The Endurance

Survival

The definition of heroism is constantly recalibrated against the technical abilities, the emotional needs, and the historical and social context of a people. What was once prized fades; what was once heroic becomes commonplace.

Sir Ernest Shackleton

And yet, at the close of the 20th century, certain achievements remain outsize, almost beyond measurement. In The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, by Caroline Alexander, Sir Ernest Shackleton's epic voyage of survival comes alive again, scrubbed of sensationalism and cant, illustrated by the starkly beautiful black-and-white photographs of Frank Hurley, to remind us of just how large an accomplishment mere survival can be.

If this book were only to detail the strange and extravagant sufferings of a group of men stranded in the polar ice, we could put it down and forget. But the story of Shackleton's voyage, cloaked as it is in failure and despair, comes to us as evidence in the case for hope, and for that it deserves to be lived again.

A simple dream

When Shackleton set sail aboard the Endurance on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914, he had a simple and straightforward goal: to conquer the southern ice by crossing Antarctica from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. He had already been to Antarctica twice before, in 1901 and 1908, and was a national hero for having been within 100 miles of the South Pole as part of Captain Robert Scott's first expedition.

The voyage of the aptly named Endurance started inauspiciously on August 1, 1914. Germany declared war on Russia and the ship was still in British waters on August 4 when the British government mobilized as part of the now general war in Europe. Shackleton and his men were given permission to proceed – but it must have struck them that a nation at war would be less than piqued by their venture, partially financed as it was with the sale of "news and pictorial rights."

June, the beginning of the southern winter, brought darkness and intense cold. The days grew shorter and shorter. The ice pack surrounding the ship began to shift and collapse. Writes Alexander, "Some 500 yards from the ship, colossal plates of ice screamed and groaned against each other, exploding now and then with the muffled boom of distant artillery." Shackleton knew that the ship would soon be crushed in the tremendous upheaval of ice.

FIRST TO THE BOTTOM OF THE EARTH

Captain Scott was later beaten to the pole by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Scott and his team of five men died on the ice on their return trip. His last words ("These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.... It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.") took a year to reach England and resulted in an incredible outpouring of patriotism and sentimentality. Scott's diaries, carefully edited by Sir James Barrie (the author of Peter Pan) to remove mention of horrific blunders and bad planning, were published to national acclaim.

Iced In

Abandon ship

But the Endurance was well-built and survived several more months. It was not until October 24th that the ship was dealt a mortal blow when a sudden surge in the ice cracked open the stern and water poured in. On the 27th the order to abandon ship was given and the men took to the ice with their motley crew of dogs, their huge tents and cases of food, their skis, sleds, and stoves, and most importantly their lifeboats, which weighed nearly a ton each.

The story then becomes one of tedium, confusion, and terror as Shackleton and the crew try to decide whether to stay where they are or push on. Camps are pitched and abandoned. Attempts to move their gear are crushingly slow. A good day of eight hours of hard work brings them a mile and a quarter closer to their goal. On January 14 about half the dogs were shot and made into pemmican cakes, a staple that would keep the men alive for months.

To make matters worse, the ice on which they sat was moving, taking them further from their goals. For months their small camp floated this way and that, driven one day by strong winds, another by currents. The men became seasick as they lay in their sleeping bags, too tired to move, too hungry to hunt. On April 8 the ice cracked beneath them, reducing their piece of the floe to a triangle of 90 ft. by 100 ft. by 360 ft. On April 9, after 15 months on the ice, the men put to sea in three small boats.

The worst part of the trip was ahead of them.

The trip to Elephant Island nearly cost several men their lives. Conditions were appalling. Several suffered frostbite, and one was believed to have had a heart attack. Worsley, at the helm of one boat for more than ninety hours without sleep, found he could not unbend his body. Immersed in icy salt water for days at a time, their bodies broke out in painful boils.

The worst is yet to come: insanity, leaving men behind for an 800-mile journey in a small boat, and a horrible march across South Georgia Island.

>>>

Buy this book
at Powell's Books