Product Description

Frank A. Worsley was the Captain of the H. M. S. Endurance, the ship used by the legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in his 1914-16 expedition to the Antarctic. On its way to the Antarctic continent the Endurance became trapped and then crushed by ice, and the ship's party of twenty-eight drifted in an ice floe for five months. Finally reaching an uninhabited island, Shackleton, Worsley and four others sailed eight hundred miles in a small boat to the island of South Georgia, an astounding feat of navigation and courage. All hands survived this ill-fated expedition; as Worsley writes, 'By self-sacrifice and throwing his own life into the balance, (Shackleton) saved every one of his men...although at times it looked unlikely that one could be saved.'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113420 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
On 1 August 1914, on the eve of World War I, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his hand-picked crew embarked in HMS Endurance from London's West India Dock, for an expedition to the Antarctic. It was to turn into one of the most breathtaking survival stories of all time. Even as they coasted down the channel, Shackleton wired back to London to offer his ship to the war effort. The reply came from the First Lord of the Admiralty, one Winston Churchill: "Proceed". And proceed they did. When the Endurance was trapped and finally crushed to splinters by pack ice in late 1915, they drifted on an ice floe for five months, before getting to open sea and launching three tiny boats as far as the inhospitable, storm-lashed Elephant Island. They drank seal oil and ate baby albatross (delicious, apparently.) From there Shackelton himself and seven others- -the author among them--went on, in a 22-foot open boat, for an unbelievable 800 miles, through the Antarctic seas in winter, to South Georgia and rescue. It is an extraordinary story of courage and even good-humour among men who must have felt certain, secretly, that they were going to die. Worsley's account, first published in 1940, captures that bulldog spirit exactly: uncomplaining, tough, competent, modest and deeply loyal. It's gripping, and strangely moving. --Christopher Hart

Customer Reviews

ever been really cold?
A testament to the human spirit. If this was a film, you'd classify it as pure fantasy. This account details Shackleton's party's escape from the antartic, a gruelling slog by foot accross broken ice, a perilous voyage though the ice flow and two fantastic journeys accross the Southern Ocean in boats no bigger than ones you see down the boating lake.

The fantastic feats are woven with accounts of everyday life... you can feel the cold, you wonder at how they survived in nothing more than waterlogged layers of heavy tweed and a few furs.

By the end of the book you are left in no doubt that given intelligence, determination, teamwork and belief (forget super human qualities or luck), human beings are very difficult to kill.

Someone in the preface is asked which antartic explorer they most admired, i'll paraphrase, for science - Scott, for determination - Admunsen, if i was in a tight spot with no apparant hope - Shackleton every time.

So you thought last winter was cold ? Read this!!
To find yourself having no choice but to set out to sea, in the middle of a south polar winter, with the only hope of rescue 800 miles off would reduce most people to despair. It's a mark of the stuff that these men were made of that they reached their goal, intact, then went back to rescue their comrades.
I find it difficult to imagine how they navigated in those high (=low!) latitudes, in a roiling sea, howling gales and limited visibility; Worsley tells you how...
He also has the writers' gift of transporting you from your comfortable chair to the freezing, wet, cramped conditions of their boat - and yet still bringing to life the thoughts and feelings of this rare breed of men.
This should be recommended reading for all teenagers, so they should understand what life can dole out, but yet you can still turn the tables on fate, instead of sitting back and letting life ride roughshod over you.

Thoroughly Recommended.*****

Stimulating first hand account of a famous boat journey
There have been a great deal of books written about the exploits of Earnest Shackleton and in particular his now famous boat journey across stormy waters of the South Pacific Ocean. This book is of particular interest as it was written by one of the protagonists of the adventure, Frank Worsley. Written in a simple and workmanlike style it faithfully recounts the events of the great sea journey and the subsequent walk over the mountains of South Georgia to final rescue.

The book offers little insight in to the minds and personalities of the author or his comrades during the journey. Likewise comments about Shackleton, though written with obvious respect, are rather guarded. There are one or two tantalising hints that they did not always see eye to eye but these are never explored.

The book is not without a certain charm however - Worsley keeps the narrative flowing along briskly and the reader does gain an understanding of the great challenges and hazards the men in their little boat faced.

This is a book that will appeal more fans of this genre than the general reader.