Product Description

In Shackleton's Forgotten Men Lennard Bickel honours the memory of a group of men who carried out some of the most heroic and devoted journeys ever made in the Antarctic. This is the stirring account of the little-known, tragic expedition launched by Ernest Shackleton in 1915 to provide support for his own Antarctic expedition that would follow.These journeys were made to set up depots across the Great Ice Shelf to supply the coming Shackleton expedition: a crossing of the Antarctic continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. But the group lost their ship and supplies when a fierce polar gale ripped the ship from its moorings, and had to haul sledges almost 2000 miles across the hostile interior of the Antarctic. Despite enduring unimaginable deprivation, from bad weather to disease and madness, this heroic band accomplished their mission, laying the way for Shackleton and his men. But Shackleton and his men never came and the drama of their own disastrous journey has until now overshadowed the extraordinary story of those brave men who came before them. Lennard Bickel tells the story of these forgotten heroes in a gripping account, drawing largely from interviews with one team member, Dick Richards, and from the diary of another. This new account underscores the capacity of ordinary men for tragedy, endurance and noble action.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14455 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From the Publisher
'No more remarkable story of human endeavour has been revealed than the tale of that long march.' Sir Ernest Shackleton

About the Author
Lennard Bickel has made a career of writing about little-known epics of human triumph over adversity. He is the author of seven books.

Customer Reviews

An excellent new account of a forgotten tragic Polar tale
I received this book for Christmas and could not put it down. With all the current hype on Sir Earnest Shackleton and the heroic tale of how the 'Endurance' was trapped in the ice on the way to the Antartic (where the goal was a trans Antartic crossing) and the subsequent terrifying boat journeys to 'Elephant Island' and 'South Georgia' (which were required to save the men), we often forget about the other side of the expedition - 10 brave and valient men who went on the 'Aurora' on to the other side of Antartic to lay the food depots in this inhospitable land so that the main party would have food supplies when they attempted the crossing.
Conditions here were just as bleak as on the Endurance and tragically three of the 10 strong team died accomplishing this mission. This was doubly ironic as Shackleton and his team never needed the supplies that were laid with such suffering and heroism due to their own unexpected circumstances.
This is an excellent, very readable book which has some wonderful new insights from Dick Richards who actually survived to be interviewed by the author. I feel it also highlights the expedition as a whole, rather than the better known journey to Elephant Island.. Read wrapped up warm! these descriptions defy belief in human endurance!
You often hear that Shackleton never lost one man who he was directly responsible for on his expeditions. This is true but i feel not enough notice is given to the three who were lost even though he was indirectly responsible for them.
I recommend this book to anyone, particularly if you have an interest in Polar literature or just like a good old fashioned adventure story

Shackelton's most successful failure
Bickel's work sympathetically deals with one of the most harrowing stories of antarctic exploration. For antarctic disaster only Cherry-Garrard's "The Worst Journey on Earth" comes close. Every possible disaster was endured with courage and dignity by Shackleton's Ross Sea Party as they endeavoured and succeeded to lay the depots vital to enable the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to make the first crossing of the continent. The book runs chronologically and ends most chapters with a summary of progress in the Weddell Sea as Shackleton's escape from the doomed "Endurance" progressed. This makes it a perfect companion book to Shackleton's "South".
The parties on both sides of Antarctica found death stalked them from behind as they made their retreats. Shackelton's escape with the crew of the Endurance is well documented - Bickel completes the picture using, amongst other sources, excellent primary evidence from the last survivor of the "Aurora". Riveting reading.

For the arctic try Jennifer Niven's "The Ice Master" - an equally excellent book.

Extremely readable tale of heroism
This is truly a tale of heroism and human fortitude against overwhelming odds. I myself have read several books about the Endurance disaster and apart from passing comment about the men delivering the supplies, there was no real mention of their heroic efforts.

Bickel unravels a tale of fortitude every bit as gritty and dreadful as that of Shackleton and his men, and it is an important story which deserves telling and telling well as Bickel has done.

I would commend this book to enyone with even the most passing interest in the history of Polar exploration and the endeavours of truly brave men.