Film - Chasing Shackelton

[Jim_ME]

Just watched the first part of this documentary film and believe that others here may also enjoy this small-boat, long-distance [Spartan accommodations and heavy weather] story...

Chasing Shackleton

Description: Battered by storms and blinded by thick fog, world record speed sailor and renowned racing skipper Paul Larsen attempts to navigate the notorious Southern Ocean using only a sextant and compass. And extreme filmmaker Ed Wardle risks all to pick up where Shackleton's cameraman left off and record for the first time, how Shackleton and his men managed to survive against all the odds.

This series follows a modern expedition that re-creates Sir Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which launched in 1914.

http://video.pbs.org/program/chasing-shackleton/

[Jim_ME]

Just discovered this additional video for any that may be interested in more footage about the original expedition...

Shackleton's Frozen heck
by the Smithsonian Channel

In 1914, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition came to a cold stop. Explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew found themselves fighting for survival against starvation and sub-zero conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9s1lZtRBMA

[Sweetwater Pirate]

Part two of the reenactment was on last night.  It looks pretty harsh.  A similar herculean voyage which was much longer, although there is no video, was the survivors of the whale ship Essex.  The ship was sunk by a huge sperm whale while the men were out in the whale boats hunting whales.  They sailed south and east approximately 3,000 miles to the coast of South America.  Their voyage did not turn out as well as Shackelton's.  His success in saving all of his men is a tribute to his leadership and decision making when it counted.