Product Description

This is the story of the "Farthest South" expedition, told by its leader. After enduring biting winds, short rations and crevasse-ridden glaciers for over a year, Shackleton's party faced a desperate forced march to return to their ship, The Nimrod, or face being marooned on the ice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208946 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
Despite never reaching the South Pole himself, Ernest Shackleton is aguably the greatest of all Antarctic explorers. First serving as 3rd Liuetenant on Scott's first Antarctic expedition of 1901-04, he led his own expedition to the pole in 1907-9, in the process discovering the Beardmore Glacier and the great ice sheet of the polar plateau. He and three companions sledged to within 97 miles of the Pole getting farther south than any man had got before, only to be forced to turn back, facing death, despair, crevasse-ridden glaciers, snow blindness, crippling windchill and chronic fatigue in a race against time to get to their ship Nimrod before it departed, leaving them marooned on the ice. This is Shackleton's own account of the expedition, an endeavour exceeded in bravery and courage only by his second expedition of 1914-17 when his ship Endurance was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea and he and a few companions made their epic 800-mile open boat voyage across the Southern Ocean to South Georgia. This is a moving account of courage, bravery and leadership of the very highest order-Highly recommended. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Sir Ernest Shackleton served under Scott in his first Antarctic expedition, survived a year and a half on the ice during the now legendary Endurance voyage, and died an international hero. (The Spectator)

Customer Reviews

Makes the modern adventurers look soft
As 'adventure travel' writing hits the big time this example of the genre from almost a century ago shows how it really should be done.
This is a fascinating account of Shackletons 1907 expedition to the Antartic. What he achieved is all the more remarkable as you consider the equipment at his disposal.
While there are lots of supplementary details about the year-long expedition the core of it is of course the journal of the trip to Furthest South. This is a Boys Own tale of hardship that both inspires and shocks. Hard facts about the hardship and travails will leave one aghast. Shackleton is revealed to be a true leader of men, an incredible optimist, but also most importantly a realist.
Sadly Shackleton will always play second fiddle in the public eye to Scott, because he had the sense not to die for vainglory. Heroic deaths are newsworthy, timely survival is not.

A remarkable story as told by a remarkable man
In 1907 Sir Ernest Shackleton embarked on an expedition to reach the south pole; this is his account of the journey.

The events of the 1914 Endurance expedition have largely overshadowed the 1907 trip but this story is still well worth reading.

Two parties were involved, one to travel south and make for the south pole, and the other to travel north to reach the magnetic pole. The march to the magnetic pole was a success but the southern party (which included Shackleton himself)weren't so lucky. After marching for over two months, enduring hardships the reader can scarcely imagine, thay were forced to turn back within 100 miles of the pole, or risk missing the ship that was to return for them.

Shackleton's description of this journey is told in an almost off-hand manner, as though the amazing achievements of marching accross hundreds of miles of pack-ice and traversing a treacherous glacier are an everyday occurence. However, this is part of the charm of the book. Every now and then I would stop myself and think carefully about the story I was reading and the reality of the situations would sink in. Shackleton's matter-of-fact style of telling the story shows what a truly remarkable man he was. The eternal optimist, only when the situation became hopeless did he give up, and up until that point, failure didn't seem to be a consideration.

If I had one criticism of this book, it would be the need for more maps. Shackleton repeatedly refers to locations on the Antarctic continent but the map that is included in the book is not at all detailed. Many of the places mentioned don't appear on the map at all, So I found it difficult to apreciate the distances travelled by these men.

In spite of this, I feel this book fully deserves five stars. Shackleton manages to convey very well the difficulties involved in undertaking such an expedition and it served to increase the already large amount of respect I have for "history's greatest polar explorer".

A true story very well told..
I guess that if you are reading this review you must be thinking about purchasing the book.Well, my advice is to buy it.
Ernest Shackleton is a true legend of Antarctica,even though it is his dices with death that created his legend.
This is his own account of his journey to the Antarctic in 1907 and it is an honest and at times desperate tale.True storys always have more of an impact and this one doesn't disappoint.
At times the narrative does drag a little,especially when Shackleton devotes time to what was taken on board the Nimrod.
The story really kicks on when the trek to the pole gets under way.
Gradually,you can feel the anguish as Shackleton realizes that his crew aren't going to make it.Just less than 100 miles short of the pole,he made the only decision he could make in reality.Turn back and possibly live,or carry on and certainly die.Not a decision many of us have ever had to make with history within his grasp.
One feeling throughout the narrative is the feeling of hunger he and his crew felt.This seemed to be the one factor that hurt them more than tiredness,the freezing cold or the feeling of failure.They all made it back,he returned to the Antarctic again,and the tale of 'Endurance'was born(another excellent book by the way).
Read this book and stick with it.Yes,it can drag a bit and it is long at 400 pages.But it is people like Ernest Shackleton that have made storys like this possible.Recommended.