Endurance:Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

[SailorTom]

I just finished this book. I previously knew the general outline of the amazing open boat crossing of Drake Passage from Elephant Is to South Georgia Is in 1916, but not the whole story. You really need to read this book to understand just what an amazing leader Shackleton was and the incredibly long odds that anyone much less the entire crew would survive the crushing of HMS Endurance in the Wenddell Sea ice and enduring two winters in the Antarctic. If this "adventure" were a fictional movie plot it would be over the top and unbelievable. This book has cured me of any desire for an up close sail through ice flows. :) 

[Jim_ME]

Found this video on this topic interesting...

Retracing Shackleton's Epic Journey of Survival

"This film tells the story of the expedition led by Tim Jarvis to authentically recreate the perilous journey of survival that Sir Ernest Shackleton had to take in 1916 when his polar expedition was thwarted after his boat was trapped in the ice. Tim Jarvis and his team of 5 sailed the 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia in a replica of Shackleton's keel-less whaling boat and then climbed for three days over the dangerous mountains using the same inadequate equipment that Shackleton and his men had to use."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXU1ck7Eez0

[SailorTom]

Thanks for that video link. It was very interesting. But I think reading the book is still worthwhile to get a more intimate understanding of the harrowing conditions and the pure physical abuse these men suffered through. In fact I had to laugh at the hubris of Tim Jarvis in his "authentic" recreation of the last parts of the survival saga. Mr Jarvis basically said he proved he/we are as tough as those guys were 100 years ago. While he conveniently forgets that those 6 men sailed from Elephant Is to South Georgia after having survived four months on an ice flow and over a year since first setting off from South Georgia. Also while Mr Jarvis hiked across South Georgia he did it under conditions that can never be repeated i.e. it was unknown and unmapped interior in 1916. In fact the interior wasn't crossed and mapped until the 1950's.

Not to disparage, too much ;D, Mr Jarvis but I really hate it when modern men attempt to recreate old skills or achievements then claim either ease or impossibility. I'm reminded of when I saw a skilled archer and horseman attempt some of the shots reportedly done by the Mongols then claim they were impossible, while completely ignoring that Mongols literally grew up on the horse and their very survival relied on their skill in archery on horseback. I tend to think no modern man can ever have that same level of skill.

[Phantom Jim]

From an era when the ships were made of wood and the men were made of steel!

[CharlieJ]

and amazingly,, he didn't lose a man