Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out with a crew of men aboard the ship Endurance on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition. The British had been beaten to both the North and the South Poles, and Shackleton saw the crossing of the Antarctic Continent as “the largest and most striking of all journeys” that remained. As the crew approached the frozen continent, and only one day away from their landing place, the ship became trapped in the ice floes of the Weddle Sea. For months they waited for the ice to break up, but ultimately their ship was crushed. Alfred Lansing masterfully recounts the unimaginable efforts of these men as they fought for survival for almost two years, overcoming the harshest of conditions. In the end, through the heroic efforts of Ernest Shackleton and the pure grit and determination of his crew, all 28 members survived.