot, 1,100-pound sea leopard tried to kill Orde-Lees. It popped out of the water and tracked him by his shadow from below the ice. Wild came and saved him with his rifle.

Food stores dwindled and Shackleton gave the order to kill the dogs. It was incredibly sad for the dog-team leaders. They also made a trip back to Ocean Camp to get food they had left behind.

A gale came through camp, but everyone was ecstatic about it despite the rough conditions because it meant they would be blowing north toward Paulet. It continued for days and they finally measured the sun to see that they were now only 170 miles from Paulet, 84 miles closer in six days of gale.

More waiting and drifting. Adelie penguins migrating gave them ample food. They killed 600 penguins in about a week. By the end of February 1916 they had drifted to within 94 miles of Paulet. Living conditions while drifting were miserable: wet, cold, starving. They spotted land but needed an opening in the pack for the boats.

They continued drifting north on their floe. It had been a mile in diameter when they started, but after many cracks, causing frantic moving of tents and tossing of supplies across gaps, it shrank to 200 yards across. They were heading for Clarence and Elephant islands, just waiting for an opening in the pack and hoping they would not shoot between them into open sea.

More drifting, this time with random days of 15 miles east then 15 west, gave them a scare. Their floe continued to break into smaller bits. Shackleton told everyone to pack the boats and then after another crack reduced the floe to about 50 yards across, he gave the order to launch the boats.

Part 4

In the open ocean they faced the most miserable stretch of their existence. They tied up their boats for the night and created a sea anchor out of canvas and oars. The wind increased, the temperature dropped below zero, and the sea constantly broke over them, freezing almost instantly as it landed in the boats. Everyone was soaked and frozen.

They tried to hide under tent cloths but the wind would tear them loose. They cursed everything imaginable and froze through the night, wiggling their toes to stave off frostbite. They could hardly eat because their mouths were so dry from thirst. Sunrise was a saving grace. Many suffered from frostbitten feet. They had been awake for 80 hours, but they could see Clarence and Elephant Island and by 7am they set sail. Thirty miles to go.

Worsley, captaining the Docker, suggested they separate for a better chance at reaching land. For the first time, Shackleton approved, but the Wills would stay with the Caird. Worsley proved indispensable. His navigation and handling of the boat was better than anyone's and he had steered them for days. Everyone saw him in a new light.

After another crushing night of spray, waves, and gales, the sun rose to reveal they were less than a mile from Elephant Island. They had to shake and kick Worsley awake from an exhausted, deathlike sleep because 100 mph gales rolled off the cliffs and sent waves as big as the boat toward them.

The Caird and Wills made their way to Elephant through the treacherous waves. They had lost sight of the Docker and assumed it had not made it. The Docker assumed the same about them. By some miracle, as both ships searched the shore for miles hoping to find a place to beach, they spotted each other and reunited. They finally beached and for the first time in 497 days, they were on land.

Part 5

They had to find a new spot of land soon, because they realized their landing site would be underwater at high tide. They moved seven miles down the coast to a new spot that had no shelter from the wind. They were hammered by blizzards with occasional 100 mph winds and snow.

Shackleton prepared a crew of five to depart on the Caird for South Georgia, 800 miles east, helped by a current that should carry them around 60 miles a day.

The men left behind at camp had to play the patient game and spent most of their time daydreaming about sugary meals. They built a hut using the Wills and Docker, even installing a chimney. The wind and snow remained brutal, but morale stayed surprisingly high.

Part 6

A team of six set out for South Georgia, 800 miles east. They were pummeled by massive waves and winds in the Drake Passage, the most unforgiving stretch of sea. Their water went bad so thirst became another problem. There was pure nothingness in the fog for days until they finally got close enough to see land.

Part 7

They beached and slept like the dead and drank melted ice on land. They had lost their rudder but sailed six miles down the coast to a better beach with lots of seals and sea leopards. Enough food for life, but still 120 miles from help by boat or a 29-mile hike over what was considered impassable ground. Ten-thousand-foot peaks, and even worse was the interior of the island, described as a saw tooth thrust through the tortured upheaval of mountain and glacier that falls in chaos to the northern sea.

Regardless, Shackleton decided that a team of three would attempt the journey while the other three stayed behind. They all agreed and prepared their boots with spikes made from nails in the boat to help the hikers.

The hike was brutal. It was like an exhaustive search of a maze. They kept going down paths only to realize they were impassable and had to retrace their steps. They had only 50 feet of rope and tied themselves together to stay connected in thick fog. The mountains were steep, which made every step slow, both up and down. They could not rest or they would sleep and die. One five-minute rest caused their legs to stiffen for the rest of the hike.

Around 4pm, they were descending a steep peak, slowly making steps in the ice and snow. A fog rolled in and darkness was approaching. Shackleton and the other two realized that if they did not descend faster, they would freeze to death. Shackleton then wildly suggested that they slide down the mountain.

The other two were shocked by the insanity of the suggestion, especially coming from Shackleton, but acknowledged it might be their only play. They sat down, three in a row, legs wrapped around the person in front, and sent it 2,000 feet down the mountain. They could have fallen into a ravine at any point. They could not accurately see the bottom. It was a pure Hail Mary that somehow worked. They coasted to a stop at the bottom, stood up with huge smiles, shook hands, and kept going.

Eventually they heard a steam whistle from a whaling station over the last peak and about a mile away, the first sound from civilization in 17 months. The final stretch required them to rappel down a freezing waterfall with their 50 feet of rope.

They finally hiked into the whaling station and were met with the most confused looks, because no one had ever seen strangers coming from the mountains instead of the docks. Shackleton knew the foreman and asked to see him. Everyone there knew about the 28-man crew who had surely died 17 months ago.

Shackleton's friend asked, "Who the hell are you?" Hair and beard overgrown, clothes disheveled, completely unrecognizable, Shackleton replied: "The name's Shackleton." His friend began to weep.

The welcome dinner and reception were filled with astonishment and endless praise. Nobody could believe they had crossed the middle of the island with the gear they had, or crossed the Drake Passage in a 22-foot boat. They got a boat to pick up the three others 120 miles down the coast, and then planned a rescue for the rest of the crew on Elephant Island.

They eventually rescued them, but ice prevented the rescue for almost three more months.