Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218928 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The harrowing survival story of English explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and the ill-fated Endurance has intrigued people since the 1914 expedition--spurring astounding books such as Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage and The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. As Shackleton and 27 sailors attempted to cross the frozen Antarctic continent from one side to the other, they were trapped in an ice pack, lost their ship to the icy depths, survived an Antarctic winter, escaped attacks from sea lions, and traversed 600 treacherous miles to the uninhabited Elephant Island. Leaving 22 men behind, Shackleton and five others sailed 800 miles across the southern Atlantic Ocean in a 20-foot open boat to tiny South George Island, where they hiked across unmapped mountains to a whaling station. In 1916, 19 months after the Endurance became icebound, Shackleton led a rescue party back to retrieve his men. Remarkably, every crew member survived.

Jennifer Armstrong, the award-winning author of Black-Eyed Susan and The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan, brings the unbelievable journey to life with delicious details: how a handsome young stowaway was discovered too late cast him off; how the ship itself would become frost-white; looking like "another species of sparkling white iceberg as it nosed its way through the pack;" and how the ice-pack-dwelling Emperor penguins seemed to enjoy the banjo music of crew member Leonard Hussey. The true-to-life story is as thrilling as they come, and Armstrong's lively, crystal clear writing style is just as compelling. More than 40 photographs of the expedition populate this inspiring non-fiction adventure story that young readers will devour from cover to cover. (Ages 10 to 14) --Karin Snelson

Synopsis
Describes the events of the 1914 Shackleton Antarctic expedition when, after being trapped in a frozen sea for nine months, their ship, Endurance, was finally crushed, forcing Shackleton and his men to make a very long and perilous journey across ice andstormy seas to reach inhabited land.

Customer Reviews

A bit lightweight
I decided to buy this book after reading of Shackleton's exploits to Antarctica between 1907-09 ('Nimrod', by Beau Riffenburgh), if nothing else to try to get some further insight into what made the man 'tick'. This book is however more of a chronological account of what happened when, with little background information about the participants, how they came together for this expedition or detail about the supporters back home. Maybe the short length of the book should have warned me.

However, set against that, the maps provided, whilst simple, are clarity itself and there are some good reproductions of the photographs which survived. If you want a quick read about this expedition, then this might be the thing, but if you want something with more detail and analysis then I recommend you search elsewhere.

This book tells of the hardships shackleton's crew endured.
The book Shipwreck at the bottom of the world is a very good book because it tells about the hardships Ernest Shackleton and his crew had to go through. This book tells their story in vivid detail and is very well written. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure and travel.